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.

Awaiting the muse!

Well, here it is -- Friday, my blog day.

I have been so busy this week and as usual I have been looking out the corner of my eye waiting for inspiration to strike.

Alas, no muse...

Inspiration, is a weird thing. A doctor doesn't wait for the right mood before he performs an emergency surgery, the race car mechanic doesn't stop the car from leaving the pit until he "feels" that his work is done, hell, I don't think the guy making your Big Mac is going to hold off throwing it in the bun until he finds the PERFECT onion.

For some reason, creative work -- writing, painting, performing -- has always been presented as some magical process. I guess, I just don't buy it. I quit waiting for those pixies to show up as soon as I had my first deadline. Dreaming doesn't fill a page; knowledge, skill and hard work fill a page. Great ideas fill a page.

My buddy Mitch always used to say (and I paraphrase here): "If I practiced operating on the human brain as many hours as I have drawn I would be a hell of a brain surgeon."

In other words, in the daydreams we grasp at ideas and find our voices, but it is in the act of our design, our craft that we produce results. The more we do it the better we get.

An architect, for instance, is likely to wake in the night with a great idea, or be inspired by some great building she saw on vacation -- but it is unlikely that it is the specific design that suits the purpose of a building she is currently designing. Like most professional creators, she is likely to make some sketches, take some notes, do some research, rework it and then put it away in a drawer somewhere always waiting for the perfect fit to come along. And when that chance comes to make the idea into reality -- she will do it for a purpose and likely for a fee.

So when the blank page is too white, the piano is too loud or none of the colours are mixing right, you need to shut off that whimsical right side of your brain for a few minutes and let your reason and experience show you the way.

Of course, I could be wrong -- perhaps writing without a muse you will end up putting out something like this blog. If so, remember the advice was free -- and we usually get what we pay for!

Life is strange and so are we...

I have had a couple of customers and colleagues inquire why High Concept has a blog -- and even the rest of team didn't quite get why I thought it was important for us to have a regular contribution floating out here in the ether.

Each person, company and organization is going to have their own reason -- here is mine.

It used to be in my father's time and more so in his father's time that you gave your business to a person who earned it. The quality of his work would be part of the equation, his knowledge and commitment were equal parts, but it was the person he was, his integrity and friendship that would keep earning that business.

Now, here we are in this "global economy" and maybe Wal-Mart is where you go to get this doo-dad or Amazon for that book you want because the price and selection is right this time around.

We at High Concept are offering custom design services, customized training and workflow solutions designed around your customers -- in other words we need to know you and understand your business intimately to solve your problems. However, that kind of trust is not something you shouldn't just hand out to every idiot who has a copy of Photoshop.

I felt it was important that you got to know us, as a group of individuals and determine if we are kind of people you want to trust with helping you grow your business, if we are the kind of company that can communicate all the things that are important to you as you offer new services and reach new customers.


So here we are, blemishes and all -- a strange bunch, for sure, but through regular visits here you will know whether we are the kind of strange you want run from or a comfortable kind of strange that is exactly what you have been looking for...