Less is More—Why You Should Always Follow “The Rule of 3”
Author of this post: Bryan Kelly | About Blog Authors »
Designers love to show off. We’re creative, we seek heaps of attention and we absolutely crave the limelight. So, it seems only natural that when trying to win a job, a designer would want to show off their creativity by presenting as many design solutions as possible. 10 concepts, 20 concepts, heck–I’ve been at creative pitches where we’ve shown over 60 concepts! With all of those creative options, you’d think the client would be so impressed that the job would be in the bag, right? Truth is we fell victim to the same trap that many designers fall into. We lost that job because we ignored “The Rule of 3.”
What’s “The Rule of 3” you ask? It’s the rule that says you should never present more than 3 creative concepts to a client. Ever. Now I know what you’re thinking: “What if they are expecting more? What if my three concepts aren’t good enough? What if I have other really good ideas?” These are all valid questions, but they are ultimately traps. Clients hire designers to get their best creative solutions for the job at hand. They expect you to show your best, not a parade of so-so designs followed by a few really good ones. Odds are if you’re showing 10 concepts in a pitch, 7-9 of them are mediocre at best—and you know it. So why waste your time and the clients as well—or worse, have the client choose a design you hate and only showed because you wanted filler? By filtering in advance and choosing three ideas to present that are the best of the best, you eliminate the confusion and the potential for a bad decision to be made by the client. I suggest approaching the narrowing of the concept field this way:
€ Concept 1: What did the client initially ask for?
€ Concept 2: What would I really love to design for this project?
€ Concept 3: What is the happy medium between Concept 1 and Concept 2
This is just one approach to mapping out a strategy for narrowing down multiple creative concepts. The beauty of such an approach is that you can still dream up all the great ideas you possibly can (no one is saying to curb your creativity). But in applying “The Rule of 3” those great ideas get focused down to your best ones and you can present to the client with utter confidence. Remember, Less is More!
April 13th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
Great advice, Bryan. I think you raise an important point when you say that clients hire designers to get their best ideas. They don’t hire designers to get a bucket full of ideas - they just means they have to work at sifting through them all. Clients want an expert whose recommendations and guidance will make their lives easier.
June 15th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
I have a question. If I was looking for a graphic designer to help with my website then what should I look for in a designer or what questions should I ask when looking for the right one?
August 11th, 2007 at 1:45 am
Hi, Cade @ Write To Right
As a designer, I would like to ask why you need your website. And what kind of website you would like to create? (Business? Entertainment? Portfolio? etc,.)
If you already have ideas in your mind even vaguely, you should ask what kind of website the designer is good at. Some of them are good at making corporate websites; some of them might be e-commerce. Of course you will know seeing the designer’s portfolio and decide if the designer is right for you.