Sometimes I wake up and nothing is making sense. I've hesitated with these graphics for hours, and when I seem to have figured out a decent layout, fonts just don't seem to fit. Time and client-pressured, nonetheless, I manage to pull out something that looks...well...OK. But if you're anything like me OK is just a label for Oklahoma, not something that you want to call your amazing, mind-blasting work. Right?
So this is what a perfectionist designer does when sketches are less than perfect, and creativity doesn't want to wake up -- when you need her the most.
Back to the Start
OK, so that's when I decide to scrap everything. For us designers that also means scrapping a bit of our own ego and time, as we feel that every little vector or snippet is our absolutely most powerful work of art. And yet it isn't. And when it isn't, less is lost if we just start again from 0. This is something that can take years to learn, but just as a thinking exercise, think about what other "completely outrageous" idea you could come up with at this point. I've had entire projects changed after a considerable time investment, but that's OK. It pays off.
Open your eyes
People in the industry will call this an "Advertising Audit", where you check out everything that's been done before to get a sense for what the brand/company is, sounds like, feels like, and how it's touched its customer base in the past. Also, please tell your egocentric inner friend to shut up and start reading other people's blogs. This should be enjoyable. Forget about lengthy, tedious, academic journals. I'm talking empirical research here. Rich, inspiring media, like videos, music files, image galleries, activation campaigns, blog posts, everything --thank God-- is online.
Live the brand
As with everything else, there's also a fancy name for this. It's called brand experience analysis, and it is basically you taking the product/service you are advertising for and going through the regular customer's experience. What does it feel like? If it were a person, what would it be like? How would it talk to others? What would its favorite movie be? All these questions, though rather abstract, have helped me come up with authentic campaigns. After all, if your ads don't sound like your brand speaking, they'll sound like you are, and that completely defeats the point. People hate advertisers.
Color, color, color!
For me, everything usually starts with a simple color palette. There are many great websites to find these, but I absolutely love Colourlovers. This will just make your design more cohesive, as you stick to a few coordinated hues to execute everything.
Type Wonderland
If color gets design started, it's definitely Type that fuels it up. However, there are so many free/cheap typefaces out there that the task can be daunting. Fortunately, though, many others have blogged about fab typefaces that serve specific purposes. What's yours?
These few, yet powerful steps should be enough to get you in the right direction. Hey, if you're stuck, how about sending me your work and we'll figure it out? Sounds good? Awesome.
