Creative does not have to be complicated
Complex isn’t the same as clever, so says Chantal, our Head of Brand and Creative Strategy.
A piece of communication starts life with one job. Well, it should do. There should be just one thing you want the person reading to think, feel or do. But we all know the temptation to make the most of that beautiful white space by oh, I don’t know, cramming in one more teeny tiny little message, just one more call to action. Before you know it, whatever that communication was, it’s bursting at the seams, it’s the Tardis, trying to be so much bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.
Complexity is so much easier than simplicity. The clever bit isn’t adding more, it’s knowing what to take away, stripping back all the other noise that you’re tempted to add.
Mark Twain probably said it best “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” (although did you know it was actually written by Blaise Pascal in 1657? Who knew)!
Fight it, fight the urge young Grasshopper, to make your communication that much more complicated than it should be. Your reader will thank you for it.
Simple is not the same as basic
‘Simple’ means that whatever you’ve created is easy to understand. Think of your communication like a guided tour. You lead your reader around, pointing out all the fabulous landmarks, give them just enough information to interest but not overwhelm, and finally send them on their way with a hunger to find out more.
That isn’t basic, that’s hard to do. Just because there is less on the page, doesn’t mean it was knocked up in 5 minutes.
Your visual can be bursting with colour, it can be playful, interesting, expressive, cryptic even, but everything on the page has to serve the function of the communication, the concept of the message, not fight it.
As a designer at heart, I love the Bauhaus of it all. Big, bold graphics light my little designer heart on fire, but the temptation towards minimalism has also got to be fought. Too little information is just as bad. You’ve got to think like Goldilocks and go for ‘just right’.
The three-ingredient test for a better creative
While you’re thinking of Goldilocks, you can also think of your communication like a cake. It needs all the ingredients, in the right order, and the right amounts, to turn it into something you want to eat, and not bin!
01 Give your communication a job before you give it a look
I always witter on about ‘Needs not solutions’. Figure out first what your communication needs to do first, unencumbered by preconceived ideas about how it should look.
What does your reader need to notice first? What has to stand out more than anything else? What do you need to include to get the idea across? Is it the problem, the benefit, a question, or the call to action?
The ‘So what?’ test
Give your thoughts some structure. Write down the hierarchy, from top to bottom. Then ask, of every element: ‘so what’. Does it have a purpose? Does it help move your reader towards the conclusion?
If it doesn’t, cut it. Remember, if everything is shouting, nothing is shouting.
02 How do you want your reader to feel?
OK, ‘feel’ isn’t as fluffy as you think. By ‘feel’ I mean creating that little moment of recognition that tells your reader this is relevant to them.
Relevance comes from connecting the message to a problem, goal, worry, benefit or practical need they already recognise. The temptation is always to start with what you want to say. But that’s the catch, this isn’t about you. If you want your reader to feel something, you need to put them first.
Aim for eliciting the thought:
- “That’s me.”
- “Finally, someone gets it.”
- “I should probably know about this.”
- “That looks easier than I thought.”
- “I trust these people.”
- “I don’t want to miss that.”
- “That’s interesting.”
- “I can do this.”
You’re trying to give your reader a reason to care about what you’re saying. You can’t bore them into reading it : )
03 How are you going to make it easy for your reader to take the next step?
It’s the final ingredient in your communications cake. It isn’t just about what you want your reader to ‘do’. It’s also about how easy you make for them to do it.
The creative needs to have laid enough groundwork that the next step feels obvious, rather than a leap into the unknown. Few readers are comfortable with a leap of faith.
What happens when one of the three ingredients is missing?
Notice without feel
Gets attention but gives your reader no reason to care.
Think: clever visual, brilliant headline, no relevance.
Your audience: “I was briefly entertained, but I had no reason to stay.”
Feel without notice
Contains something genuinely relevant but nobody gets far enough to discover it.
Think: the important benefit buried halfway down the communication.
Your audience: “There may have been something useful in there, but finding it felt too much like hard work.”
Notice and feel without do
Gets your reader’s attention, they’re interested… now what?
Think: multiple CTAs, vague next steps or no obvious way to respond.
Your audience: “This feels relevant to me, but I don’t know what to do next.”
Do without notice or feel
“BOOK NOW!”
Think: Nope.
Your audience: “‘I hear someone shouting, but I don’t know who or why. And I don’t care.”
Passed all three tests? Lovely. Now you can go wild with all the fancy visuals.
04 Do one final test
Once you’ve got everything in place, take another look. If there’s something in your communication that isn’t helping your reader notice, feel or do, why is it there? And be honest with yourself. I know I’ve had to have a long, hard word with myself when I’ve been wedded to an idea and I’ve shoehorned it in just because I like it.
For every headline, paragraph, logo, icon, image, statistic, box, button, colour, graphic or piece of information ask:
- Is it helping your reader notice?
- Is it helping them feel something useful?
- Is it helping them act?
If the answer to all three is a big fat no, get rid!
One cheeky disclaimer before designers everywhere start shouting at me: this rule doesn’t apply in every case. Branding, accessibility and necessary information still have jobs to do. But you get the gist.
Simple isn’t always the simplest thing to do.
It’s often the result of a whole boatload of thinking, not less.
You can still be bold, clever, playful and unexpected. Just make sure every creative decision is helping your idea do its job, creating a clear path that allows your reader to notice it, connect with it and know exactly what to do next.
