Its been a while, here’s just a quick post on one of my favourite clips from hillmancurtis. Its an interview with designer Paula Scher. Watch it here first.

I can really relate to the immediacy of ideas, those moments when you can see a final solution, or a complex visual pun that solidly forms in your head when your working on a poster design, illustration or be it a logo. For me, the idea of an instant solution always reassures my confidence in its communication. My theory is that, the faster a final solution forms in your head, the more communication power it will have. Because it was the first image associated for me, it must translate similarly to an audience. Over-thinking it and the idea can get lost.

Think of it like a game of pictionary. I like to joke that graphic design is a lot like glorified pictionary. Have you ever noticed that the best players are those that can barely draw. Why? Its because it has nothing to do with their drawing ability, its how well their ideas can communicate. Often their lack of drawing ability can enhance their communication because they’re choosing bare and considered lines of attack. Ultimately drawing has nothing to do with it. They don’t over think a word but simply associate with what first comes to mind. I believe that those instant ideas we get when we first get a brief are very often the best starting point. It might evolve slightly, it might simplify more but the power of instant association is very powerful.

For example, recently I designed a poster for the North Sea Jazz Festival. The first idea I had was the one that ended up slighlty evolving and being my finished idea. Essentially I was looking at combining the Jazz and Sea, Duh! So after thinking of visual cues I started looking at combining fish hooks and saxophones. It was a starting point that I was reasonably happy with. Because I had 2 weeks to think on it, I ended up with a lot of ideas that were trying to force original and sophisticated concepts. The latter of which had any real substance. Essentially given the length of thinking time the ideas were slowly dissipating from derivatives of the words Sea and Jazz until I had five ideas that had communicated nothing to do with Sea and Jazz. Or they just didn’t fit the model of what I felt a jazz poster should be.

Its very easy to be working on an idea for over 2 weeks that slowly evolves into more and more forms. The bare essentials of the idea can off-shoot into other image associations and slowly loose resonance with the audience. This can be dangerous, over-working on what were trying to communicate can slowly warp in the wrong direction and our visual cues can slowly evolve further away from the bare bones of where we even started. Its not often easy to realise this process is happening. Once I’m stuck into something that’s evolving its difficult to see how it communicates, its impossible to take a fresh pair of eyes and view it as a whole again. Take a step back from clever complex ideas and look at things from a fresh view.

Unfortunately after all this complex solving, we have to execute our ideas! Something that can make or break a piece of design.

The power of communication is lightning fast, so work faster!