Design From the Heart

When designing for a client, it’s easy to get caught up in corporate guidelines and on-brand messaging. It becomes easy to produce what you think the client or audience is expecting to see. You have to look past the brief though. Find out what the client is wanting to say—not what the client wants produced. If the client doesn’t know what to say, find out what they’re trying to accomplish (knowing what they want to accomplish is more important that knowing what they want to say). Always ask the question "Why?" not the question "What?"

Trust your instinct. You’ve heard it before. It’s that little annoying voice in your head telling you, "That’s not quite right." Listen to that voice. Be bold. Be brave. Scare yourself a little, and see if you don’t find an idea that you haven’t thought of before.