How to develop and give creative direction.

Let’s address timing first. When should creative direction be delivered? Many people provide creative direction during the design development process as opposed to before it begins. In my experience, this is problematic.

The best creative directors I know give robust and clear direction before design development begins because they want their creatives aligned. They want work to emerge from fresh information and sound strategy.

Before the design development process begins, minds are open. As client, we are in a position to set the agenda and focus the conversation. Since work hasn’t commenced, nobody has developed any attachments to particular directions or concepts.

Front-loading the process disables assumptions, draws distinctions, and sparks insights.

Driving a winning creative process isn’t like driving a car.

George Carlin wittily observed, “Ever notice that anyone going slower than you is an idiot, but anyone going faster is a maniac?”

When we’re driving, most of us think that our judgment is the only correct judgment. Unfortunately, a lot of us think that giving creative direction is akin to driving. We think that giving direction is a real-time exercise. “Slow down. Turn left. Take the next right onto the service road.” 

Imagine that you run a long-haul trucking company. Are you likely to instruct your truck driver to deliver his load to a particular destination, or are you going withhold the address, climb up into the shotgun seat, and commence giving directions on a piecemeal basis? This would be an hilarious scenario if it were not so common and so counterproductive in developing good creative work.

Some people think they need to see conceptual design drafts before they can judge whether they like the concept and how it might be executed. This is one legitimate way to work, however it tends to start things off on a negative foot. When most people are asked for feedback, what they hear is “Tell me how this could be better” or “What’s wrong with this.” This tends to drive the conversation and the dynamic to a negative place.

It’s much more constructive to give robust direction early, then choose among options that are right. This focuses the conversation on what’s working and it also helps build a positive and constructive atmosphere within which your creatives are likely to give you better work. Your chances of getting a number of good, on-strategy options goes up when you give creative direction early.

If you find yourself giving strategy direction once the process is underway, it might be a sign that your briefing process needs work. This is not to say that the creative direction process isn’t ongoing; it happens throughout the development process. What takes place once creative development is underway is primarily winnowing and suggestions to develop particular ideas further. If the briefing process is working, we’re choosing among options that are all more or less on strategy. We’re not trying to get the process on-strategy.

How to develop an effective creative brief.

Good creative direction results from a disciplined marketing methodology, the product of which is a creative brief document that clients provide to their agency or design team before the design development process begins.

If you have a style guide, make sure that you provide it before the design development process begins, as well. Your style guide will save your design team a lot of time and, presumably, will save you a lot of money.

A good creative brief answers both strategic and practical questions in clear and simple terms:

1. How will creative products help achieve business goals?
2. What are your communication goals and objectives?
3. What specific concerns or information – e.g. contemporary vs. classical look, legibility, brand personality, brand values, etc. – should be considered in design development?
4. What behavioral outcome(s) is the product intended to accomplish?
5. Who are the target audiences? What is their gender, age, education, lifestyle, economic status, social status, marital status, parental status? What is their past and projected relationship to the products or services being marketed?
6. How will the creative product(s) be used by the target audiences?
7. How will the creative product(s) be distributed? If the design deliverable(s) will be used across multiple channels, make sure the design team knows this before the design development process begins.
8. What is the manufacturing (printing, web design, etc.) budget?
9. What is the timetable for manufacture/implementation and distribution?