WES JONES

Any successful partnership is much more than showing up and doing the work. Here’s how to make it last.

All that matters is the quality of the work.

That statement is untrue.

Usually when someone is looking to hire creatives for a project they end up choosing the team based on the quality of their work and their presentation. Even after the account has been open for a while they still say that it’s the work that matters. Yet more than any other reason these partnerships end due to a breakdown in the relationship.

We understand now that creatives want to create work that pushes boundaries, and that companies/brands want work that leaps past their competition and positions them higher than they were before. And while on paper they are on the same page, there is often more that goes into it than just agreeing on the final outcome.

So how do we get there?

In order to reach the level of creating brilliant work that’s ahead of it’s time you have to focus on the relationship. Great work will get business, but the relationship will keep it. This isn’t a relationship as in going out for lunch and having a great time; though that is part of it. The sort of relationship that this needs is one that’s focused on building trust. One where you ask the right questions, fully understand the company and its culture, meet deadlines, manage expectations, and above all take ownership of what you do.

People will often take less talent, as long as you are easier to work with.

Getting there takes time, but once you do you’ll realize it’s no longer two sides at work. Rather it’s a team, and when one wins, everyone does, and when there’s a mistake they’ll work together to figure it out. When there’s trust on both sides the ability to take risks and the desire to do great work will flourish.

Would you be ready to improvise if something didn’t go according to plan? Here’s what to do to make that possible.

How soft are you? Really, I’m interested in knowing.

I’m not talking about how many times a week you work out or anything like that. That’s not what I’m getting at.

I talk about being effective vs. being efficient, and the true costs of working in a creative field, and here is another way you can be more valuable.

I’m talking about Soft Skills. The skills that may not be your strong point, your true bread & butter expertise, but the ones that compliment it. You probably won’t be able to pull off an entire project with them, and in fact they may just be a very minor and surface knowledge. But the point is that you have them, and that by being able to reference them you will be able to offer insight into other projects.

Everyone is going to have and interest in one particular field that makes them unique. One certain set of skills that they have a deep knowledge and understanding of. They can ‘own’ those aspects of a project, and that’s what makes them an effective team member. But that’s not where their value comes from. Their value comes from their soft skills. The things spread out on top that they can dip into to provide more knowledge and an added perspective.

Look at it this way as, Tim Brown, described it best. You want your skills to resemble a ‘T’ shape. A wholesome understanding in one area, the ‘I’ part. Married along with a broad base of knowledge in many other areas, the ‘-’ part.

Having these layered skills is all part of being ready and agile when a challenge is presented. It’s like how any stage actor has to be ready. They can prepare all they like, but once they walk through the door they could throw out the script because anything can happen. Only the ones with a keen sense of awareness will be able to adapt and walk away knowing that they owned their performance.

You can see from this that just the ‘I’ part alone is useful, but it’s with both that will make you indispensable. So when it comes down to it, it’s the ‘-’ part that really makes you valuable.

I talk with designer and critic Richard Baird about social trends and what its like translating skills across platforms.

Wes Jones: Hey Richard, thanks for taking the time, I’ve been looking forward to talking with you as I think you have a unique position in the design/branding industry and I’d like to know more about it.

For those who don’t know though, let’s start with who you are and what you do?

Richard Baird: Hi Wes, my name is Richard Baird and I’m a British freelance designer and design writer – currently living in Prague – who specialises in the development of visual identities and packaging. I’ve written for Design Week, Brand New and Computer Arts, have an ongoing role as a critic for The Dieline, write daily reviews for my blog BP&O and curate articles for the student and young designer resource Design Survival.

WJ: Very cool. Now I know you began by studying furniture and product design, what led you there? Did you see it translating into what you are doing now? (If so) When did those links start forming?

RB: Design for me emerged as an interest in secondary school with what I perceived at the time as a 2d/3d conflict, enjoying both graphic design and design technology in equal measure. When it came to university I simply allowed the course, related opportunities and preferred location to settle the issue. This lead to four years of furniture and product design. There was a bit of a crossover in the branding of the final degree show – where I managed the visual identity and print work – but nothing formally educative, this did however reignite my interest in the discipline.

Following university I freelanced as a designer at a small furniture business. Its size and the entrepreneurial spirit of the owner provided me with furniture, brand identity and packaging design opportunities – all of which were self directed – from which I built a portfolio – again these weren’t educative with a fair amount of trial and error but did provide me with a period of paid, practical experience.

