Design Philosophy 13.February.2008
For a design to be impactful, for it to be powerful and successful, it must be true. The first aspect that a design must be true to is the brand. The brand is more than a style guide, it is the DNA of an organization–deep down, who they are and who they are becoming. If one were to meet the CEO, and look at her business card, the two should both reflect the same brand. If a potential client is hoping for a fresh coat of whitewash, they should be greeted with a heathy dose of consulting before any conversion about deliverables begins.
Secondly, the design must be true to the goals of the project. The goals are like a mariner’s North Star. No matter what, at every stage of the design the product should be nothing if not inching toward to the ultimate goals that both sides have agreed to. The goals are what measure success and define failure. A design does not “look good” unless everything about it hits the goals. By the end of every project the creative team should virtually be able to recite the product’s goals from memory.
The reasoning behind design choices must also be true. We don’t “think your customers will respond to this ad.” We know based on some shred of data. Maybe that is an informal poll, maybe careful research, maybe demographic data, but in the end there will be no “maybe” about its potential effectiveness. The client can be confident in the final product, even if they thought that red logo should have been green.
Lastly, any design must be true to the budget. If the design is over budget, we are in a sense breaking our side of the contract. This is important for profitability and important in evaluating the success of a design strategy. Crap happens, and there is only so much one can do when technical issues arise. But “true to the budget” means that a product is not over budget because someone got carried away, lost track of time, or worse yet, didn’t even know what the budget was.