WHO ARE THE CLIENTS?
Who are the clients? What do they sell? Who do they sell to? Where do they do it, and how do we reach the customers?
These
are the basic questions that would be asked at any early briefing
meeting. Although many hours could be spent answering these questions,
they aren't much fun and you won't give you the sort of detailed
picture you need to do a good job. Moreover, you may not have your
proposal accepted and you will have to do the conceptual work all over
again. Very boring. And just think of the extra studio time you will
need.
There are far more interesting questions you could and should ask.
First of all there is the mother of all questions: who's in charge and who pays the bill?
Even
if you think they are of unsound mind and in need of serious
rehabilitation, you will probably want to pay some attention to their
suggestions, wants and desires.
So much for the chief, now for the indians.
Who do they think they are? What is their self-image? What is their motivation?
Sometimes you get lucky and have to deal with just one person. Oh, bliss!
On the other hand, fate might come and bite you on the bum with an incongruous group of yuppies.
It
may become clear that these people would rather suck radium than agree
with another group member's idea. The game, you see, is not to get a
design solution, it is to win. The prize is not an increase in sales;
it is an increase in status, salary, car parking space and that
all-important corner office.
Be careful not to get distracted and
start asking questions like 'How do you see the campaign structure?' Or
worse, 'Is this what you wanted?'
Under no circumstances
ask whether they like your work. The answer will always be qualified
and you will open the floodgates of intrusive (and loaded) opinion. The
answer will be from another planet.
You could try your
hand at a spot of brinkmanship yourself and suggest that you are quite
prepared to incorporate their suggestions (because they will improve
the job so much!). You then thank them so much for taking such a brave
decision given that this will take you past the drop deadline. You are
sure that the chief will understand given that this island of an idea
is so good. Yes, brave it is.
You must regard the briefing
meeting at the client's office as gladiators regarded their pre-event
instructions or adventurers on safari regard their guide's friendly
advice on how not to get eaten. There are no heats; only finals.
The
difference between art direction/design and sport is that, in sport,
you have rules, a coach, umpires or referees, a clock with no
elasticity, and only two sides are playing.
There are many
intangibles with creative pursuits. From a designer's point of view
almost the whole thing is as solid as fog. What makes matters worse,
designers without exception have a mind's eye. They can all picture
what it will look like, even down to shades of a colour and the hint of
a smile. Whereas the client may be tone deaf and have to read large
print books.
What is nice in high level sport is that the
judges are invariably past competitors. They know the objectives
intimately, can empathise with the competitors' problems and understand
what it takes to make the grade. They may even care about the pain and
suffering. Now there's a thing.
You may think that this is a
little cynical, and you would be right. Not all client relationships
are like this and I have known some that are made in heaven. What I
have learned is that if a job is painful, tedious and boring to put
together, it shows. If the creation is hard because you don't
understand then ... well, you don't understand.
It's all in the mind, you know.
About this article
The above article is reprinted from Design Graphics, with permission.
Colin Wood
Colin Wood founded Design World magazine in 1983 and it became one of
the world's largest selling generalist design magazines. He published
it for 12 years in all. From 1990 to 1993 he published a large format
generalist magazine for Australia (only) entitled Design Ink. In 1993
this was relaunched internationally as Design Graphics. He also
publishes the annual Art & Design Education Resource Guide for
Australia and New Zealand, now in its 17th year. Next year sees the
publication of the second Oz Graphix, an annual showcase of the best
graphic design from top Australian studios.
Design Graphics
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