This commercial experience and the appreciation of materials, processes and cost I gained within a furniture design environment has certainly benefitted me now as my projects are a little broader, but to begin with I honestly felt I was learning to be a graphic designer from the ground up.

WJ: How do you feel about taking a direct, more formal, route to a creative career, or approaching it in a non-traditional way? I can see advantages to both, but from someone whose done it, what was your experience?

RB: Both routes are clearly viable. I’d say a formal education will get an aspiring designer up to speed a lot faster than learning on the fly and will certainly help to avoid making any costly mistakes. For me education is now more of commercial enterprise that overpromises and takes advantage of people with an interest but not the ability. If a designer chooses to go straight into freelancing and learn on the job they’ll find out pretty quickly whether or not he or she can make it work commercially. If I was to start again I’d be on the look out for internships rather than University courses or freelancing.

WJ: What is it about design that keeps you inspired and engaged with what you’re doing?

RB: Its very cyclical nature, the patterns and reoccurring tools of communication and the way these are adapted into new environments and their frequently compounded, distilled or reinterpreted nature. Writing about design on a daily basis really brings these to light and allows me to build a kit of communicable cues that cover both digital and physical brand interactions.

Richard writes for The Dieline, the leading packaging design website, where he separates the good from the bad, and breaks down the design and branding that went into each product.

WJ: You wrote a great article (Helvetica v. Lobster) about following trends vs. designing for longevity. What sort of things were you seeing that made you realize this was happening, and what do you think will be the result of it in the future?

RB: I now live in the Czech Republic, a country I’ve found isn’t really at the forefront of graphic design, seeing the obvious proliferation of one particular typeface in this part of the world across a broad variety of contexts really got me interested in what influences saturation, how this effects communicative value and how I should respond within my own work.

The black and white of it is either a world of pure information or one of communicative confusion, the reality is that we’ll continue to exist in the grey. A place of functionality and beauty – created by the educated and principled but also one of visual noise and incoherence – the result of a rise in the underpaid, and under-skilled, the perceived accessibility of design and the increasing price of education. The trend for more expansively ‘designed environments’ (large-scale identities that take advantage of a convergence of art, craft and architecture) will hopefully lead to less noise when journeying between ‘brand destinations’.

WJ: What really strikes me about you is that while you are a designer, you are also an editor and critic on The Dieline. I’d love to know more about what it’s like being both a designer and then also being on the other side of it as a critic?

RB: It’s perhaps been the smartest career choice I’ve made, without an educative background in packaging and identity design looking at every piece of work from an analytical stand point – attempting to understand exactly why each decision was made, much like reverse engineering – has really helped get me up to speed and foster an acute and enquiring mind.

This analytical process typically unearths key communicative tools that underpin most pieces of design. I believe that once you have and understand these tools and their origins you can remix and cross pollinate them while retaining communicative effectiveness. It’s this appropriation, compounding and reinterpretation that I believe leads to originality, if you don’t understand them they’ll be ineffective or abstract.

WJ: I know everyone says that they are their own worst critic, but how has writing for The Dieline and your blog BP&O affected and influenced they way you approach your work when you start a new project?

RB: Simply looking at the work of others isn’t enough, the search for inspiration tends to be an aesthetic exercise rather than the pursuit of understanding, interpretation and reinterpretation. I’ve consciously chosen to split my working week 50/50 between design and writing. Contemplation followed by written review has allowed me to absorb a lot more practical information than perhaps formal education may have done. It has also encouraged me to develop a clearer and tangible design process built around my own philosophies that aim to provide clear communicative rather than superfluous value to my projects.

WJ: You describe yourself as a minimalist when it comes to designing. What sort of process do you have that you use to keep the end product inline with your vision?

RB: I wouldn’t describe myself as a minimalist (my website simply outlines my interests) I am however very keen on developing my own philosophies. Presently I’d say I have a reductionist approach. This involves a strategy that aims to understand and draw together key values and communicative goals, that distills these down into simple and relatable ideas, assigning visual cues and executing these across a variety of assets. I’m always striving for a visual purity by stripping away any unnecessary embellishments, this doesn’t necessarily mean the solution will be minimal – it could very well be rich and diverse – but will ideally be cohesive and clear.

