I was reading a statistic recently that stated that the freelance community of graphic designers would more than double in 2010. This means a lot more talent, wit, management, etc. Will be entering the arena and competing for the same work.
It will also mean that designers will be focused on creating compelling work. Now don’t get me wrong. I love shiny portfolio’s with lots of glossy images. I spend more time than I’d like to admit just browsing through them… The problem I see occurring as I collaborate with more creatives is too much focus on the product. They want to create amazing work. But they also want it fast and they need to make money. Almost as if putting out lots of work will bring customers from all over the globe.
In the mean time they do a terrible job of communicating with their team (designers, developers, etc) and worst of all, their clients. They take on too much, they don’t share work well, and when it comes down to a great experience they end up pushing lofty ideas withouth proper resources. In the end everyone is stressed out because the focus was the project, not the process.
Great process always trumps a great project over the long haul. If you focus on making the creative process one of continous exploration & clear communication it helps everyone get on board and share. We have too many great ideas getting killed because we miss the gold along the way.
I stumbled on this article this morning. Discussing the benefits of “goofing off” as opposed to working harder than everyone else.
The flypaper of an unfocused mind may trap new ideas and unexpected associations more effectively than methodical reasoning. That may create the mental framework for new ideas. “You can see regions of these networks becoming active just prior to people arriving at an insight,” she says.
Where do you find your best ideas?
These “tangents” may be your most important assets for a successful creative career.
Do they typically come at 5am — Just hours before the big pitch? When your in the shower or out on a run? Or maybe they hit you when your just sitting outside or staring out the window.
Tell us about some of your greatest unexpected creative moments.
I just finished the book Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky. I would highly recommend it to any creative or entreprenuer out there.
One of the thoughts that stuck out to me though we a brief section on Appreciation Feedback. Sounds a bit too “nice” for my taste to be honest but it makes a lot of sense. Here is an excerpt from the book:
People need to relax to be able to discover. Our unconscious won’t come forward and help us see things when we are too logical and focused on criticism. Sometimes some one will say, “I just want to know how to improve, not what is good.” People think that pointing out faults is the only way to improve. Appreciations are not about being polite. They are about point out what is alive. The recipient must take it in and incorporate it.
In another example earlier in the chapter the process of appreciation feedback is implemented by bringing in designers for first round reviews and instead of criticism. Everyone in the room says 3 things they love about the piece. The designer is then sent off to work in a revision before a formal critique is held. Almost always the revised product is much improved before an actual critism. This helps reduce the “negative moementum” we all face whenever we step out to execute and idea. It helps us focus on forward progress not arm chair quarterback tactics.
I’m thinking about implementing this myself. Has anyone else experienced a feedback system like this? If so comment or tweet with your experience please.
Since I have been on a kick about options, simplicity and the “underdo” concept in general I thought I would talk about Maximizers…
Schwartz relates the ideas of psychologist Herbert Simon from the 1950s to the psychological stress which faces most consumers today. He notes some important distinctions between, what Simon termed,maximizers and satisficers. A maximizer is like a perfectionist, someone who needs to be assured that their every purchase or decision was the best that could be made. The way a maximizer knows for certain is to consider all the alternatives they can imagine. This creates a psychologically daunting task, which can become even more daunting as the number of options increases. The alternative to maximizing is to be a satisficer. A satisficer has criteria and standards, but a satisficer is not worried about the possibility that there might be something better. Ultimately, Schwartz agrees with Simon’s conclusion, thatsatisficing is, in fact, the maximizing strategy.
Many clients ask for 3, 4, 10 concepts to review for the final products in hopes that they will be able to eliminate obvious bad choices and make better decisions. In theory this makes sense but often it burns out designers who have to push through mediocre work instead of focusing on 1 or 2 excellent concepts and dialing in on great ideas. Not to mention most clients will them mix together 2 or 3 of the designs they like in hopes to get the best of everything.
Balancing creativity and productivity is always a struggle for me. Knowing when to take some time and wait for an idea or push forward a good idea with excellent execution is always hard. Design is not a 3-step problem/solution process. Give 10 designers the same project and you are garunteed to get completely different solutions.
