Sweating over a stock image? Your ideas might be in trouble...
There is something to be said for perfectionism. And sometimes the 56th round of a logo design truly does result in a better logo. But if you find yourself spending hours searching for just the right stock image for a slide or asking your designer to keep trying different shades of blue, “Because the feeling just isn’t right...,” this could be a sign that your content and message are in serious trouble.
I have no scientific data to make this case, simply years of experience working on countless presentations with every type of client. And when a story is clear and content is strong, a designer is able to do his or her best work, generally resulting in design that accurately messages the message. But when a story is muddy, a designer must do a lot of guessing. In this case, the odds of hitting a bulls-eye are slim, and the client falls into an “I don’t know what I like, but I don’t like that” posture. It is times like these that a client turns to design to solve their content problem. And here’s the unfortunate truth:
Design will never fix a weak story.
Let me give you two hypothetical corporate stories for a sales pitch:
Example 1: Our company designs, manufactures and sells quality golf equipment that any player would be happy and satisfied to carry with them on the golf course.
Example 2: We handcraft the Prada of golf drivers for the most discriminating players.
The first story is weak, vague and far too general. Should the design be populist or elitist? Pro or amateur? Conservative or edgy? Example 1 might result in slides like these below—and lots talk like this: “It’s not quite right; we’re trying to appeal to every golfer and make them all happy!”
But the second story hits that bulls-eye with its messaging. “Handcraft,” “Prada” “discriminating” and the slightly suggestive “players” all indicate who this story is for and who the product should appeal to. This story might lead to slides like these...
Now, of course, client and designer can still argue endlessly over this or that detail, but there won’t be disagreement over the appeal to a very wealthy, fashion-conscious clientele.
The Decoration Danger Zone
There’s a cousin to this perfectionist danger zone, and that’s the decoration danger zone.
If you find yourself always trying to embellish your message visually, you may not have a strong enough message to stand on its own. Remember, few people want to pay for simplicity, but it generally is the best approach.
I once directed the first production of a fun, campy musical that included, among other wacky things, a trio of singing alligators. The script was fairly solid, so we didn’t do much rewriting, but I did repeatedly attempt to cut one song that, while catchy, had absolutely no reason for being in the show. I begged the writers to take it out, but ultimately lost the fight. Since the song made no sense in the overall story of the show, my only solution was to treat the number in such a way that the audience immediately forgot it ever happened.
I instructed my choreographer to move people around the stage as much as possible and to distract the audience with as many dance embellishments (decorations) as she could to avoid focus on the song’s lyrics and story. Manipulative? Of course. But I thought a 3-minute visual distraction would help the audience focus on the other much clearer 90 minutes.
To be clear, there is generally a very real need for visual design of message—just be sure you’re not distracting your audience from the story itself.
And avoid singing alligators.