WJ: Do you have any personal projects that you’d like to tell about? Or what can we expect to see from you coming up and what kind of work would you like to be doing more of?

RB: My time, when not designing or writing for The Dieline, is largely spent on my blogs BP&O and Design Survival which I hope to continue to grow throughout 2013, I also hope to continue to work with small businesses and expand on my design philosophies through new articles and fostering relationships with designers and agencies.

WJ: Perfect! This was great, thanks Richard.

For more on Richard and what he does follow him through these channels: Facebook, Twitter, his blog BP&O, and his other blog Design Survival.

Saying NO has more power than saying YES.

No, No, No, and… No!

I’m making that my new favorite word.

One thing I hate doing is making plans fully knowing that I’ll never follow through.. I have too much going on, I already had plans or something else came up, and sometimes I just don’t feel like it. It drives me crazy and is something that I realized I need to work on.

No opens doors that yes would have kept closed.

First I thought that every time I said yes to something that no matter what, I would ensure that I did it. That way I’d never have to make those empty promises that were broken before they were made. And on top of that I’d get out more and experience different things.

But I realized that there are those things I just don’t want to do, and those were the plans I was backing out on. I wasn’t interested, and invariably I wouldn’t put the energy into making it happen. And that’s when I realized all I have to do is start saying NO.

It’s gorgeous. By saying no, you never have to worry if you have time for something, or how you could fit it into your schedule. You only do the things that interest you.

No offers immense freedom. By saying ‘yes’ to too many things you limit yourself so that when something interesting comes along you don’t have the ability to take advantage of the opportunity. You already have too much going on. Saying no solves that problem. It puts you in control of what you want to put your energy into and the results that you want to see.

Think about how this could affect your creative work; the things you though you didn’t have time for. By doing this I’d bet you’d be able to free up more time to work on the things you would rather do. Use the same strategy of saying no for choosing your clients too. You are just as much involved about picking who you want to work with as those that are hiring you. Stop working on the projects that don’t challenge you, the ones that don’t dance on the edge. Forget them and start putting more energy into the ones that do.

The one thing about saying NO, is that everything you say YES to requires nothing less than your full focus and energy. And then some.

A brand needs to be more than just the products they make.

A brand used to be just the company behind a product. A name for the place that someone worked at.

The brand was almost separate from what was being sold. It was the controller for the product and a conduit for the company to project their message. A brand had no personality.

Now a brand has to be much more. Rather than the communication between a brand and its customers being a one way interaction. It is now an active conversation between the brand and those who support it.

A brand is not only defined by what it says it is, but also by how others perceive it.

With so many products saturating each market, the consumer has a number of options that they can choose from to satisfy their need. The brands that are able to actively engage their customers in more ways than just with their product are going to be the ones who win out.

A brand can no longer shout their message to the masses and hope it sticks. What a brand needs, and what they have to rely on are their Brand Ambassadors. Those people who feel a close connection with what the company stands for, and the mission it has. These are the people that will spread the message of the brand, and will ultimately build up its customer loyalty.

Just as you’re more likely to trust what your friend has to say than the crazy guy who’s shouting at everyone on the street, the same goes for a brand. People are going to trust who they know, and if they sense that a brand is only fronting their message for some other motive they’ll be quick to find something they feel is more authentic.

They want to feel that who they are buying from understands who they are and what they need. That they agree with on the same things and feel as if they could help eachother. That the brand needs them as much as they need the products. They want to be able to have a conversation with the brand, than be talked at.

They want to buy things from their best friend.

How can you trust these people to tell you what they need?

Here is the wrong way to do it.

I think, because I’ve found myself doing it, that when people try and come up with some revolutionary, out of the box idea that will solve a problem that people didn’t know they had until you provided the solution. That you are suppose to look to those people to see and ask them what kinds of problems they have. Hoping that this will give you a place to start.

However, as much as people say they know what they want and need. They really have no idea.

Take a look at any of the products that changed industries. They didn’t happen because the majority of people thought it was needed. No, it happened because a select few people told them what they had to offer and why it should be important to them. Some even thought that the internet was bound to fail, and look at how that turned out. The world has completely changed because of it.

This is a difficult position to be in. How do you make a product that will be successful, but not be able to have your target audience help guide you? It’d seem like you’re shooting arrows in the dark. And essentially you are. But while you can’t rely on them, you can live with those people to find out what they do, how they act, and how you could possibly help them.

