Knock Knock. Who’s there? It’s Jen Bilik, the Head Honcho (founder, creator, owner) of Knock Knock. (Sorry, I couldn’t help it.) She is the one behind all of those funny, well-written, cleanly-designed pads, books, folders, binders, notebooks, and flashcards that you always see in that Kitschy shop on the corner. (Everything is also for sale on-line, and, HINT HINT, the Nifty Notes and Pocket Notes make great stocking stuffers.)


1. Pack This! Pad, $7; 2. Pro Con Pad, $7; 3. Dial an Excuse, $7.50; 4. Thanks a Lot!, $4.50, 5. Daily Mood Tracker Paper Mouse Pad, $11; 6. Things To Do Pocket Notes, $5.50; 7. Accomplish Pad, $7; 8. Random Dawdle Paper Mouse Pad, $11

Due to my various neuroses, which result in an incredible amount of list-making and indecision, Knock Knock pads frequently come in handy. Due to my obsession with clean, functional graphic design and witty writing, I feel a tickle of joy in my heart every time I see them.

Yes, the pads can be considered humorous novelty and joke gifts, but often they are quite functional. I use my “Pack This” pad every time I go on a trip. The “Rate that Wine” pad would have been perfect for the Wine class I took in college. I’ve always thought the “Daily Mood Tracker” should be used in therapy (you might need to ignore the “kill me now” column…) rather than ugly black and white xeroxed sheets (seriously, if you’re already depressed, ugly designed mood tracking sheets aren’t going to help). And, while I hope the entire “Shit List” pad wouldn’t come in handy for anyone very often, I think Steven Colbert might like it if he were renamed it “Dead to Me.”

I wanted to make a Gift Guide featuring all Knock Knock products, but then I could just write a post that says, “Please go to the Knock Knock site for your holiday shopping.” So, instead, I’ve been including them here and there, like in the Neurotic Gift Guide post. Since then, several people have said they wished they could get me The Complete Manual of Things That Might Kill You. (TIP: For someone as paranoid as me, this would be a cruel joke.)

Anyway, in place of an All Knock Knock Gift Guide, I’m offering you an interview with the founder and owner of the company that puts the “fun in functional.”

INTERVIEW WITH THE RULER OF KNOCK KNOCK

1. You wake up. Get to the office. And then… ?
Two of the best things about working at Knock Knock are that no two days are alike and the hours fly by. In fact, we look up at the clock at 6:00 P.M. and think, Where did the day go? It’s always a matter of not having enough time rather than wishing the time would go faster. While this can be challenging in terms of getting our work done, it’s great for those of us who don’t like to be bored or idle.

Sadly, the answer to “What’s a day like at work?” isn’t nearly as creative as one might think. There’s a lot to running a business that doesn’t involve graphic design or writing or concepting – accounting, manufacturing, logistics, distribution, management, sales, customer service, etc. Fortunately, I now find lots of creativity in strategizing business activities.

Concepting is the smallest part of what we do. As with most things in life, execution is all. So we concept our products approximately twice a year, then spend the rest of the time executing and tinkering and getting to final. This entails lots of meetings to review design drafts, time spent researching and working on copy to make sure it strikes the right Knock Knock voice, etc. It’s an incremental process of getting to a place that none of us necessarily has in mind when we begin, improvisational and alternately frustrating and exhilarating.


2. What is the best part of your job? As a kid, is this what you imagined you’d be doing as a grown-up?
Early on, the best part of my job was coming up with ideas and executing them and seeing them come to life as manufactured product, then seeing them in stores. Now it has more to do with the business successes—did the product work in the marketplace, are retailers buying into our concepts, how can we better position and promote our product, do we have a cohesive team capable of executing the KK vision, etc. It’s bigger picture, and less dependent on creative alone.

This is absolutely not what I imagined I’d do when I grew up, but then again, I don’t recall thinking too much about what adult life would be like. When I was a kid, I could only project as far as college in my mind, and everything after that just seemed like uncharted territory. The only thing I can recall imagining was becoming an academic, since I grew up in Berkeley and always loved school and research and writing. It wasn’t until much later, when I realized I loved and was good at graphic design as well as writing, that the prospect of entrepreneurship presented itself.


3. What’s the creative process for developing new concepts at Knock Knock? (I imagine a group email that says something like: “We are doing a pad called ‘Why I Must Have Sex with You.’ Please send possible reasons.”)
Group email, ha! Not a great way to get a group concepting session going! You can’t launch ideas without in-person discussion and buy-in. First of all, we need group feedback on whether a particular idea is viable; secondly, you can’t manage—especially creatively—via email.

To develop a new season of product, the management team—myself, our VP of Sales, and our VP of Creative Services—sketches out what product formats (pads, kits, books, etc.), quantities, and price points we feel are timely. Then the VP of Creative Services and myself hold a launch meeting with the design and editorial team to outline our skeletal vision and we ask them to go into concepting mode to present their product ideas. At the same time, I often have a list of ideas percolating. Then we narrow ideas down according to perceived viability. For line extensions (new versions of existing product formats, such as a new Classic Pad), we have everybody submit a certain number of ideas and then narrow those down, often by voting. I narrow the list down then meet with sales to help confirm it. Then we go into product development, which entails more concepting and sketching until we have a go-forward vision for the new products.

4. With specific respect to design: What are your must-have design tools? What graphic program do you use?
We use the Adobe Creative Suite—Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop. My own must-have design tools are store visits and market research to see what’s out there so we don’t duplicate it; design and art books; font sites; and for editorial, lots of research sites.

5.  Knock Knock FAVORITES:

What’s the best-selling Knock Knock product or the one you’ve gotten the biggest response from?
The All Out Of Pad is our bestseller because it’s so useful. Among our novelty products, people love the funny Classic Pads, the Sticky Notes, and our books.

What Knock Knock product have you personally gotten the most real-life use out of?
The All Out Of Pad.

What’s your all-around favorite Knock Knock product?
I love the now-obsolete Multiple-Choice Correspondence and the How to Find True Love poster, and especially love our books now.

[MARIA'S NOTE: The How to Find True Lover posters is a FREE PDF DOWNLOAD. I completely recommend printing it out on an office printer near-you. Oh, and, since you asked, the CLASSIC PADS and PAPER MOUSE PADS are my favorites!]

6. What are you personally creatively inspired by?
Current events and news about the way people live and why they’re like that. Art, in museums and galleries. The marketplace. Reference materials, new and old.


[This holiday alone Knock Knock products have been features in Real Simple, Better Homes and Gardens, Parade, and Costal Living. Even though these seem like such innocent magazines for Knock Knock's hilarious, sometimes R-rated products, I think it shows just how functional they can be.]

7. What are you currently obsessed with?
Pathetically, reality TV and knitting, preferably both at the same time.

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