“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

This famous quote by Plato holds a lot of truth in the marketing and advertising world. It is also one of the most challenging things to overcome. How do you make successful, or “beautiful,” creative? And, more importantly, who should you make it beautiful for?

At Incite, there are typically four to five different groups all involved in the design process: the account executive, the creative team, the client, and the client’s boss. All of these groups are working together to make something speak to the target audience. The biggest trouble is when these groups start wanting what they like, and they forget the main objective, which is to design something that will attract and engage the target audience.

The key point of the quote is that it’s “…in the eye of the BEHOLDER.”In this case, it’s the target audience, not the designer and not any of the other groups. To accomplish creative that is beautiful to your target audience, you must be strategic and do the appropriate research. It is also important to take yourself out of the equation when developing or evaluating the creative (for all groups involved) and trust the research.

Typical scenario:

• Client (48-year-old male) wants his 4 page brochure done in the company’s corporate colours of blue and black
• Designer (31-year-old female) wants to create a folder/brochure with fancy die-cuts done in the corporate colours but wants to bring in an orange
• Target audience (39-year-old female) would rather look at a website for more information instead of a brochure and dislikes blue and black

Remember, beauty is not in the eye of the designer or owner (who may not even be anywhere near the demographic of the beholder), but rather in the eye of the target audience.

It seems everyone knows a “designer” these days. You probably know an interior decorator who became an interior designer. This has some merit, since interior design evolved from interior decoration. However, I’m sure nobody ever handed you a business card describing himself/herself as a Web decorator. Browse around the Web and you’ll notice the work of a number of Web decorators who perhaps should have.

When it’s time to refresh your company’s website, you select and invite talented people to make recommendations and bid for the job. Some designers imagine your website as a physical space with aging carpet, peeling paint, and dated fixtures. Their process would be as follows:

• They listen to you speak about areas and features before going away to plan.
• They return proudly with gorgeous mood boards showing your new website in high style.

These mood boards show the same areas and features, now with sleek new fixtures and gorgeous flooring, backed by a few carefully selected paint chips.

Other designers do all of this and also revise your brand in the process. Now the mood boards look even better, and your new corporate colours are jaw-dropping. In the words of typographer Robert Bringhurst, both groups of designers “took your fancy ideas out of the crummy containers they were trapped in.” But, what if the problem isn’t the container?

Design refers as much to the construction of what is being designed as it does to the plan for constructing it. If what I referred to above sounds like your company and website, then I hope a third designer comes in with the following approach:

• Ignores the space and website as it currently stands
• Ignores the containers your ideas are in
• Focuses only on the ideas themselves

To get the best out of a new design, your designer should be centering the discussion on your people, the work they do, and the clients they do it for. What ideally happens here? Why is this website needed? After many questions, a plan develops. The best design results from taking steps that include research, brainstorming, design, development, and user testing. After all, the product can only be as good as the process.

A solid process yields solid results. You might pay more for such a process, but the resulting product will be targeted at your business and its goals, and that’s worth more in the long run.

Are you getting a little tired of your current ads? Think they need a little more oomph, a new layout, or a colour change? Does your logo make you feel indifferent? You might think it’s time to make a change. Refresh things a little bit. Liven things up again. Or, you might want to stop and put yourself in your clients’ shoes.

Just because you’re bored doesn’t mean your audience is.

I’m frequently asked how often creative needs to be updated. “We’re running 30-second commercials on radio station X for the next eight weeks. How often should we change our ad?” “We’ve been running the same campaign in this magazine for six months. Don’t you think we should change it up a little?”

Creative—whether it’s a logo, ad, website, or e-newsletter—does not have a predetermined shelf life. Your creative needs updating if your target audience has changed, if the characteristics of your target audience have changed, or if your message has changed. The question really is: Are you conveying your key messages to your target audience?

