Following the Process

We do lots of things here at High Concept, but at our core we are a design company.

I pride myself on applying due diligence when it comes to consulting and developing a solution that fits each specific client – but like everyone else, I am not perfect and sometimes our first outing (our second, or third) we produce nothing but a dud.

This week I had a painful reminder that no matter how well you like and think you know a client that ultimately you need to step back and follow the process. No assumptions, no pre-conceived notions – simply follow the process, regardless of who they are. The better you know them, the more you like them, the more they deserve it.

We have a pretty structured approach to our design process and generally it allows a lot of collaborating and opportunity for the client to be involved in the design process, but at the end of the day we are being engaged (and paid) to take what the client requests and bring our experience and skill to the table to deliver something that represents the best of both worlds – something better.

In this case, I short changed the process and essentially sent the message that we didn’t show up ready to play our best game.

Even with all our experience, taste is simply subjective; sometimes you hit it out of the park on the first try and sometimes the game is one with base hits and the occasional sacrifice over a number of times at bat. Sometimes your homerun hitter is only popping out and you need to reach into your bullpen to find somebody who can hit some of those curve balls.

In other words, you have to do what it takes to win. The needs of our clients are at the heart of everything we do and when we fail them, when we shake their faith in us, we are simply not doing our job.

That kind of failure is simply not an option.

All we can do now is make our apologies, learn our lesson and put our best foot forward.