The creative process: The journey from a brief to 'Final_final.jpg'

• Being a part of the creative design team for an agency demands everyday inspiration.
• Yogesh Bhusare, Creative Head, Design, SoCheers shares some tips that can help you stay creative and get inspired, despite staying in the confines of your homes.

We all hear of stories of how filmmakers, musicians, artists go to mountains, beaches, find some sort of isolation and inspiration for their work. Being in the creative design team for an agency, you need the inspiration every day but the feasibility of taking a road trip to that nearby destination can’t be done on a whim. But what we can do is try to derive inspiration and insights from the daily cacophony from your workplace (aka currently your home).Seems daunting?

It’s not. It's just something you need to turn into a habit (for you and your team) in order to creatively and positively start working from the time you get the brief and deliver some great work. Through this article, I’d like to share some steps I take to get my creative juices flowing, irrespective of wherever I am.

At the end of the day, be it the mountains, or your work desk at an office in Andheri, I firmly believe that inspiration comes from within. With that thought in mind, here I go:

Step 1: Research and Reference

On getting the brief, first dive in and research. It's best to know upfront what other brands/creators are doing to understand what they have already attempted so as to not copy or pursue that design path. It's good to get your creative juices flowing once you have understood the brand and the industry benchmarks. If we have an idea of what the competitors have done then we can start thinking about new designs and style variations which will be diametrically different from the existing ones. A thorough research and referencing is essential to get started on the front foot in terms of thinking about innovative ideas.

Step 2: Finding the Balance

After research and referencing, understanding the target audience/customer of the brand’s product/service is pivotal. This is a crucial step as depending on the target group (TG) you have to devise the creative. The colour, text font, and other key details will be ideated based on the TG. Even if the creative looks good, the effort will be in vain if it doesn’t add value for the ones seeing it. If the TG doesn't understand what you want to express through the creative, then it is as if you are handing them a white sheet of paper and asking them to figure out what it means. Therefore, we have to achieve a balance between our creative space and capabilities and the requirements of the TG. We cannot, in any way, tilt towards one side which will only result in making the entire operation redundant.

Step 3: Final_final.jpg

In the final step you should come up with two creatives for the brand. Why two options? Giving more than one option expands the scope for the brand to understand the reasoning behind the creatives you made for them. Also, banking on one creative is a considerable risk, so it is always better to have a buffer during such situations. At this juncture, it’s important to know that if you are working for an agency, it’s imperative to build your portfolio consisting of quality work which can potentially bag awards and some recognition for your efforts. The more options you create, the more opportunities you get to build a good portfolio.

In these three steps, I’ve summed up the creative process which helps me not only design the best creatives but ones which resonate positively with the target group I am aiming for.

Your designs are valued and recognised according to the impression it creates on the ones seeing and consuming them. Hence, a creative mindset backed by research and analysis is the way to move forward in a world where audiences’ consumption patterns are changing constantly and attention span is declining rapidly.