Business Strategy

In the office we have a paper hung on the wall that reads:

1) Sit down.
2) Get a brilliant idea.
3) Start figuring out how to get this idea to work. Don’t touch a thing before you got it sorted out.
4) Start messing around. You will learn that your initial idea was a bunch of crap. Start working on a new one.
5) Show your stuff to your friends/colleagues. Ignore them if they tell you it looks like shit, because you know it is great.

When I first started in graphic design, I used to get upset when my colleagues at the time didn’t like my design work. Not any more. I realize not every design works for every business.

Currently, we’re in the middle of a huge e-commerce web site and our initial look and feel comps didn’t go over as expected. We always review design work with outside consultants to get an initial review. On this particular project, the initial outside reviews were great. Everyone loved the comps! Everyone, except the client.

Okay, so rule number 5 won’t work in this situation. We can’t ignore our client. Which brings us to rule number 6: No matter how good your design is, somebody has to buy it. Respect those people. You need them. Big time.

So, we’re back to our initial wireframe.