Notes from First Round

As promised, here are my notes from watching First Round. This is a one-day conference where creatives are invited to present their first round of creative brand work as they presented it to their client. You have the opportunity to be the fly-on-the-wall in that meeting.

Some of it was affirming because I could say, "I do that!" Those moments were nice to hear. But here are some ideas I'll be integrating immediately, or at least thinking about for the future.

Biggest Takeaway
I mean, if there is anything Vis-Communication is about, it's showing your work. Meaning, not just the end result, but the process you took to get there. We go through all these steps to get to the final brand. But for designers it's just our Tuesday, and we forget that it's not just interesting to others, but important. It builds the rationale for what you'll show them. Show the research. Show the fonts you considered, show a sketch (maybe). Show them the design landscape they're competing in. Show what inspired the color palette.

Easiest to Implement Right Now
I've started using some of the terminology immediately. For one, it's no longer a moodboard, it's a Visual Strategy board. A moodboard sounds like something you'd find on Pinterest. A Visual Strategy board encompasses all the research and thinking that's gone behind it. There is a Brand Strategy using words, and as a designer, you are creating the Visual Strategy. Call it that.

Second, don't call what you are presenting options, call them ideas. I find the word concepts is equally acceptable. Options sounds like a multiple choice quiz. These are ideas. During the conference, someone said they're not looking to convince or sell anything to anyone. They're looking for alignment. An option is a sell. An idea is an alignment.

Bad Logos
This is a really genius idea. One of the presenters talked about how in their discovery workshop, they had the clients draw what they thought a bad logo looked like. What's so insightful about this is you learn instantly what the clients do not like. Which is almost as helpful (maybe more?) as learning what they do like. You learn what they consider clichés for their industry that they want to avoid.

Back Burner
There were a couple ideas that I thought were interesting, but not sure if they would always be appropriate. Something to keep back of mind. They could work for the right client. Read the room. One presenter used sketches in their presentation, although with some context. They had sketches on one half of the slide along with some visual reference on the other. Sketches are not for every client. Designers and visual folks may be able to make that leap of imagination, but many, many people have a hard time with that, and will take the sketch very literally.

Another presenter said they never show web comps as part of the initial brand. Their reasoning is that the client gets too invested in the comp and then it's hard to go through the real work of building a website the right way. I think they have a strong point. I have run into that as well. Although, many presenters did just this.

Anyone else watch First Round Toronto or another city? Let me know what you took away from it.