#1nlab16 - overcoming creative hurdles: "i hate yellow" and other lane violations
TRANSCRIPT
NOV 2-4, 2016
Overcoming Creative Hurdles“I Hate Yellow” and Other Lane Violations
NOV 2-4, 2016
Nathan Denton@NateOneNorth
NOV 2-4, 2016
“I hate yellow.”
NOV 2-4, 2016
“I hate yellow.”
“Make it pop!”
“I’ll know it when I see it.”
“Make the logo bigger.”
“Let’s fill in that white space with something.”
“It’s really liney.”
“That image isn’t speaking
to me.”
“This is a really dark black.”
NOV 2-4, 2016
“I hate yellow”
NOV 2-4, 2016
“I hate yellow, but I understand
why you chose it.”
NOV 2-4, 2016
5 Ways To Improve Your Chances of Design Success
NOV 2-4, 2016
NOV 2-4, 2016
IdentifyStakeholders
Tell the Story
IterateKnow When to
Step Away
Do YourResearch/Use Your Research
NOV 2-4, 2016
Identify Stakeholders
1
NOV 2-4, 2016
Do this at the very beginning
- Usain Bolt9-time Jamaican gold medal track athlete
Identify Stakeholders
NOV 2-4, 2016
Do this at the very beginning
- Usain Bolt9-time Jamaican gold medal track athlete
Identify Stakeholders
Early involvement benefits:
• Less complicated in the long run
• Accurate planning
• Avoid bringing latecomers up-to-speed
• Lessens the risk of derailment
NOV 2-4, 2016
Identify what you need from individual stakeholders, then inform them of that
- Phil Jackson11-time NBA Championship coach
Identify Stakeholders
NOV 2-4, 2016
Identify what you need from individual stakeholders, then inform them of that
- Phil Jackson11-time NBA Championship coach
Identify Stakeholders
Example stakeholder involvement:
• Overarching approach sign-off
• Design feedback
• Specific insights
• Progress check-in
NOV 2-4, 2016
Different stakeholders require different setups
Identify Stakeholders
NOV 2-4, 2016
Don’t include anyone that isn’t necessary
Identify Stakeholders
NOV 2-4, 2016
Identify the most important voices and use them as champions
- Vince LombardiHall of Fame NFL coach
Identify Stakeholders
NOV 2-4, 2016
Identify the most important voices and use them as champions
- Vince LombardiHall of Fame NFL coach
Identify Stakeholders
Your dream team:
• Leader(s) of marketing
• Leader(s) of practices
• Leader(s) of organization
• Your experts (us)
NOV 2-4, 2016
Do Your Research / Use Your Research
2
NOV 2-4, 2016
Identify and understand your users and their needs
Do Your Research / Use Your Research
NOV 2-4, 2016
Identify and understand your users and their needs
Do Your Research / Use Your ResearchUnderstand user priority:
1. Clients
2. Recruits
3. Media
4. Internal
Often times when it comes to design approval we see this order can change into:
1. Internal
2. Clients
3. Recruits
4. Media
NOV 2-4, 2016
Identify the design goals
- Ed HochuliStrongest NFL official of all time
Do Your Research / Use Your Research
NOV 2-4, 2016
Identify the design goals
- Ed HochuliStrongest NFL official of all time
Do Your Research / Use Your Research
Example goals could include:
• Unify the brand
• Create a minimalist and modern interface
• Develop image-driven content
• Differentiate us from all of our competitors
NOV 2-4, 2016
Test your designs
- Barry BondsAfter steroids
- Barry BondsBefore steroids
Do Your Research / Use Your Research
NOV 2-4, 2016
Test your designs
- Barry BondsAfter steroids
- Barry BondsBefore steroids
Do Your Research / Use Your Research
Ways to test:
• Client testing
• Agency testing
• Unknown testing
• Guerilla testing
• Internal testing
This gives you qualitative and quantitative data you can leverage to sell your design decisions.
NOV 2-4, 2016
Otherwise it becomes a fruitless exercise in subjectivity
- John McEnroeTennis great and world class complainer
Do Your Research / Use Your Research
NOV 2-4, 2016
Otherwise it becomes a fruitless exercise in subjectivity
- John McEnroeTennis great and world class complainer
Do Your Research / Use Your ResearchWants
• Needs more blue
• Too dark
• I don’t like that picture
• Needs more pop
Needs
• Illegible
• I can’t find what I’m looking for
• Doesn’t work
• Loads too slow
VS
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Iterate
3
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Removes pressure
- Tatiana KashirinaRussian weightlifting champion
Iterate
NOV 2-4, 2016
Avoids overconsumptionIterate
- Joey ChestnutCompetitive eating champion
NOV 2-4, 2016
Provides continued momentum
- U.S. Olympic Relay Team
Iterate
NOV 2-4, 2016
Provides continued momentum
- U.S. Olympic Relay Team
Iterate
Momentum flow:
• Ideate
• Low-fidelity sketch
• Wireframe
• Style tile / mood board
• Hi-fidelity Concept
• Prototype
• Test
*Not all are necessary for every project
NOV 2-4, 2016
Brings decision makers along for the journey which ends in more efficiencies
- U.S. OlympicBobsled Team
Iterate
NOV 2-4, 2016
Brings decision makers along for the journey which ends in more efficiencies
- U.S. OlympicBobsled Team
Iterate
You – “We think we can come up with some really compelling case studies for the site. Plus, we want to make this page more about what we’ve done for our clients as opposed to focusing on internal members of the organization.”
