What is a concept?

“In the world of graphic design, we always mention concepts. The real issue is that clients and many designers do not understand the concept of concepts. “

If you look up the word concept, here is the definition you will find:

S: (n) concept, conception, construct (an abstract or general idea inferred or derived from specific instances).

Graphic designers have to not only be visual communicators, but we also need to be psychologists. It is critical that the designer understands human nature and how people think and react. It is also our job to know what consumers will be thinking in the future and how their reaction will affect future purchases. I suggest we put down our pencils, power down our computers and break out our crystal balls.

In order to come up with a good concept, we must first clearly define the target market. The target market is never everyone. It is critical that we narrow this down to a smaller group. A good example of this is toilet paper. Everyone above the age of 3 uses it, but we are all not the target consumer. I personally did not purchase toilet paper until I was 18 and had my own place. Before that time, it would just magically be there. A tighter target for that product might be:
• Primary shopper in the household
• Females age 25 to 50 (males are filling this role more now, so we must also consider that factor)
• Married with 2 to 3 children
This now gets us a tighter group to focus on. That target will PURCHASE THE LARGEST VOLUME of the product. We can often narrow this target market down even tighter by looking at: income levels, education, race, hobbies, location and other factors.

Now that we have defined our target, we must define our client’s primary objective. Let’s say that the primary objective was to sell a full season ski pass for a local ski resort. Our job is to define that target and then come up with three concepts to achieve the primary objective. Some examples of concepts for this could be:
Concept 1:
The perfect recipe for winter fun. Take one season pass, add in snow, plus 1 large cup of savings and you have instant winter fun.
Concept 2:
Your passport to powder. Please do not consider this a ski ticket. This is your passport to endless winter fun.
No security check needed.
Concept 3:
It is better than a bus pass. This is like having a bus pass. The difference is that our bus is a lift that takes you to the top of a mountain for endless days of skiing and snow.

Now that you have three unique concepts, you can come up with designs to accompany the concepts. Once a concept is chosen you can then do VARIATIONS on that concept. The variations would include: font changes, image changes, color changes, layout placement changes and copy changes. Where all the confusion happens is that often designers provide variations from the start based off of 1 concept. When a client pays for 3 concepts they usually are looking for 3 unique ways to attract the consumer and reach their objective.

I hope all of this helps. Remember, define your objective, select your target and then work on 3 unique concepts to achieve your goal. Then, if needed, you can try some variations of the selected concept.

I have attached a concept that was used by our client eyetique. They were looking for a unique way to sell their consumer sunglasses that not only provided style but safety with protective lenses. This was not a sale, so we needed to attract them with a concept. Once we got the consumer curious, the amazing sales associates at eyetique would do the rest.
I hope you enjoy our concept.

Have fun with your conceptual thinking!