The Power of Creative
One of the reasons the agency business has survived all of its downs is the simple fact that most agencies are better at coming up with ideas than their clients. Between managing budgets and deadlines, agencies can only succeed in the idea business if you invest time in people to think, to plan, to scheme and to dream. Besides books, blogs and conferences, exercises such as brainstorming between employees and internal award competitions foster the flow of good ideas. A cool creative workspace with some injected personality further encourages taking your creative thoughts to another level.
What's Good Enough?
You might argue that your budget and deadline don't allow for stellar ideas that are set apart from the average. Every client needs his project designed and produced yesterday. Most jobs don't allow for big time cushions to utilize the full creative gamut and pull in every team member. Do you feel trapped by just trying get a project out the door while staying away from the box labeled "generic?" While some projects just have to get done, no matter what, other projects may allow you to "steal" time or let ideas evolve over time. Keep a notebook with you wherever you go to jot down what you observe and discover. Find ways to present thumbnail sketches to clients as well, before fleshing out final renderings that eat up time. Meditate on your and other designs and contemplate a solution outside the hours you are actively working on a project. Push your designs by implementing feedback from others. Do you keep ideas handy to revisit? A growing idea morgue will become a treasure for the next creative challenge. What do you do with the countless concepts presented to a client that did not make the final cut? Instead of discarding them, (digitally) file them away and pull bits and pieces for new projects to bring them back to life. A morphed combination of these ideas can evolve into an unimagined treasure and the key to beat a tight deadline next time around. Every employee prides himself in getting a job done under time, no matter what the budget, but hours should not always get in the way of producing a project that your team can be proud of. The bottom line: Don't accept mediocrity!
Tags:
Branding, Design, Website Design