Rails are an antidote to scope creep.

When designers use the term “rails” they’re referring to the creative boundaries set for a project. Rails are intended to keep the team from wandering off on tangents. Clear rails set up a win/win situation where the client doesn’t waste money and the creatives don’t waste time. They’re fleshed out in the creative brief, but are born in the scope document.

Project scope may not seem like an inspiring topic, but it’s an important foundation for any successful project. It outlines the client’s situation or request, the high-level objective, suggested approach or solution, project management overview, timing by phases, roles of team members and fee arrangement. It’s usually dry stuff, often drafted by committee, based on a template. I think its important for designers to be involved in scoping, if not draft their own scopes.

More than just legal documents, scopes are an opportunity to set expectations. Knowing how much time and money you have to work with are the first set of rails in any project. So is a clear definition of the project’s basic objective.

Creative solutions can live in a vast world of imagination, where we can do anything. And its tempting to promise the moon, because we all aspire to delivering amazing work. A good scope brings blue-sky thinking down to earth so the real work can start.

I’ve learned to enjoy the creative challenge of solving client challenges on a tight budget and savor those with large budgets. There’s never an endless pile of money for any project — the best designers embrace rails and rise to the occasion.

Branding 101

I love facilitating branding workshops. All aspects of it spark joy for me — from developing the presentation and customizing the exercises, to leading the session with clients, to drafting the summary and creative brief. It gets me in the flow. Plus, there’s nothing like watching a skeptic when their eyes light up as they realize something they thought of as fluff is actually smart strategy .

When I’m working with a new client, or a team that isn’t composed of creative professionals, I like to position the session as Branding 101. Focusing everyone at the start, I open by level setting using the term “branding.” It may sound basic, but experience has taught me that many people misunderstand what a brand really is. They may assume its a logo, or the tagline, or the name itself. If everyone isn’t on the same page things can fall flat really fast.

After a visual exercise I share AIGA’s succinct definition, then expand it a bit:

BRAND: a person’s perception of a product,
service, experience or organization

BRANDING: the conscious crafting and nurturing
of that perception

The reality is every organization, product, experience and location has a brand — even if they’re unaware of it. Neglecting it or letting the public define a brand leads to disjointed, confused and even conflicting perceptions in the market. And that’s never profitable.

Thoughtfully developing the narrative and managing the evolution of that brand may be overwhelming, but its critical to authentically connect with your target audience and build trusting relationships. Relationships bring revenue. Articulating a brand is no longer nice to have — It’s needed to play.

Brand building is relationship building, and relationships have never been more important than they are today. Trying to appeal or sell to everyone isn’t viable anymore. A steady stream of options for pretty much everything from products to events to jobs scroll past us with lightening speed. In our over-saturated, over-stimulated, global marketplace it’s easy for a brand to get lost or forgotten. A differentiated, clear and consistent narrative is needed to thrive.

And helping clients thrive is really fun.

What is the problem we’re trying to solve?

I believe success lies in knowing the right questions to ask from the start.

As a corporate consultant, I developed strong listening skills that are critical to working collaboratively with clients and internal project teams. Ironically, effective listening starts with asking effective questions — the kind that lead to clearly uncovering the real problem itself.

For example when it comes to design projects, plenty of clients think the creative problem they need help with is just a lack of appealing visuals. Jumping into tactics and sketches may meet their expectations, but there’s usually something underlying that need — maybe a sales or engagement issue. Or my favorite: a client is sure they just need to refresh their brand identity to reach their audience, when they really need to first identify their “why” and build from there.

Discussion brings the biggest problems to light pretty quickly. And successful creative requires a solid foundation — clear rails, objectives and a defined purpose are essential. Without them, you risk spinning your creative wheels and throwing ideas at the wall hoping they stick.

I’ve annoyed plenty of my overworked, deadline-driven colleagues by asking my favorite question: What is the problem we’re trying to solve? The conversation that follows usually leads to thoughtful insights, better scopes and clearer creative briefs. When brainstorming starts going off the rails, or concepts just aren’t hitting the mark I step back and ask the same question again. That really annoys people, but it tends to make it easier to identify which ideas are nearing the mark and which to give up on. It also tends to curb scope creep which makes pretty much everyone happy.