Small Creative Director at Large

I refer to myself as a small creative director at large for several reasons. The first being that I’m not a very big person. My mother used to refer to me as a “spegnanther.” I’m not sure how it is spelled and I think it is an Irish colloquial word for a petite, skinny kid. I didn’t think it was a compliment, but I didn’t feel insulted either. She would say that my arse was like two elbows and how I wish it was a little more like that now.

Throughout my career, I have been an illustrator, designer, senior designer, art director, senior art director and creative director. Having experience at each of these levels has given me the skills and understanding to tackle just about anything in the creative marketing industry. Out of all these positions, working for several agencies and two Fortune 500 companies, my favorite role is as Creative Director. I’m “at large” because my desire is to work with a corporation or agency that wants to be a remarkable brand and to direct a creative team that produces extraordinary work.

About the Artwork

Each person has a unique personality and, just like a fingerprint, no two are exactly alike. I challenged myself to see if I could create art for each blog post by using my fingerprints. I rolled oil based paint onto a paper pallet and gently pressed while rolling each finer into the paint and transferring it onto watercolor paper. Then the fun began. Looking at the shapes, I could see how they could turn into part of an illustration and I added the elements in black pen.

It reminded me of a game I played with my childhood friend on rainy or showy days when we couldn’t venture outside. We called the game “5 Lines.”  We would take a blank sheet of paper and draw 5 lines on it – they could be straight, curved or a combination of both. After drawing the lines in pen, so you couldn’t change them, we would exchange it with the other person and tell them a subject or theme, such as a holiday, place or scene. Then we would draw for the next half hour or so and incorporate those 5 lines in the drawing. It was amazing to see what each created and the affect that 5 simple lines could have on the imagination.

I hope this inspires you to have some fun with your next blog!

Unarmed Troubleshooting

Armed with only your experience and knowledge, troubleshooting can seem less overwhelming with these five steps:

1) Situation Analysis – Identify the problem using clues and data. There also may be more than one problem

2) Cause Analysis – Determine the problem’s root cause

3) Solution Selection – Generate, evaluate and prioritize options. determine the steps that change one factor at a time to avoid misjudging the result of that change

4) Evaluate Results – What do they tell us? Does it make sense?

5) Review and Documentation – Document the meaning of the results and determine if the problem is solved

Begin With the Least Expensive Fix

I like to start with the most cost-effective solution first. If that doesn’t solve the problem, then I move on to the next logical solution. For example, I recently received a document from a client that was corrupted and the corruption was not obvious at first. However, it caused serious problems to two of my software programs. I isolated the problem by launching the programs that were effected, one at a time and noticed that when I opened the corrupted document, the problems began to happen again. The program would not allow me to save any changes and it froze several times, prompting me to force quit the application. Before I called my technician, I restarted the computer and did not access the document at all that day. My applications worked fine, so I knew this corrupted document was the root cause.

Get Chatty Online

If I had suspected that the problem was due to an outdated program, before I spent hundreds of dollars on software updates, online chat rooms are a good way to discover solutions. If there are patches or fixes, you can first see if they work. If not, several companies allow you to try out their software and updates before purchasing and this may be a good way to see if old versions should be replaced.

Through the help of one of these online chat rooms, I repaired my old G5 long enough to retrieve important information from the hard drive. Although I have a new iMac, the G5 was useful for several tasks. My technician, Mac Jerry, had evaluated the situation and he thought it needed a new video card. I ordered the card and he replaced it – to no avail. While he was out on another assignment, I went online to a chat room and input my situation. I received several responses, which had been cached, and discovered that the G5s had a peculiar tendency to not recognize the second video card on the memory board due to a flaw in the design. Apparently when they get old, the metal that holds the video card gets brittle and the card begins to separate from the mother board. When Jerry returned, I explained the solution to him and at first, he thought I was joking. By heating the metal with a hairdryer, and gently pushing the card to the mother board, we were able to start the computer and retrieve the information. Jerry said that he would not have believed it if he didn’t see it with his own eyes.

How to Inspire and Direct Creatives

Diversity Can Be Inspiring

A creative team, which can include writers, art directors, designers, programmers, videographers and photographers, may have their own perception of their involvement in a project and their own vision of the outcome. I prefer working with a diverse team because diversity is a competitive advantage. We are the sum of our inherited traits, spiritual beliefs, ethnic background and our personal and professional experiences. Our diversity makes us unique. Our uniqueness brings value to our profession.

At times, directing a team of creative people may seem as easy as herding cats, but the rewards make it all worthwhile.

Keeping a Team Informed

I believe in keeping a creative team informed throughout a project so that everyone is on the same page. Some directors like to spoon-feed information, with the idea that knowledge is power. When you give a person responsibility, the tools they need, and keep them informed, they take ownership and pride in their work.

What About Writer’s and Designer’s Block?

Anyone can experience this at any time in their life. When that happens, a brain-storming session, word association game, or topic exploration can help break through the blockage and allow the creative juices to flow.

What’s My Motivation?

One of the essential factors in realizing how to inspire a creative person is to discover what motivates them. I like to ask each person how and why they chose this career. Once I discover the individual motivation of a creative person, it is much easier to inspire them. When I uncover the “Why”, only then can I determine the “How.”

