Feedback?

Oh yes, feedback. The key to any design process. It’s what gets the design to the finish line. Feedback is so important it’s not a design process without it. There are those times when it illuminates, advances, and unifies everything everyone has been working on. And when that happens, it’s glorious.

But then, of course, there is the feedback that’s absolute garbage. Unhelpful, contradictory, bias-infused, wrong, and/or loaded with so much jargon it’s almost laughable. This is typically the case when agencies and marketing people are involved. Normal client relationships rarely slide into such an abyss of nonsense.

Maybe that should be alarming to agencies and marketing people, no?

Red Flags

Pay attention to the markers you run into along the way. I’m all for putting a positive spin on the possibilities of what could be. But still, there are times when yes, it is quite obvious, there have been too many red flags to ignore. And there just isn’t enough wishful thinking to make them go away. Instead, pay attention, take note, and then, if needed, do the hard thing. Assume the project will not go well because of these red flags and simply move on. No need to talk yourself into a dream scenario. Deep down, you know there ain’t gonna be one.

Sports

Because at the end of the day, somebody wins, and somebody loses. I’ve certainly poked my fun at the “sport balls” no matter what they be. How can something so meaningless cause such agony and/or unmatched enthusiastic joy? But in an age of momentous uncertainty marked by mass death and life’s rituals upended, at the end of the day, why not unwind by watching something where somebody wins and somebody loses, end of story. Except for soccer, but you get what I mean.

It doesn’t have to be harder

It doesn’t have to take longer. It doesn’t have to hurt. It doesn’t need to break you. That view of creativity is done. Stop trying to justify ideas by if they almost crushed your will to live or not. Did they cause you to lose friends, almost end your marriage, or never get any sleep for an entire goddamn week because you put in all the nighters you could? Na, fuck that. Grow up, work during normal hours, then go home and do home stuff. Get up, repeat. Done and done.

It doesn’t need to be painful.

You can choose to decide to make the entire process from beginning to end better. It’s in your hands.

Now go.

It’s that simple.

No trust?

Well then this just ain’t gonna work.

It’s not your fault, but if you just can’t bring yourself to trust me, then this is going to end badly.

It takes a leap of faith on your part I know, but from what you see on this portfolio site, and perhaps you were connected to me from someone you know, trust is something I think is possible for you, the client, to do. Many, many do so all the time. This isn’t surgery after all.

But again, if you can’t trust me, then please, let’s not move forward.

Because it will be a terrible experience for everyone. Judging by past experiences with clients who didn’t trust me, the work was subpar and the process was pretty terrible all around.

Let me save everyone some time. We all have better things to do than engage in a bad process.

No trust, then no need.

Yeah?

Cool.

Thanks so much.