For the Creative Agency: Staying creative when you don’t feel creative.
When you work in a creative industry, or your whole job is serving your clients within the creative industry (KAdesign falls into this category), it’s important to be constantly learning, evolving, and creating.
BUT - no one is creative all the time. No one has awesome ideas all the time. We have all had “creative blocks” that keep us from forming creative ideas.
All is not lost! Here are some tricks and tips I personally use in my work for KAdesign and our clients to get the creative juices flowing:
1) GET ORGANIZED: There’s a misconception that creative people are unorganized and “all over the place.” Personally, I have always found this to be confusing. I am a lover of beautiful ORGANIZED things. For me, being organized, knowing what I need to do, and identifying my goals help me to be more creative. Have you ever been up against a deadline and had ZERO creative ideas? I’m sure you have, I have too. In those moments, when I want to stress and freak out because I am running out of time and a need SOMETHING, I have learned that taking the time to calm down (because stress helps no one) and work my way through my organized process allows me to develop more creative solutions.
One of my favorite creative processes is my branding package. I have discovered over the last decade that having a step-by-step program helps my clients communicate to me what they’re looking for in their brand. Often times, people come to me and say they have “no idea” of what they want. 9 times out of 10, I have found that this is actually not a true statement. Everyone has an idea of what they want for their company or brand, they just don’t know how to communicate it. As a marketer and a graphic designer, I have learned that part of my job is getting people to communicate with me. With a step-by-step process, I have found the process becomes seamless and enjoyable for all involved and in the end, produces the very best for my clients. Here’s how it works:
Brand Design Package from KAdesign
Your brand is more than a logo. Your brand represents your company, and in turn affects how people respond to your company. Your brand should be uniquely you, while clearly communicating your company. That is where KAdesign comes in. I will walk you through my step-by-step branding experience to give your company the brand of your dreams. Here's the process:
Design Questionnaire
I take the time to get to know you through an easy-to-answer questionnaire giving me insight to what you are looking for, your company, and your design style.
Style Ops
After understanding more of what you are looking for through the questionnaire, I narrow your company style down even further by creating style guide options to use as inspiration for your brand.
Three logo drafts
Now that I have a feel of what you are looking for, it's time to dig in and start designing your unique brand.
Choose logo
This step is easy, pick the one you like the most!
3 Rounds of Edits on Chosen logo to get to final version
When I say "Rounds of Edits", I really mean, let's have a conversation (or 3) and make sure your logo is where it needs to be.
Style Guide
This is like a brand bible. This document lays out the theme of your company from colors to fonts and photos. The style guide makes it easy for you to take your brand and keep it consistent.
Website
I will create a 5 page Squarespace website to complete your brand image, giving you a great place to connect and communicate with your customers.
Generally the 5 pages are: Home, About, Services, Blog, and Contact
This organized process has built-in creative time because I know the likelihood of me sitting down and having an awesome idea immediately is low. I like to get all my ideas out of my head and onto the table. Sometimes I laugh at the bad or ridiculous ones and then walk away for a bit. This gives me room to mull over my ideas and they work themselves out, sometimes they combine for a mashed-up idea or they evolve into something completely different. Because I gave myself the time and space to work through the process, the ideas have room to change and develop freely. Do you have an organized creative process? Try one and see if it helps.
2) GET EDUCATED: Are you continuing your education and constantly learning? I sometimes struggle with this as a creative person because learning from someone else and hearing their experience can feel like copying. But there’s value in learning from those that have gone before. They have already done the work to figure out what things to stay away from, and what paths are worth pursuing. Then, you can take what you learn from them and put your own spin on it. No one else is like you, no one else thinks the exact way you do, so no one else is going to apply those ideas to your company and your brand the way you would. Take those wise ideas and thoughts and communicate them in your own way - incorporate them into your brand and business and see where it takes you.
3) GET RANDOM: Are you stuck in a rut? One of the things I love about being a boutique marketing agency is working with different companies in different industries with different people. While the core tools of marketing (branding, social media, email marketing, websites, design) won’t change, the clients and companies I work with are all going to have a slightly different take on how I use the tools. So, how do you avoid getting stuck? Try something completely different. Try something out of your comfort zone. Take a risk. I am willing to bet you will return with a new-found excitement, or maybe you’ll learn a new lesson - at the very least you’ll have a good story!