The trick is to always be two steps ahead, otherwise everything you do will be inline with what they expect to come and won’t have any likeness of being revolutionary.

The thing that’s more important than the work you produce.

It’s hard not to catch yourself thinking that if all I do is create great work then it would be criminal for others not to notice. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you do, or how you do it as long as the work can stand for itself, everything will work out.

As much as we all wish that to be true. Great work is only a part of it. And really it’s actually a pretty small part of it.

Don’t get me wrong. There is a threshold for your work. Doing good work is your ticket to entry. Your way of getting to walk through the door and step up to the plate. The work has to be good. But the things that separate good work from great work, are not the technical and subtle parts of your craft that will make the difference.

No. It will be how you interact with your clients and how you present yourself.

Image Is Everything
Put yourself in place of the people looking to hire you. You do the best work, it’s edgy, it’s on target, people love it, but you are hard to work with. The work can impress those across the table, but that’s not what they are thinking about. All of the firms they are talking with can achieve the same kind of results that you can, just in a different way.

What they are judging you on is how you present yourself, and more importantly how they think you will be able to work together. They want people who they can have fun with, and who hold the same values, and that when it comes down to it they have respect for the other person even when the opinions differ so that no matter how a discussion or debate goes they can trust that you are all still on the same side.

Relationship
You have to put the relationship first, and that means you have to check yourself at the door. It’s not about credit and recognition, that will all come and it’s great to have, but that can’t be the motivation behind the work. Because it will be selfish, and it will show.

Ask what your client thinks, what are their opinions, what would they do differently, and how do they feel about a certain direction. Make them in charge of what they want to see. Make them accountable because it will give you more range when you want to push the edge a little bit further. It will make sense to them because they were a part of the process and understand how it’s going to be effective.

Make them a part of the process, but don’t let them rule over it. It’s bad for you, and ultimately bad for them as the work will suffer. They hired you for a reason; because you are the expert at what you do. Make sure they know their position and that you know yours. You don’t go to the factory to tell the guys how to make the car you drive, don’t let your client tell you how to do your job.

Element of Surprise
No one likes surprises when money and reputation is on the line and the quickest way to lose credibility is to show up and not be on the same page or with work that wasn’t talked about and agreed upon before hand. And the only way to avoid surprises is to be ready.

Be Ready
Be ready not only for yourself, but for your client. Preemptively work out what your client will expect from you and what questions they’re likely going to have. It’s never comfortable to be caught in the headlights and not know the answer or not have the documents that when asked for them. It doesn’t look good for you, and it irritates your client.

While it’s unlikely that a few small mess ups will cause a client to look elsewhere for their creative needs, it’s infinitely easier not to give them a reason.

Stay True
There are hundreds of ways to keep looking at this, but in the end all this is getting at is that you have to be conscious, be accountable, be direct, be great and do good for others. Take care of that, and everything else should end up working out for the better.

What’s Next?
That’s actually the end of my 12 book study and initial immersion into the advertising industry to learn all there is about creating great ad’s and servicing clients. In a couple days I’ll write about how all of it fit together, what surprised me the most and how I’m going to move forward. If this is your first visit here, start here with the book I started all of this off with, Ogilvy On Adverstising.

Why it’s important to focus on what matters, and recognizing the things that don’t.

Here’s an easy way to waste time.

Speculate on what you want to do tomorrow instead of focusing on what you have to get done today.

The easy part of any project is actually in the beginning when you have to come up with the idea. New ideas are fun and full of high energy and can breathe life into a lagging day. This is usually a welcome disruption to the middle grind of working on a project.

However the problem is that these distractions cause you to lose focus and are the main reason idea’s aren’t followed through on.

Rather than quantify your success on how much work you get done or how many ideas you can come up with. It’s better to gauge yourself on how much work you complete and ship. Shipping projects is really the only thing that matters, and it’s what people pay you for.

New ideas have their time and place. This isn’t to say that you have to disregard new ideas that come up throughout a project just so you can follow through on the one you started with. It’s that the new ideas must be evaluated and judged on their merit. Are they going to advance the project and give it more value, or is this something that will only take up more time and resources? The decision should be clear on what you move ahead with or choose to leave for another time.

