[…enough to be my guinea pig? ] I realise this is a bit of an odd question to ask, but bear with me, First name / friend — because hopefully it'll all make sense once you read on.
At 42, I'm practically a dinosaur. When I was at uni back in the late 90s to early 2000s (hello triple vodka redbulls at the Soar Point in Leicester! #iykyk), we were taught the classic rule of three — to always present three design concepts to the client. Typically, this would look like:
- One safe bet (aka what the client asked for).
- One designer's choice (a strategic balancing act between client preference, audience needs and creativity).
- One wild card (that pushes boundaries and challenges the client).
There's nothing wrong with this approach. It's a tried and tested, industry standard way of doing things that has served me, and many others, well for over 20 years — and it's what the majority of clients have come to expect from the design process.
But here's the thing: whenever I present my customary three concepts, I always have a gut feeling about one of them. It just feels right. More often than not, that gut feeling turns out to be spot on, and my favourite ends up being my client's top choice. If I was to hazard a guess as to why, I think it boils down to:
- Taking the time to really get to know my clients, who they are, what they stand for, and who they want to appeal to.
- Staking out the strategy + overall design direction before diving into any detailed conceptual work.
- Being in the game for long enough to know what works — that “intuitive way of reading my clients' minds" is a direct result of my 20+ years of experience rather than anything woo.
Despite this, I've remained loyal to the rule of three. Presenting three options feels safe. However, it also means I'm spending a lot of time producing concepts that will literally end up in the big black hole of unused ideas. What a shame!
I've recently started to wonder, what if? What if I went all-in on the one? What if the time usually spent conceptualising and iterating several ideas was dedicated to perfecting just one design direction, instead of three? What would happen then?
