Category: english

With the “Zwijgen is geen optie” (Silence is not an option) website, I’ve always been aiming for a design that could evolve over time rather than having to redesign every few years. Just like the timelessness of the content we produce and our signature monochrome film editing, the foundation of our design should have a great sense of slowness and continuity. Gerard Leysen took that principle and came up with knots and ropes as reusable, changeable yet very recognisable design elements and I still think it works beautifully. It also made for a beautiful pin for our Patrons to wear:…

Every few months someone asks me why Zwijgen is geen optie (“Silence is not an option”, read more about it here) hasn’t applied for government subsidies. It’s a good question. Because the choice, even though I’m not always so sure it has been the right one, has been a crucial one for this project. My business partner and dear friend Tom and I spent hours and hours checking out all possible government subsidies and came to the conclusion that it just wasn’t for us*. I’ll try to summarise why. Keep in mind: this is by no means an argument for…

I’m drinking a beer with a well-known author in a small Antwerp pub. We’re talking about the promotion tour surrounding his book launch. The endless queue of ill-prepared interviewers he has to work through. Then he starts talking about a 20-something woman who works for a small magazine aimed towards the Christian community in our half-a-country Flanders. She’s not ambitious, she proclaims. She knows real journalists look down on the medium she works for. Somewhere along the way she decided to stop caring. She likes the pace and the stability. In front of her is a little notebook. In it,…

I had the honour of speaking at an event about constructive journalism organised by the Brussels Center for Journalism Studies. The other speakers – both professors – brought some awesome research about what constructive journalism is and how it may benefit public debate in our society. But I learned even more from the conversations with students afterwards. The ones I talked to were on the lookout for internships and confronted with the disconnect between journalistic principles thought at school and the everyday practice of being a journalist at most media outlets. It’s hard to follow the rules of constructive journalism…

Whenever I’m working on a new plan, I try to make a list of people who are more knowledgeable than I am on the subject at hand and ask for their advice. The earlier I am in the process, the more it resembles “thinking out loud”. Instead I’m not under the shower and alone but I’m joined by super smart people. And usually not showering. These conversations generate a lot of conflicting advice, leaving me the task of triangulating until I believe the decision I’m about to take is the right one. I consider such a conversation successful whenever it…

For a long time I didn’t really understand what the value of our work at ZIGO was. The personal value was clear: I just love asking honest questions to people I look up to. But why were people watching and sharing? Why did people offer to pay for something we gave away for free? The overwhelmingly kind responses to our work have long felt undeserved. Even after months of conversations with smart people about the value of our work, I didn’t get it. It seemed like people saw something in ZIGO that I didn’t understand. Looking back, I identified too…

I find myself annoyed by the artificial divide between non-profit organisations doing good for the world and for-profit companies only caring about profit. Of course, their respective company structures create different incentives and incentives shape behaviour. But on a global scale I see too many examples of beneficial impact by for-profit companies to agree with this divide. But that’s only a superficial reason to be annoyed. The main reason for my discomfort has more to do with the underlying message this divide communicates: “When you’re doing good for the world, you can’t make a profit. And if you’re profitable, we…