To do this it’s best to implement a system that is tailored to the way you work so that you can stay accountable to your projects and ensure that you continually ship them. You have to make it an obligation and the first step to doing that is believing that…

What needs to be done today, always trumps tomorrow.

Often the questions you ask are far more valuable than the answers you give.

People can talk for hours and never really accomplish anything.

It’s easy to talk with, or most likely at someone, and produce noise. The thing about that, is that most people don’t like to listen to only noise. It ends up being annoying and uninteresting.

There are simple and effective ways to move a conversation from skating on the surface down into the depths of what should be talked about, and the most important thing to know about that is you’re most likely not talking about yourself.

To unlock these revealing conversations you have to be more interested in what the other person has to say, than you’re personal opinion. Use it as a way to give your ideas and position more strength without trying to impose your stance on someone else unsolicited. No one likes the people who knock on your door telling you that you need a new roof.

It’s said that it’s always about quality over quantity, but considering this, the more depth a question has, the more likely it will cover the distance as well. Meaning that done right you end up getting both.

Often questions are aimed at getting the facts. One-liners that do answer the question, but don’t give any insight into the situation. To get what matters you have to ask questions that elicit emotion. You have to ask questions that get people to start thinking. Things that they are interested in and want to share.

The power of asking these questions comes from the fact these are the questions that people are afraid to ask, yet they are the most simple. It’s that no one wants to seem like they are prying, or asking about sensitive things, when in fact thats what gets the best response.

There are hundreds of questions you could ask, and millions of situations you could use them in, but use questions that focus on the person or group you are talking with that get them to think about things like this:

+ Why do they do what they do? What is their mission?
+ Who are the people they value most and why they are important?
+ What are their essential priorities? What do they want to accomplish in light of everything they’ve already done?
+ What do they expect of the people around them? And most importantly what do they expect of themselves?
+ What’s their plan? What are they going to do moving forward that will make their next day better than the last?

These types of questions get emotional and enlightening responses that open up and strengthen a relationship more than anything, and most of all they’re truthful.

What’s Next
Next Tuesday December 18, 2012, for the final book in the series, I’ll be reporting on the book The Art Of Client Service which focuses on what advertising businesses must do in order to attract clients and keep coming back for more time and again.

What happens when you’re caught in the spotlight?

This is my least favourite trait that I have, and stops me from doing a lot of things I would otherwise like to do.

I’m calling it the ‘Scene Dilemma’.

It’s what happens when you let something play out in your head before it happens. Visualizing exactly how it will move along, scene-by-scene.

The problem is that nothing ever works out the way you expect it to. Want something to go one way, and you’ve basically guaranteed yourself that it wont happen.

Books, movies, and music are all to blame. They present things as vignettes. Short clips that only show the highlights. Never is the whole story there.

Take a look at anyone you admire that has a position of influence in an industry you’d like to work in. It’s easy to think ‘I want to be exactly like them’, ‘I’d do anything to have that job’, ‘if I just do what they did I’ll be able to make it happen’. That’s great, but look at how they got there. It certainly wasn’t traditional. There were moments unique to them that you won’t be able to replicate. It was a matter of timing, and they had no way of planning them. They just happened to be in the right place and saw the opportunity in front of them.

No one can act like they do in the movies, it just doesn’t happen. There isn’t a script to follow.

You never get to see what happens in between the scenes of a movie. You don’t know if the guy hates his neighbor or they are best friends and hang out each weekend. That he always gets called by people that have the wrong number or that nearly every time he watches netflix he has to reset his network right in the middle of the movie. What about the guy that just cut him off and made him miss his turn before he showed up to the scene you are seeing now.

You just don’t know these people, but we feel that if we can emulate them in the moments we get to see, then everything else will fall into place.

That’s why it’s so hard to get motivated after you fall into this trap. You stand there frozen in the spotlight after you’ve finished acting out all the key moments and realize that you’re missing the substance that holds everything together. The subtleties and nuances that give people definition and character. It’s not something you can just decide to have, and it’s no longer as readily attainable as it seemed.

It’s going to take more than just a desire. You’re going to have to live it, and fully believe in what you’re doing. Otherwise it will become another one of those unchecked boxes of things that could have been but will never be. You have to be responsible for what you want and living vicariously isn’t going to get you there.

Script your own movie, and stop trying to read over the shoulder of someone else.