It happens every hour of every day in countless creative agencies all around the world. In fact, it’s probably happening right now in your agency. Most likely you don’t even have a name for it. You just know it frustrates the hell out of you. I call it creative projection and it goes like this.

You’re in a design review session with one of your co-workers—could be anyone. You make a creative suggestion to try something different—could be anything. And just then, it happens—your co-worker smiles as if to be diplomatic and says in response to your suggestion, “That feels a little cheesy to me.”

STOP RIGHT THERE!

A creative suggestion was made and immediately your co-worker gets an image in his or her head that looks cheesy. So whose cheese is it?  What’s really happening here? Well, either your co-worker has Oppositional Defiant Disorder or he or she is making a snap judgment about your lack of imagination. Probably the latter.

The cheese here is being created in the mind of your co-worker who projects it back onto your suggestion. Back onto you. Congratulations. You’re now the proud owner of a cheesy creative idea—an idea completely different than the one in your head.

Creative projection is a frequent translation or interpretation problem. It can happen to anyone in our business. We all work and play in an industry where there is plenty of opportunity for miscommunication. So how does one convey a conceptual idea with mere words?

Well, in a perfect world, you could take two hours and describe exactly what you’re looking for, but you don’t have two hours. Shit, in a perfect world you could just design the thing yourself because now you’re magic. But you’re not magic and the world’s not perfect and that’s not your job.

So what’s the solution? Anyone working in a conceptual and collaborative environment should keep in mind the following tactics during their creative discussions.

• Give each idea the time and attention it deserves in a very structured and deliberate way. Everyone needs to understand that the execution of one idea never precludes the execution of a second idea. Clients love options.

• You need to keep an open mind, try to listen carefully, repeat back to your co-worker what you’re hearing or visualizing. And for Pete’s sake, keep it humorous. Creative brainstorming should not be political or frustrating. It should be fun.

• Use visual benchmarks as a reference tool for your discussions. If necessary, storyboard on the fly. This gives the conversation a focal point.

• Develop your creative vocabulary. Dealing with conceptual ideas is tough enough, but if you don’t all speak the same language, you might as well be in another country.

• Make sure that everyone understands the psychological dynamic of creative projection and have them read this blog.

Everyone has a different way of expressing and assimilating information, so it’s important to give your creative co-workers and their suggestions the benefit of the doubt. After all, the cheese you’re imagining might be only be your head.

Tags: Advertising, Advice, Collaboration

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