Meet the Expert:
Galen Palmer
Technology Director
What got you into this business?
In 1981, my dad bought a Timex Sinclair 1000 computer, and I quickly developed a love
for coding. Many years later, I created a Java-based SEO-tuned blogging application. From there, I co-founded
a company that provided blogging software to businesses. We sold that venture to IMRE, and I’ve been working
on cool projects with the IMRE team ever since.
What was a big influence in your career?
That Timex Sinclair 1000! (With various missteps and false starts along the way,
like earning an English Lit degree.)
The secret to a great brand is...
Triggering a happy or important memory. If the product is lucky enough
to be well built and associated with a particular period of life, it hits a branding homerun.
Two such brands come to mind for me: the blocky serif font spelling “Honda” on the side of a
1976 CB 550 motorcycle; and the rainbow “check” of the original Amiga computer. They’re both
great products with particularly strong personal meaning.
Do you have a method for coming up with ideas and solutions for clients?
Brainstorming and feeding off others’ ideas is very productive. Two
people are exponentially more creative than one. For an initial brainstorm, five is a good
number—enough to spin out ideas but not so big that people are embarrassed to contribute.
What are your favorite websites?
Google is my favorite website. A wise man once said (Hold on, I have
to look this up...OK got it): Any sufficiently fast Googler is indistinguishable from a scholar.
What are your driving career goals?
Creating a software product that people continually use. Too many of
the applications I’ve worked on had extremely short shelf lives. To some extent, Web sites
meet this goal since people interact with them every day.
Is there any food that helps you think more creatively?
Definitely coffee.
What talent do you wish you had?
A talent for learning foreign languages. If a genie gave me three wishes,
one of them would be to understand and speak every human language.
If you had to live on a desert island, what would you miss most?
If my wife, friends and pets were with me, I’d miss the Internet most.
What’s your favorite sports team?
The University of Washington Huskies. They’re the “real” Huskies, not like
those fake, Johnny-come-lately Huskies in Connecticut who stole our mascot simply to make a bad
pun (come on, the “U-Conn” Huskies!?!).
What frustrates you the most?
Besides mascot name stealing? At times I’m frustrated when I have a mental
image for a solution but feel like I can’t convey the details to others.
Tell us about your pets.
We are the accidental owners of four cats: #1 showed up at the door one New
Year’s Eve. We thought she needed a friend, so we went to a shelter. My wife bonded with cat #2
and I picked up a tiny, fluffy kitten—cat #3. When the shelter sent us a picture of #3’s sister, we had cat #4.