After 25 years providing creative services for a whole host of clients, one might think that it becomes increasingly difficult for an integrated agency to stay motivated and continue to come up with fresh, creative and inspiring ideas. But we actually find that the opposite is true. We feel more inspired than ever to find creative solutions to the challenges our clients set us – and keeping those clients happy, delivering tangible business results through our work, never fails to satisfy.
For any integrated agency, finding ways to maintain that creative spark is crucial to success. For us, it’s our bread and butter. It helps, of course, that each of our team love what they do. Moreover, they are extremely good at what they do. And, over the years, we implement a number of smart ways of working that supports our commitment to produce consistently strong and creative work. Here are our core five approaches.
1. Clients and designers need to communicate
In a traditional agency set-up, account directors and/or project managers have always been the main point of contact for clients. Behind the scenes, designers developed concepts and ideas and provided the ‘suits’ with everything needed to wow the client. It’s a way of working that never sat easy for us. As an integrated agency, we much prefer to involve our designers in client meetings alongside the account manager and/or project manager. Whether face-to-face in a room or over video conferencing, designers always get a much better understanding of the client’s needs, goals and expectations when client facing. Insight is everything!
2. We believe in freedom of expression
In terms of creativity, the team are never held back. They know that they have free rein in terms of the designs they produce. Giving this freedom works ideally for the designers’ mindset although they are experienced enough to know when a project needs to be kept in check (whether this is due to the client brief, the deadline or budget) or when they can really push the creative boat out.
3. We embrace change
Technology changes rapidly and so do the marketing tools used by our clients and their customers. over the past 25 years, we’ve seen the rise of the internet, websites becoming ever more sophisticated, digital marketing exploding onto the scene – and everything now fully accessible via smart phone. We make it our business to keep on top of all the latest trends to ensure we never miss a trick and always provide targeted solutions for our clients.
4. It’s crucial to share experiences
Everyone at Design Inc has a specific role to play but, ultimately, we’re a team. And teams talk, they collaborate. We always encourage our designers to discuss projects between them. Sharing creative ideas really helps to push the envelope further – a second opinion, a quick brainstorm, a fresh perspective, it all feeds our creative minds.
5. Inspiration is everywhere
Whilst it is great to come up with a unique brand or advertising campaign, we know that even the most original creative ideas do not come from living in a vacuum. Our designers are heavily networked within the creative industry and see new work all the time – on websites, forums and social media platforms. Moreover, we firmly believe that inspiration comes from constantly looking at everything around us, so we always keep our eyes out for the advertising on tv, at bus and rail stations, on billboards, everywhere. They all create inspiration.
For us, keeping the creative juices flowing is not rocket science. In fact, it’s basic common sense. The important thing is that, for the past 25 years, this has always been part of the Design Inc ethos and it works well.
>>25 Years of Ideas. Read our Story
>> Take a look at our creative portfolio
