David and I have talked a lot about “trust” when starting Substance. After all, trust and integrity are a big part of having substance. So when I saw “Trust” as the headline for this post over on Presentation Zen, it caught my attention. The post talks about the idea of trust, and how trust is crucial in any and every positive relationship. There’s a bit about Digital Rights Management (DRM) and the implications of the new Vista operating system by Microsoft (I’ll save my MS jabs for another time), and this interesting little animation piece.

I’m not going to get into DRM either, because I don’t know enough about it. I just liked the design and message of the animation above. I do agree, however, that trust is one of those feelings (is trust an emotion? I think so…) that creates relationships between people and brands.

A few months ago, a friend asked why we have this blog. I’ll save the full reason for when I have more time, but essentially it’s to create relationships with people. From clients to peers to family and friends, this is a place where you can see what we’re thinking, how we think, why we’re doing it, and what we’re doing. The blog is a digital record. If you read back through it, you’ll be able to see if we’re consistent, if we’re true to our beliefs.

That’s not the only reason for the blog, of course. But one of our goals is to create trust between you and us. And the more you know, the more you can make your own decision if we’re trustworthy. We can’t tell you, “hey, trust us!” Hopefully the blog tells that story.