sidelanes.com

I remember watching an interview with Filmmaker David Lynch where he made a comment about the creative process. He said something to the extent of “out of hundreds of different choices, ten will work”. He was referring to choices made in the creative process in his movies. I like to sometimes tell this advice to people I work with in Graphic Design.

“Out of hundreds of options available, a handful of options will work”. I like to say, “Let’s try to shoot for that”, keeping in mind that “that” is a somewhat broad target. On the other hand, I’ve worked with some people that think the only solution that will work is the ONE idea that they have in their head, A bulls-eye!

Next time you find yourself in front of a dartboard, see how long it takes for you to get a bulls-eye. You usually quit before it actually happens, however you hit the dart-board (the target) every time (hopefully).

I’ve been on many sides of the table as a creative director, a client, and a designer. Being a creative director or client, I think it’s important to leave a certain amount of choices open to the graphic designer. This keeps their job interesting and keeps them thinking, rather than mechanically following orders.

With this approach, you may not get exactly what you thought you wanted, but it just may work better than what you had initially thought. You may even learn to like a design solution that you didn’t like a whole lot at first. To sum up, when working with designers as a creative director or client… stay open to possibilities!