How many concepts?
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- PurePhase
How many different design routes and example pages would you do for a small 7 page website (microsite)?
I recently did some concept designs for a microsite.... and the client was... shall we say unimpressed with the amount I did and ended up getting another designer to "finish the job off".
How many do you usually do?
Just need a sanity check...
- utopian0
2 homepages concepts and 1 subpage concept based on which homepage the client selects, generally works for me.
- brandelec0
2
- brandelec0
2 design routs & 3 example pages for each
- 23kon0
Like Utopian, two homepage concepts/routes then do a lower level page for which design i'd prefer the client to go for ;)
- vaxorcist0
Danger will robinson, I don't think they were unimpressed with the actual work you did, they were however un-brainwashed into thinking you had the absoulutely killer insight and approach that they should totally sign off on so you can continue with your paradigm-shifting outside-of-the-box brand revolutionary transformative business success...
ok.. so short answer is you need to pre-sell people into your way of thinking BEFORE you show anything, otherwise underwhelm tends to happen because people can't previsualize and think you've "not finished" because there's no sense building the whole thing and getting the "that's not what I was thinking" response...
i.e. account people, much as we may despise them, have known this for ages... it's not how much you show, or even what you show, but how much "show and tell" has effected the client...
- karj0
One.
You only *ever* do one.
Fools, amateurs, and old guys do three. (And they pay in blood for doing so.)
Think of it this way: how many targets can you hit at the same time?
Provide one well-articulated concept, then flesh out the visuals. If it doesn't work, find out what the problem is, and then retool or go another direction.
Presenting more than one option at a time will inevitably result in the client cherry picking pieces from each approach, and then frankensteining it into one unmanageable turd. (And you will ask why you didn't go into dentistry, instead of design.)
I'd go on, but then you wouldn't have to buy my book (which I haven't even written, yet). Sometime around 6 months from now, though, you should be able to get a copy. In it, I'll go over this thinking in more detail.
- ummmm...monospaced
- < this - only do 1 - clients don't know what they want, don't let them choose the wrong directionspot13
- wishful thinking.. Perception of multiple concepts... Client is paying for a lot...utopian
- This is correct.d_rek
- +1 Do plenty of discovery and then execute 1 conceptMHDC
- "clients dont know what they want" dude how old are you? ...elproto
- < this is how I do it.riskunlogic
- I like to push myself to come up with more than one rout. Otherwise you become precious about your design.qTime
- instrmntl0
3 concepts, narrowed down to 2 mockups of one homepage.
- doesnotexist0
if you're doing something on brand you should be presenting one concept, yes? with options as to functionality and layout, but essentially the same concept. I never understood presenting 3 options and busing yourself when 66% of your work won't be used and ultimately causes confusion and digression.
- monospaced0
For all of you saying "only one concept," you must not be making your concepts different enough, I guess. I have never met a client, external or internal, that is happy with just one idea. I'd rather go through a dreaded frankensteining than let the only idea get raped by committee. One idea is simultaneously cocky, naive and lazy, in my opinion. Anyway, it really comes down to what you promise, whether it's one idea or 20, and what they're willing to pay for.
- you have to get them to drink the kool-aid first, then present, otherwise frankensteining kills youvaxorcist
- karj0
@monospaced No. You just don't understand the methodology surrounding this approach. (It actually works very well, and results in higher client satisfaction than the "pick yer flavour" method.)
Then of course... you're welcome to keep producing three. It's a brilliant way to keep yourself frantically busy and incredibly unhappy.
- < thiscannonball1978
- I guess we have to agree to disagree on this.monospaced
- this this and thrice this
Daithi
- cannonball19780
If you are doing different concepts, you aren't getting paid to solve the problem with your thinking, but to reflect their thinking as they solve it themselves.
Multiple concepts is an old method from the print days that has no place in designing something with tons of moving plarts.
- Plus, I stand behind one solution because its the best one I can think of.cannonball1978
- monospaced0
@karj
I don't peddle in website concepts anyway. You may be right, a single approach might be best for you, but in my line of design work it's absolutely unacceptable. Cheers.
- nerves0
Explore multiple concepts, then show the one concept you can stand behind.
- i_monk0
No less than 10.
- vaxorcist0
Don't peddle the concept! The concept is the FINAL OUTCOME of the "process" you peddle, where you sell them FIRST, then make damn sure you get the target market right, and know exactly who has to approve what, and what their business goal is, tie these together with an impeccable logical flow, i.e. we understand X about your target market, which will enable you to do Y which furthers your business goal and Z person has already approved this, therefore here's the final ONE design that's ready for execution once you sign here!
of course, some people hate being rubber stamps, you you might insert some randomly odd thing like a backwards TM sign, or a deliberate misspelling or two in the copyright statement, that way they can assert their wisdom in their infinite logic of legal insight while you avoid the hard-hit of a frankensteining design dissipation into hell...
- ideaist0
Personal preference, but with all projects I show 3 concepts.
Safe, Progressive and in between to gauge each client and thus set the tone for everything moving forward.
; )
- bjladams0
we usually start small and work out way up, i.e.: first the logo, then business cards / letterhead etc, then promotional printing and so on... by the time we're at the stage of putting the website together, we've got the design standards worked out, and we're pretty in tune with what the client likes or doesn't - so a single web concept is usually ideal.
& most of our new clients starting from the ground up or completely rebranding, i suppose it's slightly different working with existing brands.
- spot130
1 - I always do one concept at a time because if you do more than one, you're obviously not confident in your work.
- disagree, it means the designer is confident and talented enough to have more than one ideamonospaced
- If I do multiple ideas, client always picks the very last one, which was done in two minsFallowDeer
- whatthefunk0
what type of clients/projects are we talking about here? A $3k small business flower shop or a huge corporate client. I can't imagine a designer/shop walking into an agency or client with only one design comp - been through a ton of them and have never seen that before.
- All web projects I work on, some over $100k. You start with one concept based on your understanding of thespot13
- project and incorporate feedback until you're ready to start development.spot13
- it's all part of the Agile methodology for iterative and incremental developmentspot13
- you guys are talking about two different projects. The flower shop doesn't know what they want.The company with 100k does.monNom
- no client knows what they want - they have an idea and it's your job to tell them how to do itspot13
- After discovery and wires I believe the client knows and now needs design optionswhatthefunk
- ...knows exactly what they want, why, and what their expected outcomes are.monNom