Think back. Were you deducted points on your math homework when you didn’t show your work – how you achieved your end result? As an industry, we run into the same challenge in the creative process for the very same reason.
We too often do not show the client why we took the path we took or how we reached the answer we reached.
Clients engage us to be creative and to lead them through what could be unchartered waters. It’s our craft, our passion, and our art. It’s what we do.
By not showing our thought process to the client, we open the project up to derailment and confusion too easily.
Our company is not immune to this; I’m not immune to this. However, I have found the solution to be incredibly simple.
Purpose.
Talk about the reasoning of why you did what you did and in doing so you will humanize the work and the process to the client. You will be able to make an emotional connection between something important to you – the execution, and something important to them – the product.
The idea has not been fully developed, the work executed, and the potential reached unless you show the purpose and reasoning behind your creative.
In fact, the client longs for the why. Why you added a 1px vs. a 5px stroke, made that element ease-in vs. ease-out, chose a flat icon set, went with this tag line vs. another, started the story like this…. etc.,
Next time you design, build, animate, shoot or do whatever it is you do, finish it off strong and give the client a synopsis of why you did what you did and humanize the process.
Anything less too easily destroys the art of what you worked hard to create.
