tools

A little note about what computers can- and cannot - do.

The ad game has been around for a very long time- as long as sales, I would reason. When a new client came into an agency, they would be assigned an AE- an Advertising Executive. The AE wasn't the designer, but would have a designer on their team, and the team would meet to brainstorm ideas around the client's needs to develop an approach for their campaign. This was all done by discussions & meetings with paper and pencils. You would meet with a client, sketch pad in hand and come up with ideas as starting points.

It is very hard to convey graphic ideas with only words. You may think you are on exactly the same page only to find out later that they were thinking of something completely different. The thing is, this sometimes worked on your favor. You could be working on an idea/sketch you believed the client agreed with, when a remark made you realize they were picturing something different. But since you were in preliminary sketches, a few adjustments would take you back in their direction.

Once we started working on computers, those sketches became almost finished products and clients expected very polished presentations even in the early stages. This worked against both sides. It's very hard for clients to 'unlearn' what they've seen. What could easily have been imagined in another manner now became set in stone, and clients would know it wasn't what they wanted, but not how to imagine it another way. So designers ended up creating many finished presentations instead of honing in on one or two. Even if they client had very few changes, comps still have to be re-done as finishes, until the details were worked out and files prepped for production. And having seen what they thought was a final product, clients find it hard to understand why it take more time to finalize the files. (ie: an illustration of a refrigerator vs. a final working prototype.)

I believe this is one reason people still prefer to work with one another in person, at least at the beginning. Nuances can be gleaned from an in-person sit-down that are lost over email. Even if we prefer to stay home and work in our sweats and flop-flops, sometimes it's necessary to put on our grown-up clothes and grab a pad and pencil...
The work process has changed tremendously over the past 20+ years, but the process of designing has evolved more than changed— it all still stems from the mind of the designer and the collaboration of designer & client.

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