Agency – “That’s a great insight. We can easily make that work. Give me just a sec...”
Sample Iterative Scenario Between You and Your Agency
NOV 2-4, 2016
Brings decision makers along for the journey which ends in more efficiencies
- U.S. OlympicBobsled Team
IterateSample Iterative Scenario Between You and Your Agency
You – “This is exactly what we need. Great job!”
Agency – “Thanks! Wanna grab a beer?”
You – “Absolutely. First round’s on me.”
Agency – “You mean something like this?”
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Tell the Story
4
NOV 2-4, 2016
Sets up the researchTell the Story
- U.S. Volleyball Team
NOV 2-4, 2016
Sets up the researchTell the Story
- U.S. Volleyball Team
We want users to explore important thought leadership on the homepage.
Need
Example of telling a story to frame the solution
NOV 2-4, 2016
Sets up the researchTell the Story
- U.S. Volleyball Team
We want users to explore important thought leadership on the homepage. In our research and testing we discovered that less than 5% of users clicked beyond the first item in a homepage highlight carousel.
Need
Insight
Example of telling a story to frame the solution
NOV 2-4, 2016
Sets up the researchTell the Story
- U.S. Volleyball Team
We want users to explore important thought leadership on the homepage. In our research and testing we discovered that less than 5% of users clicked beyond the first item in a homepage highlight carousel. Therefore, we avoided a carousel and instead designed a longer page scroll that exposes all of the thought leadership we want users to engage with.
Avoid:
Our page is long because carousels don’t work.
Need
Insight
Solution
Example of telling a story to frame the solution
NOV 2-4, 2016
Mitigates subjective knee-jerk
- Anderson SilvaMMA Champion
Tell the Story
NOV 2-4, 2016
Makes the stakeholders feel more involved
- Canadian Synchronized Swim Team
Tell the Story
NOV 2-4, 2016
Makes the stakeholders feel more involved
- Canadian Synchronized Swim Team
Tell the Story
Perceived involvement leads to:
• Feeling part of something greater
• More empathy
• Better understanding
• Higher investment
• Design evangelism
NOV 2-4, 2016
Validates decisions
- Chuck Norris6-time Middleweight Karate Champion
Tell the Story
NOV 2-4, 2016
Know When to Step Away
5
NOV 2-4, 2016
Avoid concept fatigue
- Mo FarahMost successful British track athlete in modern Olympic history
Know When to Step Away
NOV 2-4, 2016
Stay focused on your goals
- Ki Bo BaeKorean Olympic archery gold medalist
Know When to Step Away
NOV 2-4, 2016
Stay focused on your goals
- Ki Bo BaeKorean Olympic archery gold medalist
Know When to Step Away
Sally – “I was just checking out McFly & Tannen’s website and noticed they’re using a lot more color. It feels warm and makes me happy inside.”
You – “Thanks for sharing. Our new visual identity system focuses on using sparse splashes of color to draw the users attention to key content and keep a fair amount of white space as an essential composition component.”
Sally – “But it looks drab.”
You – “Through our discovery phase a key goal was to incorporate a sophisticated and reserved use of color that reinforces interactivity and drives the users to more content. We tested the design and found that using color in this fashion increased the click rates by over 25%.”
Sally – “I never would have guessed that. I like what McFly& Tannen are doing but it doesn’t sound like it aligns with our brand and goals. Thanks for helping me understand your decision.”
You – “Anytime Sally. Quesadillas tomorrow?”
Sally – “For sure. My treat.”
Conversation Between You and Practitioner (Sally)
NOV 2-4, 2016
Go with your gut
- William “Refrigerator” Perry1985 Super Bowl Champion
Know When to Step Away
NOV 2-4, 2016
What Can Happen If You Let a Committee Run Awry
NOV 2-4, 2016
COMMITTEE FEEDBACK ON THE CREATION OF EARTH.
Hi God,
Thanks so much for the latest round of work. Really coming together. Few points of feedback:
1 – Really liking the whole light thing but not totally sure about the naming system. “Day” and “night” are OK but we feel like there’s more we can do here. Thoughts? Definitely need to nail this down ASAP.
2 – Re: the “sky”… not really feeling the color here. Would like something that pops more. Please send additional options.
3 – Appreciate the work on the sea and ground, but right now there’s way too much sea. The ground is getting lost in it. In general, sea does not resonate well with our users. Was talking with the team and the idea of having no sea at all came up. Thoughts?
4 – Are the winged birds final, or placeholder? Some kind of weird stuff going on with those. Just want to get some clarification before giving more feedback.
5 – Seas teeming with life is fine, but again, we need to reduce the sea. This is a showstopper for us.
Realize it’s Saturday and you were planning to be OOO tomorrow to admire your creation and everything, but I’m hoping you can keep rolling on this through the weekend. Looking to you and your team for a big win here.
Thanks!
NOV 2-4, 2016
So In Summary…
NOV 2-4, 2016
“I hate yellow”
NOV 2-4, 2016
“I hate yellow, but I understand
why you chose it.”
NOV 2-4, 2016
IdentifyStakeholders
Tell the Story
IterateKnow When
to Step Away
Do YourResearch/Use Your Research
NOV 2-4, 2016
Overcoming Creative Hurdles“I Hate Yellow” and Other Lane Violations