Sugar Coated Design: A Creative Morning in London

Last week I was at one of the London Creative Mornings events, speaking with long-time design collaborator, Michael Johnson, about the relationship between clients and their designers.

Michael spoke about the various ways designers present, what they present and in which order, what works and what doesn't, he has subsequently written this up here.

Below kind of captures what I was trying to say...

Over the last couple of years I have becoming increasingly concerned about a trend I have noticed regarding design, specifically graphic design and brandings standing in popular culture and business. Sure there are a few shining lights, but for every Johnny Ive there are hundreds of struggling design agencies and for every Thomas Heatherwick there are thousands of demotivated and disengaged graphic designers leaving the industry.

There are a lot of factors that might be contributing to this, but perhaps the most pernicious is Alan Sugar.

Sort of.

Well it’s not all his fault, but perhaps how design is portrayed within his show, the now annual quasi-business-focussed charade that is The Apprentice, is a fair reflection of how, at least from the outside our industry is imagined to work.

Sugar coated design

Specifically I am referring to the tasks where they have to invent a new biscuit for the medically insane or an advertising campaign for holidaying in Sellafield or the creation of a new product to satisfy the desires of football thugs. Whatever it is that they have been tasked to do by the diminutive-bearded-barrow-boy-done-good there is an inevitable ‘at the agency’ scene populated by initially keen and subsequently dead eyed creative’s. Who after the novelty of ‘being-on-the-telly’ has worn off realise that it is their job to unquestioningly bring to life the ill-thought-through concepts of the buzzword toting business mannequins on team ‘Stealth’. That with their own fame-hungering permission they have allowed the process of ‘design’ and themselves to be portrayed as simple, non-speaking, drone-like mac-monkeys.

Combine this with the rise of sites such as Crowdspring or 99dollarlogo.com and the increasing number of poorly considered design competitions and a bit like a kidnapped tourist forced into the boot of a car on the wrong side of Los Angeles you have to wonder where we might be headed.

But it’s not just external factors, I also believe that there is a worrying downward trend in the design industries self-belief.

Firstly, there seems to be a deeply held belief that if done well enough design can transcend itself and become art. Is this really what we’re striving for? Is having work on permanent exhibition at the V&A really the ultimate affirmation? I think this sort of mis-held goal is another symptom of how low we value our own work. Sure it’s nice. But it should be nice like having our work posted on a blog is nice. Surely impact and the works success at meeting our clients goals should be the ultimate accolade. But also why is art the ‘high-church’ of design? It is seemingly never considered that an artist might one day elevate themselves up to the status of a designer, yet in many ways the skills of great graphic and branding design are harder won than the more self-indulgent and esoteric demands of art.

Secondly, I think there has been a rise in the number of what I call ‘clients are from mars, designers are from venus’ derisory websites - blogs and books that poke fun of clients as morons that don’t ‘get’ design.

This sort of humour only undermines the perceived value of design in business and the contribution it makes in making marketing more effective. It damages any relationship between client and agency and is almost certainly why many of our industry bodies are struggling to find a voice; identify what they stand for; and who their allies and supporters are. It is also possibly why the frequency of free pitching increases and the design process is getting ever more commoditised.

Client and Designer

And so what might we do about it? How might we reverse this downward trend?

I think we might need to back to some fairly basic principles, albeit fairly basic principles practised by the worlds pre-eminent designers and clients. These suggestions might turn what I have already described as a downward trend that’s moving us ever closer to being the mac monkeys working for Alan Sugar and instead allow us to get out of the boot of our kidnappers sedan and bring some pride and value back into what we do.

Firstly we need to remind ourselves that this isn’t a service industry. It’s a consulting industry. That the relationship between designer and client is not servant and master but a partnership.

Of course the relationship is not perfect. But it’s no more imperfect than the relationship accountants or architects or surveyors or even Information Technologists have with their own clients. But in each of those consulting relationships, and here is what I believe will be the key to turning design around, they have a widely understood and respected process through which the relationship and work is protected. Accountants have their International Accounting Standards; Architects and Surveyors have the RIBA stages; IT have Cisco and Microsoft project management and systems standards.

But design has nothing.

Sure each leading agency has its own brand process that it sells in at the beginning of jobs – the brand onions or pyramids or even brand worlds with their R and TM signs. All of them basically identical, all preaching how much better and different they are. The trouble is these similarities and differences breed confusion and scepticism and our professionalism and standing is undermined.

So we need to talk process. Not now, not here, it’s not my place…but I would like to think that we, as an industry, could discuss it and design a common process.

But it’s more than just process. It’s also about ego.

The industry has to get over itself and let go of its arrogance and its ego.

Let’s start with clients are from Mars, agencies are from Venus. Criticising your consulting relationship is a criticism of you. Laughing along with someone else criticising the relationship is no different. All other consulting partnerships share much the same experiences and frustrations…very few air their dirty washing in public.

Secondly remember that Creative Director is an internal agency job title, once you’re with your client, that’s all out the window. Everyone during creative presentation becomes fairly equal – the process can be managed, but shouldn’t be directed.

Lastly you don’t walk on water, you might be the coolest, most trendily and ironically dressed person at the meeting, but you are not god’s gift. A fairly prominent figure in the design world was recently quoted as saying that ‘design is the tribute art makes to industry’ which seems to be just a little too self-satisfied. Surely the best way to convince ‘industry’ that you are important and should be more highly valued is not to just tell them so, but rather to prove it through action.

I could direct similar criticism at marketers. Especially around understanding that their word is not lore, that opinion is just that an opinion and that designers have a specific set of skills that they would do well to listen to and utilise.

So in conclusion. Let’s remember how important design is. Let’s not sell our souls to the edit of a BBC cutting room floor. Let’s believe what we do is important in its own right and not let design be hijacked by art. Let’s agree a process that will elevate our standing and render more of our efforts chargeable. Let’s consult not do. Let’s respect our partners. Let’s leave our ego’s at the door.

If we do all of this we might be alright.

By Tom Foulkes

This is an abridged version of a talk I made last Friday at one of London’s Creative Mornings. There may be a video of this eventually, once all the litigatory stuff has been edited out...

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