Don’t let perfect get in the way of unique ideas.
Clients hire designers to visualize something they cannot. Otherwise they wouldn’t need the designer. They would a mouse and keyboard.
A story from Signal Vs Noise:
Legend has it that Pablo Picasso was sketching in the park when a bold woman approached him.
“It’s you — Picasso, the great artist! Oh, you must sketch my portrait! I insist.”
So Picasso agreed to sketch her. After studying her for a moment, he used a single pencil stroke to create her portrait. He handed the women his work of art.
“It’s perfect!” she gushed. “You managed to capture my essence with one stroke, in one moment. Thank you! How much do I owe you?”
“Five thousand dollars,” the artist replied.
“B-b-but, what?” the woman sputtered. “How could you want so much money for this picture? It only took you a second to draw it!”
To which Picasso responded, “Madame, it took me my entire life.”
What to charge is a constant topic of debate among designers and clients… Actually most of the time it’s between the client and designer. We try to quantify our product by the amount of effort it takes and if something comes easy its especially hard for clients to feel like they are “getting what they paid for” in terms of work. Just because something is simple, basic, easy, black&white, etc. Does not subtract from its value as a piece of Design.
Designers don’t take the true cost of their work into account most of the time and with each hourly proposal clients will ask for more for less.
Clients aren’t just getting the hours spent on their project directly.
They are paying for all of them and that can’t be quantified.
The need for options comes up again and again with clients. Many times it’s to “insure” that they get the best possible design for their brand, website, product, etc. Almost universally when 2 or more options are presented the client immediately begin pulling aspects of each design and start pushing them together… Or worse yet, they come with a new idea of what everything should look like and ask if one or both of the options could be incorporated into that new idea.
More and more my answer is becoming no.
Not because I’m a jerk - Maybe I am.
Regardless the point is this. We live in an over saturated culture. Maybe you remember when you were younger, your parents would say, “You can be anything you want, the possiblities are endless, etc”. But in an effort to reach out for the best… No, the perfect option with hundreds of features for every audience imaginable (young-fresh-sophisiticated-edgy-powerful-delicate-intriguing-colorful-simple-exciting)… The client and the designer both become completely and hopelessly dissatisfied.
It’s no ones fault but everyone feels worse for it.
In the future - Push for one great idea. There are no perfect ideas. But a well executed, simple idea is more powerful than 100 iterations that still hasn’t launched.
—
there are badly stated problems in basic design, stressing pure aesthetics, free expression, without any restraints or practical goals. Such a problem may be posed in this fashion: arrange a group of geometric shapes in any manner you see fit, using any number of colors, to make a pleasing pattern. The results of such vagaries are sometimes pretty, but mostly meaningless or monotonous. The student has the illusion of creating great art in an atmosphere of freedom, when in fact he is handicapped by the absence of certain disciplines which would evoke ideas, make playing with those ideas possible, work absorbing, and results interesting.
Paul Rand
We all know this is true. I keep seeing great artists go into the design world with a sense of superiority just because they can draw. Don’t get me wrong, drawing is a great tool but in the design world it can’t compete with a great concept/message/idea/etc. Art could stand to help some work’s aesthetic but as a whole making something the visual equivalent of frosting on a cake will serve to do about just as much good as sugary frosting…
1. It is accurracte accross a variety of mediums
2. It’s easily scaleable.
3. Looks great after being Xeroxed
4. Friendly for those of us who are colorblind
5. Anyone can print a color-correct copy.
6. You only need one Pen.
7. It works inversely.
8. It doesn’t get any more clear or consistent
9. Works with every other color scheme.
10. RGB? CMYK? GREYSCALE!!
If you’ve ever had those Hours, Days, Weeks of inspiration you’ll know that its probably harder not to start working on great ideas than to just sit on them.
Unfortunately. Most people do.
They just sit on great ideas.
Most of us are just waiting until all the pieces fall into place while that only thing we need to do is take the first step to make something happen.