Here’s a tricky one. A client (or your boss) comes to you asking if you can handle a certain type of work that you’ve never done before. Sure, you know about it, and have been around other people doing it, but you, yourself, have never practiced that particular skill.
There are so many reasons why it makes sense to always call for and follow a creative brief. And we’ll hit on some of those in just a second. But, from a creative person’s perspective, none might be more important than this: You’ll never know if you hit the mark if you don’t know what you are aiming for.
If you have clients, then you need exceptional customer service chops.
If your company’s in-house creative department isn’t as productive as it needs to be, or you have a creative member falling short on performance, check your expectations.
Solving a design problem can become much clearer when you see how others have handled a similar situation.
A true leader earns respect and does not demand it – this is the difference between being a boss and being a leader.
What’s the climate like on your team? Sometimes the answer depends on which day you ask me this question.
It’s no easy feat prioritizing these days. E-mail, voicemail, text messages, snail mail, questions from your staff, deadlines, new projects coming in, managing your clients expectations/questions/complaints. AAHHHHH!!!
The first step to building a great team is to identify your goals
I’ve worked on many different brands in the United States and overseas. When it comes to strategies for hiring in the creative department, there are basically two distinct approaches: The confident leader attempts to hire people who are as good as, or even better...
Way back when we were in design school the group critique created the uncomfortable shifty feeling of being poked at for your design thinking and implementation. A hundred years later you’re still sitting in that same seat, just in a slightly different way. Each day...
Marrying the Left and Right Brain Successfully
Project Management Part 3: Implementing project management in your team— tools and resources
Project Management Part 2: Tips and tricks: Five easy steps to implementing project management
Project Management Part 1: What is project management and why should it matter to Creatives?
I never heard this statement when I lived on the agency side of the fence: “Well that’s the way it’s always been”. But I heard it every day when I jumped to the client side to join an in-house creative team.
If you are like pretty much every other creative leader on the planet, you are being asked (told) to do more with fewer (human) resources. While this poses a number of challenges, there are several things you can do to help keep your team and yourself somewhat sane....
There are many similarities between change management and team sports. Sports metaphors can be great motivators. Nike’s Just Do It campaign is still at it and always changing. Under Armour isn’t only worn under anymore. These are teamwork examples of forward-thinking marketing opportunities, which discover untapped opportunities to build cultural and community awareness.
Get to know your clients as humans–they don’t bite
With 17 years experience as an in-house design expert, I have noticed how many of these teams face similar challenges from the very organisations they sit within. It can be a frustrating partnership where neither party communicates particularly well with each other. Designers don’t understand business. Internal clients don’t understand design. This leads to the design team requests often falling into the “make it look pretty” category.
It’s so difficult to find great people you can connect with and who care. The kind of people you can just look at and they instantly know what you need. When you find that rare and special business relationship you’d be silly to let it go.
I did not have the luxury of mom or dad being in the business nor did anyone I knew know a single sole in this business. It took me a depressing and frustrating two years after graduation to find a full-time job in graphic design. It was difficult to begin a career...
As your responsibilities as a leader continue to expand, it’s best to rethink the oversight of smaller tasks and less crucial projects in your department.
An oft repeated question, “do you have a job description?” made me realize that people have a hard time verbalizing what they do and what they want when hiring a new employee.