Comments on: Can you rescue your ideas?

By: » Tips Designers Must Use When Working with a Committee :: Positive Space Blog

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 03:00:00 +0000

[...] Setting goals (which you should be doing anyways) is what will help you avoid those infuriating hidden agendas and conflicting views. By having measurable goals to relate design decisions to you can avoid personal opinion and being outnumbered by group think. For help setting goals check out Eric Karjuto’s article “Can you rescue your ideas?” [...]

By: » Design Processes & Why Every Designer Needs One :: Positive Space :: The Graphic Design Blog

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:34:24 +0000

[...] Behance Magazine - Tip: Focus on Results, Not Time Ideas on Ideas - Can you rescue your ideas? [...]

By: Zinni

Zinni — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:23:00 +0000

Eric,

It is exactly the way I have been leaning, we did this with one client who was completely uneducated in process of working with a design agency and it turned out for the best. I also like the idea because it forces us to make a justified decision and really own it, I like accountability because it forces people into critical thinking...

By: Eric Karjaluoto

Eric Karjaluoto — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:06:25 +0000

Hi Zinni,

We used to present multiple concepts, but ultimately found that it wasn't very productive to do so. Instead, we generate many concepts in the studio, and then edit down the options to the one that solves the problem best.

Some clients find this difficult. These people want multiple flavors to select from. Unfortunately, what instead tends to happen in such situations is a lack of focus.

Since starting to present only one option, we've found that our projects run much more smoothly. In part, this is because we're all talking about the same thing, and not a collection of different possibilities.

I highly encourage you to do the same. It has made a world of difference for us and our clients. :-)

Cheers!

Eric

By: Zinni

Zinni — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:02:05 +0000

I was reading over this article again and it made me wonder whether smashLAB presents 1 concept or numerous ones. I am trying to get our team to do more of this and the question of "should we still show 3 concepts or just our favorite?" has come up quite a bit.

By: Ginger Conlon

Ginger Conlon — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:16:45 +0000

Eric,
Great advice. I think anyone who presents ideas--salespeople, speakers, etc.--could pull elements from this to improve their results. (I know I will!)
Thanks.

By: kadavy

kadavy — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 02:15:46 +0000

LaurenMarie, I have some remote clients, and I like to present my solutions in the form of a multi-page PDF, PowerPoint presentation, or a Google Docs Presentation. I make a series of slides that briefly builds through the process, and present the solution on the final side. I find that if I just attach a JPEG and explain in the e-mail, the client will often just switch right to the JPEG and draw a hasty conclusion.

By: David Mullen

David Mullen — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:58:15 +0000

VERY relevant post!

I was talking to a few of our junior art directors and copywriters a couple months or so ago about their thoughts on taking a presentation skills workshop to help them get comfortable with creative presentations.

One of them said something along the lines of "the work speaks for itself." I said, "Not if anyone's not looking or listening because you haven't captured them. A great idea is worthless if you can't sell it to the client." He saw the point and agreed.

Since then, we've brought in an outside expert to hold seminars for any of our folks from any expertise area to attend and polish their preso skills.

Thanks for sharing!

By: Zinni

Zinni — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 03:06:55 +0000

I agree 100% with what you have written, but as you say unfortunately ideas still get killed. One thing that I have found to be extremely helpful if a presentation starts to get way out of control is to review the project objectives over again and have the client tell how their comments would help meet those goals. This helps combat the "can we try it in green" or "maybe a more fun font would be better?" comments. I will actually write down all the comments and then we will relate them back to the objectives together this usually removes about 75% of the "suggestions"

By: ben

ben — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:18:33 +0000

Good stuff Eric. Peter L. Philips goes into detail on this subject in 'Creating the Perfect Design Brief' as well. He makes a good point which is to consider the client as a partner rather than a client (he writes from the perspective of an internal design group which perhaps makes this easier but I think it's still a good stance to take when working with external clients). This reinforces the idea that you are there to help their business be more successful rather than just doing some pretty but non-functional designs and running off with a pay-cheque. It all contributes towards clients taking design more seriously and recognising the true benefits it can bring to their business.