He’ll never know but, E. Bryant Crutchfield is an inspiration to all of us here at Smiley Technologies. The story goes that the creator of the Trapper Keeper set out to create a folder for folders. He wanted to “trap” his paper in folders and “keep” them together with a set of rings.

Sadly, Crutchfield passed away last Sunday at age 85. Read more about his story here.

What’s the connection between Smiley and Crutchfield, you might ask? When we started nearly twenty years ago, an idea came to light while sitting in the conference room. Vance Smiley, our co-founder said, “We need a Trapper Keeper for banks!” It needed to be something that folded up simply (only one password), with tabs and a place to put everything a banker would need for their day.  Thus the SIBanking Organizer was born.  We now call it “SIBanking” for simplicity.

The Trapper Keeper is something we not only keep in our minds but all around the office, too.  Each employee has one to remind us of the intentionality behind what we do. Where there is great software there are even greater people behind it and, we feel like that’s what E. Bryant Crutchfield had in mind when we created his folder for folders. Thanks, Mr. Crutchfield, for showing us how simplicity in design can make a world of difference.

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