Your current creative may be very effective. You’ve heard your commercials on the radio for eight weeks but that doesn’t mean your customer has. And, just because you’ve been looking at your print campaign for six months doesn’t mean your potential client has. I bet the Campbell’s Soup marketing team is tired of red labels, but blue soup cans probably won’t make me load up the next time I go to the grocery store.

Change your creative when it’s no longer effective—not when you’re tired of it.

“It needs to be beefed up…” or “I don’t like it…” is not helpful creative feedback. Feedback is fuel for the creative process, and without useful and insightful feedback, the creative will suffer.
Specific and thoughtful communication ensures the right results are achieved in a quicker timeframe – ultimately meaning that the end product will be more successful, done with fewer revisions, and completed faster!

Take yourself out of the picture

No one cares about your opinion. As Seth Godin says: “I don't want to know how you feel, nor do I care if you would buy it, recommend it, or use it. You are not my market. You are not my focus group. What I want instead of your opinion is your analysis.” Analysis must be the key element of any creative feedback. To do this, remove emotion and analyze the creative based on the objectives and goals of the project.

You are not the target market–even if  you are the same age and sex as your prospective customers. You are inside the machine. You know too much, and can never put yourself in the same position as those people who haven't yet decided to buy from, trust, or visit you. Ultimately, your like or dislike for the creative piece is irrelevant. Will it catch the eye and persuade your primary target market? That’s the question you need to be asking yourself.

Think strategically

When analyzing the creative piece, compare what the designer has done with what was agreed upon in the creative brief. (You started with a creative brief, right?) Is it aimed at the right audience? Does it use language they will respond to? Does it clearly say why you're different from your competitors? In the case of an ad, does it get to the point quickly or is it trying to say too much? Will the visuals draw the attention of your target market? Think about the magazine, newspaper, mailbox, or tradeshow where the piece will appear...is it going to stand out or blend in?
Tip: Always have the creative and client briefs with you when you analyze creative pieces.
You should always be aware of who the client is, what their main goals are, and for whom the piece is targeted when reviewing marketing materials.

Be specific about needed changes

It's okay to make changes. Just be specific about what needs to be different. Give direction–at least point your creative team towards something or away from something. The worst feedback you can give is "I don't like it, but I don't know why" or "I'll know what I'm looking for when I see it." Go back to the above point and answer those questions honestly. Pinpoint exactly where the creative work is not on strategy. Ask yourself if the change you want to make will have an impact on the response rate, effectiveness, or readability of the piece.
To help your creative team produce the best pieces possible, remember these tips when providing your feedback:

1. Offer your analysis rather than your personal opinion
2. Keep the original creative strategy at the forefront of your mind
3. Be specific about what needs to be changed or altered

Do you find yourself scratching your head when your designer/marketing manager talks to you about whitespace? The idea of omitting information from your marketing material in lieu of empty space may not seem to make sense to you -- if you’re paying to have marketing material produced, shouldn’t you try to include as much information on it that you possibly can? Well, the answer is actually no.

Whitespace is not merely empty space that is not filled by text, images or graphics. It is the strategic use of negative space to give a design a feeling of balance. A page filled with text and design elements, and very little whitespace, can appear cluttered and difficult to read. By introducing whitespace into a design, and being more concise with your choice of text and graphics, your audience will be able to decipher the important messages you are trying to convey about your company.

Whitespace is important for many reasons, but most importantly, it will focus the attention of your audience to your key message. If you have too many elements on a page, you run the risk of your audience becoming overwhelmed or confused, and moving on. Whitespace can allow you to convey your desired message more effectively by giving balance and breathing room to the design.

We live in a society where businesses are competing for consumer’s attention. Consumers are bombarded by these messages every day, and have become experts at blocking out the things that aren’t clear and easy to interpret. Because of this trend, businesses need to be diligent in ensuring the designs they are utilizing are clear and easy to understand. One of the easiest ways to accomplish this, and ensure you’re getting value in your marketing materials, is to use whitespace!