The Brief has changed !

Yes we do hear this very often , specially from our Designers and Brand consultants, ' The brief has changed ' hence we will take ten weeks more and we will be sending in a fresh Estimate. This so called change of brief is how we see and interpret. Very often if your Brand designer wants to push in a design concept he/she may say that they have seen the Brief not as a water tight compartment but but taken some creative liberties, lets push the boundaries as Marketers. If you have had a rethink and want a slight relook, most often than not you may be told about the changed brief.

We need to examine asto why this happens, is it that your Designer is so completely exhausted with your iterations that he/she wants to call it a day, or is it that Designers believe that whatever they have given with their hard work and conceptual thinking, the client should take forward towards implementation.

I believe that never should we allow such a situation to arrive, try to be clear about the brief from the very beginning, plus also have a signed off agreement on how many iterations would be allowed in the development process. Right from the very beginning be clear on what you are shortlisting and why, never give any reason for your Designer to believe that the work is extraordinary whereas you may not be actually meaning it. Be sincere in your praise as well as criticism, incase you believe the proposed design is at best conceptually Ok but needs to be seen in its complete execution, please make that clear at each stage. Incase you believe that the work presented in not inline with the brief and the concept is fuzzy, please trash the work with politeness and leave no doubts that this round of work will not be counted as an iteration.

On the other hand if the Designer believes that the work done is meaningful and has high potential, please allow them to explain and the opportunity should be given. We should not let our position as a client come in the way of understanding the concept and making efforts to listen with utmost patience. Very often there could a great idea hidden and waiting to be discovered and perhaps needs to be talked over.

Bringing in clarity of communication between your Packaging designer and the the Client is the best way to avoid entanglements of the Changed brief. When faced with a design rejection resorting to the ' Changed brief ' is perhaps the easiest option but has the tremendous potential of spoiling a relationship and also a Creative idea.