What is a Brand?

A brand is more than a logo or company image. It is the experience and expectations of the customer. It is the company’s ability to deliver a promise.

For small businesses, branding can often take a backseat to other considerations, such as product development, product research and funding. This is a mistake, since a company’s brand can be the path to its success.

If you don’t brand your company, someone else will and you may not like the results. Your prospects may assume certain promises that your company may not be able to keep, such as having the lowest prices in your industry. If your positioning statement claims that you are the best value for your market, but not the lowest price, your prospect may be disappointed by their assumption.

A company should be proactive when it comes to branding. Multiple touch points, through advertising and social media, can help a company promote and monitor their brand promise.

Building a Strong Brand

A creative director is responsible for helping to build and support the brand of a company and the right experience can make them a valuable team member.  A skilled creative director understands the company and the market.  More importantly, they are able to communicate the right brand attitude to the consumer.

Building a brand is not just about image and advertising, it’s also about training the support staff to deliver what the company has promised.

Brands that are strong and healthy can self-destruct if the company acts improperly or in opposition to their promise. It’s important to remember that, on a regular basis, a company is either building or reducing its brand through the eyes of the clients, prospects, employees, and other shareholders.

Many businesses tend to focus on advertising as the method for creating brand awareness and for building their brand. They also need to focus on factors inside the organization. It is important to spend time with your internal staff to make sure that they understand the brand promise and can deliver on this promise automatically.

A smart business will create strategies around brand management and monitor the performance on the delivery of their brand promise. Surveys, feedback forms, and social media conversations with customers are a good ways of tracking progress.

Presentations: The Power of the Point

A creative director should be an expert at delivering presentations. All too often I have been submitted to PowerPoint presentations that take a painfully long time to get to the point. They are usually filled with charts, graphs and diagrams that are illegible, even when projected on a screen.

Poor presentations are filled with acronyms and jargon that the audience may or may not understand. Most often, the presenter wants to present everything they know about the subject, much to the viewer’s disappointment.

The right presentation can make your ideas soar!

The best presentations are the type that entertain and inform with clear, concise communication.  As a writer and creative director, I understand the value of a professional presentation that WOWS the audience. It’s important to show your audience the power of an idea – one that can soar and take their business to new heights. A great presentation can make the difference between getting new business or confusing your prospect.

Why is Project Management Important?

What is Project Management?
Project management is the application of knowledge, skills and techniques to schedule, create and track specific requirements that meet or exceed expectations. An experienced creative director knows how to hire the right people, direct the path, and follow the project’s progress.

Why Do Companies Use Project Management?
To produce desired results in a defined period of time, using specific resources and staying within an approved budget.

Developing a Project Schedule
Most directors, including myself, create a schedule using the deadline as the point of reference and then work backwards to plan and execute the tasks. Cloud-based tracking software can also be helpful when working with a creative team.

Assessing the Risks and Budget Concerns
Risks should be assessed in the beginning so that the project will still meet its deadline despite obstacles. Examples of obstacles are: a key employee becomes ill during project, loss of data due to technical/computer problems, or a client not providing information when it’s needed. Additional time should be added to the schedule prior to commencement to cover possible risks. Additional cost also should be built-in to the budget to insure that money isn’t lost.

The Art of Collaboration

Most people are familiar with the phrase “There’s no I in TEAM.”  However, there is a “ME!”  If there is one important point we have learned about marketing, it’s that we must answer the prospect’s question, “What’s in it for ME?”  The same question can be instrumental in creating a successful team. For any team to be successful, there needs to be trust and collaboration… and one more important ingredient: incentive. Value and the rewards of working together needs to be stressed. Value such as increased production, unique solutions and improved results. Rewards can include verbal praise and future monetary gain. However you reward your team, adding incentives with a large helping of inspiration, creates a recipe that always comes out well.

I have worked with many creative teams and the experience is especially successful when people come together from completely different backgrounds to complete one common goal. This diversity brings unique ideas and most often, the outcome becomes the competitive advantage. I’ll use the example of an objective to create a company image ad for a pharmaceutical company that speaks about the genius behind the research that leads to developing a medicinal therapy. Collaboration between a creative director, writer, designer and a researcher would prove to have better results than simply sending a creative brief to the writer. Without collaboration, the writer would interview the researcher by phone, write the copy, and hand it off to the designer to create a visual. This series of tasks, which happens quite often, probably would not create a memorable ad. A brainstorming session would have a much better chance of generating something unique and exceeding the client’s expectations.

The Art of The Possible, a magazine ad written by Robert E. Huber and designed by Linda E. Danaher for Bristol-Myers Squibb Company.

That type of collaboration happened with the ad shown in this blog. The researcher had sketched something on a blackboard that looked like a formula. Bob Huber, a talented writer, and I saw something very beautiful on that chalkboard and we realized that this researcher’s scribble could possibly save someone’s life.  “The Art of the Possible” was born. By using a photograph of a frame and placing a portion of  the chalkboard formula inside, along with copy that touched on the emotional side of medicine, we stressed the value of the research. This double page ad, which we created for Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, appeared in Leaders magazine.