Swing and miss
Hierarchy is prevalent in every industry and ours is no exception. When we work with clients, we usually start with some form of material — whether it be motif or logo — our design drafts are then presented to our clients where they go through a process of approval from employees to management. Representatives from each level will obviously have different opinions and feedback about the drafts, so we fall into a seemingly endless cycle of discussion and revision to appease every reviewer, only to have the “final draft” rejected by the decision maker. What sounds like an annoying pattern is actually quite a common occurrence in our line of work.
Client’s internal challenge
Although there exists a fundamental formula in design, every creator as well as audience has a unique interpretation of the design concept and expects a specific visual representation that resonates to their vision. Factor in the repetitive discussion and revision, the “final drafts” to each reviewer often vary drastically.
Why is it that employees and management, despite being in the same company, disagree on the creative approach of design proposals? The reason is twofold:
i. Gap in recognition
For any corporation, regardless of size or experience, there needs to be an alignment of recognition among its employees. Are all employees aware of corporate philosophy and core values? Are there in fact core values? The answers to these questions are the driving forces behind a corporation’s planning, sales, marketing, and administration. Corporate philosophy is the cornerstone of long term prosperity and the preface of brand image. If employees are unfamiliar with their corporate philosophy, they often lose focus when reviewing design proposals, causing back and forth revisions between employees and management during the drafting phase.
ii. Work place authorization
To management, authorization is a body of knowledge and a form of art that they must master as leaders. Authorization is not merely assigning tasks and decision making power to subordinates, but a two-way interaction and communication to determine how much authority is relinquished. When management and employees bridge the gap in recognition, and acknowledge what values and concept need to be portrayed in the design, a certain amount of decision making power needs to be released to working level members. Working level members are employees that work most closely to design agencies and they serve as windows to their company’s values; Designers should be able to work with these employees and grasp the message the company wishes to convey and how the message should be materialized. Given a certain level of autonomy, working level employees can work with designers without the impediment of bureaucracy, resulting in a final design that will most likely be approved by every management level.
From our experience, the disconnect in corporate philosophy and employees is especially common among international corporations. Offices in different locations mean different cultural backgrounds, exacerbating the existing gap in recognition and lack of work place authorization; it is when working with such clients that we often find an inconsistent understanding of corporate philosophy among their management and employees.
Able Studio is offering a solution to these clients. We help our clients re-center their focus by streamlining their core values so that their message can be delivered to the public without misinterpretation, and as the public becomes more aware of the brand, so grows the commercial performance of the business. If corporate philosophy and core values are the foundation on which a business is built, Able Studio’s design will be the concrete that binds together the foundation.
