Your Perfect Concept Probably Isn't

After working as a graphic designer in the music industry for over a decade I was ready to start my own agency. I had worked with acts like Linkin Park, Bon Jovi and Snoop Dogg and I wanted to create something of my own that would draw in this kind of clientele.

It needed a name that would communicate savviness in the biz and daring irreverence - because I wanted to separate myself from the “corporates”. At the same time I knew I wanted local non-music clients and would need to communicate legitimacy and trustworthiness.

Without the slightest doubt in my mind I decided my agency (with no clients) would have two names. I named the music-facing side of my company 1kA.ca and the local business-facing arm Martin Gomez International. 

Looking back on these two names (both of which were abandoned immediately after sharing them with my horrified colleagues) I’m mostly terrified by how close I came to naming my company not one but two disturbingly wack names.

1kA.ca was short for One Thousand Amps because I was going to amplify the brands of bands (1kA being how they might say it in the streets). I’ve since had it pointed out to me how close I came to having a name that read like kaka and how the other name sounded like a dollar bin shampoo brand. It was also a bad idea to give one company two names.

Ultimately, we named the company Fancy Boys which counter-intuitively created so many instantaneous jokes people assumed I was in on them. And that’s cooler maybe.

For years and still today people tell me they loved that name.

The Danger of the Single Option

This brush with near-disaster taught me something critical about the creative process: your first idea can feel so inevitable to you that you can lock into something that was never even close to the right idea.

In previous issues, we’ve touched on how this can limit your creative process at the initial sparks stage but it becomes a much bigger liability when it’s time to present to clients.

Sometimes you've been carrying a single idea from the beginning of the project. Maybe something came to you in the mood board process and the illusion of finality makes you you keep circling it in your mind. Maybe you've even been bending your whole discovery process toward it. Now you're thinking of presenting one option.

This is risky.

Presenting a single option is possible, but it can easily result in:

1. Looking like you're lazy

2. Making the client feel like their input isn't valued

3. Presenting a completely wrong solution

Three Is the Magic Number

I like presenting three options. Why three options?

This could be subjective, but I've always felt like two begs too much comparison and makes it feel like they have to identify the right and wrong version of everything.

More than three starts to devalue the ideas in my mind. Three feels like plenty but still few enough that they can all be strong.

Three Ways to Three

The Easy Way: Variations on a Theme

The easiest way to do it is to break up every facet of your concept into different options. It may be one core idea but here's multiple colour schemes, here's multiple type treatments or texture options, etc.

This may feel like cheating but you can avoid the client feeling like you've left them out of this step if they've been very included throughout the process so far.

What was the discovery process like? How did they react to the mood boards?

It is possible to get away with showing a single option if the relationship is strong and they've felt heard and included in the process.

The Even Easier Way: Mr. Potato Head Method

The even easier way to cobble three concepts out of one is hitting the "randomizer" on all those facets for three distinct combos. You can pick one tagline, one photo, one logo etc for each and voila, three completely different options. It's kind of like playing Mr. Potato Head with three potatoes.

This would be difficult to ensure value on something like a logo but on larger items like websites, print ads or whole campaigns it can effectively present a lot of variety.

This is the easiest option and for that reason, unsurprisingly, it's the one with the most risk of making you look like you didn’t do much.

The Hardest Way: Three Truly Unique Options

Ok so the wrong way to approach this option is to take one single, best idea you love all the way from spark to materialized concept and then stop and say "ok now two more".

Recreating the process that led to "the best option" three times and hoping they'll be unique is exhausting but maybe you’ve left yourself a little help.

In previous issues we talked about writing down ideas before they're fully formed and not thinking too much when you pull images together for a mood board. That kind of intuition becomes critical now when you need to pull on more threads to form multiple directions.

If you’ve kept things loose and open-minded early in the process, it's easy to go back and find little bits of things you loved, but maybe didn’t know why at the time.

If you find yourself, despite your efforts, trying to make a big second idea after you've already produced a great one, you gotta go back to your initial notes and discovery process and find those threads.

If you didn't take any notes or discover all that much, you have to run through that process again.

Take it back to the core initial feelings presented by the problem you’ve been asked to solve.

Timing Can Change Everything

How quickly you show the concept can greatly impact how many options you need to show.

Sometimes I tell the client I'll get them three concepts in two weeks but after one week I contact them and say I have a single concept I want to show them that I'm very excited about. If they love it, we've saved time and effort.

But feel your client out - it's normal for a paying customer to want to see everything they've paid for.

Frankensteining: Part of the Process

Clients will invariably want to mix and match parts of concepts. Allowing leeway for this is a critical part of making them feel included in the process.

Remember: in Frankenstein the monster wasn't the misunderstood undead creature. It's the maniacal creator who didn't listen to anyone's input.

Don't Bring the Dog to the Pony Show

It might occur to you to present something you know is not a great solution, thinking that it will only serve to make your favourite option shine all the brighter. I call this bringing the dog to the pony show.

This only angers the ancient Gods of creative process and they will punish your hubris by making the client choose the dog. Every single time. Don't do it.

Further Reading

This issue was part four of a five-part series on the creative process. In a lot of ways this issue was about making sure you take a robust approach to your initial steps at the beginning of the process. Read up on those in: You're Not a Creative Vending Machine and find the other issues and more here.

The One-Question Interview

Working Creative: When you get your first thread of an idea, what do you do next?

Warren Fu: When you get that initial spark of inspiration it’s important to take note of that feeling.

It’s precious and it's sometimes scary because as you start to follow that lead you don’t want to fork off into a different thread and go down the wrong path.

WHY is it exciting to you on an emotional level? Is it beautifully sad? Does it get you hyped? Is it the humour or cheeky sarcasm?

As you work on detailing things out there can be a tendency to forget about that initial thing that got you excited and get lost in the details of execution.

Then the important thing is to make sure, as you progress on the project, that you always refer back to that initial feeling because that is the same thing you want your audience or viewers to feel.  

Bonus Question:

Working Creative: What do you imagine/picture/visualize when you hear/read the words “Working Creative”?

Warren Fu: I picture someone insufferable with Allbirds® sneakers.

Parting Thought

Every project is going to be different because people are different. Some clients will want to review three polished presentations in the hopes of picking the best and some will want to be part of the creative process with you. There’s no hard and fast rule other than to work out what the client prefers and agree on expectations. You set the boundaries but remember that they’re paying, so they need to understand what they’re getting. It’s the one thing that works in all situations: good communication.

In the words of famed UK post-punk act Talk Talk: “Talk Talk”