The following is an excerpt of a recent conversation between Designorati:In-House and Designorati:Strategy.

This conversation will spawn a series of articles covering topics from two different viewpoints, hence the title: In-House vs. Strategy. One viewpoint, In-House, includes how a creative on the inside is affected by trends in the industry including justifications, organization and workflow issues, as well as staffing and interacting with other disciplines within the organization. The other viewpoint, Strategy, includes how a decision-maker perceives the creative discipline and factors that weigh heavily in decision-making regarding the very same issues.

Designorati:Strategy:

So, I understand as an In-House creative, you have been asked to quantify the value of the creative process, in short, assess your department. Why?

Designorati:In-House:

One of the common issues I face in my work day is justifying the time it takes to finish a project from it first being requested through total completion working with a number of non-creatives, they don’t know exactly what it is I do they seem to think it’s magic so, as a magician, I’m expected to produce projects with little time to get them done

Strategy:

perhaps you make it look so easy? the push of a button? you jump through hoops so often it has become the norm and they have come to expect it?

In-House:

that’s possible — I am aware that building expectations with your clients is very important I think my predecessor may have been the hoop-jumping type but I try to give my clients a reasonable timeline for the project though my company has pre-established timelines they’d developed before my time here for instance if I’m asked to develop a brochure for a new marketing campaign on a project the company expectation is that this brochure should be completed within 2 business days, but the expectation is often much sooner I let my client know what that I can produce this in 2 days, and I let them know what’s on my plate

Strategy:

Well, from your perspective, looking from the inside out, you may be wondering if other In-House creatives face the same challenges you have voiced.

In-House:

I am do other In-House creatives face similar expectations from their employers? with workload increasing and timelines getting shorter, how do we get our work done?

Strategy:

What kinds of challenges do you face in assessing your current situation? How do you plan on tackling the question of “justifying” some of the issues you just outlined — deadlines, expectations, quality?

In-House:

we currently don’t track jobs because most of them tend to be short, quick turnaround projects for one or two clients at a time there’s no real project management system in place so with a flurry of projects coming in at any time it’s difficult to really know how much time is spent on one project or another or how much effort was really concentrated on a project

Strategy:

Let me push upstream for a moment if I may — where does the project actually begin? Are you involved in the planning stages — i.e. marketing? This is where the Strategy begins and you support that function, so …

In-House:

for my specific situation, the project begins when my In-House client needs to market for a client they represent they turn to me and ask for a brochure or flyer, based on a template, containing the information they present me one problem, as I see it, happens when my client gives me insufficient information to start their project also, there hasn’t been good graphic standard or style guide for the company until recently — which is still in the early stages of implementation (we’re going through a rebrand)

Strategy:

Now bear in mind, I like to measure stuff — so someone has already worked out the intent or purpose of the “flyer or brochure” i.e. inform, brand, sell. Someone has determined that this is the best method for delivering this content. And someone is tracking the effectiveness of this effort. Comparing the cost of the project to the effectiveness of the response?

In-House:

not from my understanding if there is someone directly tracking the implications of these materials, I don’t know about it my assumption is that the effectiveness of these materials is tracked by the amount of business they bring in if there’s a phone call, the flyer worked however, ineffectiveness is measured by how long the product stays on the market and/or the relationship of my In-House client with their outside client

Strategy:

well, actually, in the scenario of the phone call/flyer — you’re actually still in the hole — I mean money was spent on staff, materials and postage to create the flyer. A phone call wouldn’t pay for that, but if the flyer generates a purchase, then there’s your ROI. And we started this conversation with the fact that you are being asked to quantify or justify the role of the creative, I can’t help but think that they are asking you to measure.

Strategy:

to attach a value to the process

In-House:

so the value of their investment is returned immediately upon the sale of a product
In-House: so, the more products they sell, the more valuable is their investment in my time and ability
In-House: shouldn’t I get more value in return for their success in selling the products?

Strategy:

there’s inherent cost in the creation of a product or service. One of those costs is the marketing and selling of the product or service. They should be factored into the price of the product. The more products or services are sold the greater the return on the initial investment.

Strategy:

From my perspective, looking from the outside in, I’ve been asked on many occasions by upper management to assess the creative function. Sometimes because management is looking to cut costs or streamline the workflow and clear out inefficiencies. Sometimes because management is looking to invest in the creative process and they want the biggest bang for the buck. Some recognize the creative function services sales and marketing and they’re looking for better ways to leverage this In-House resource and sell more. Or sometimes they want to get the most out of what they already have — staff, skills, technology.

In-House:

I understand why they would be interested in getting more bang for the buck, but at what point does that bang become a detriment to their employees? How many hats and projects do we need to take on before it becomes financially feasible to have a creative staff? or, for that matter, enlarge the creative staff to help in producing their requests? and, whose responsibility is it to effectively liaison between the client and the designer? If it’s the designer’s responsibility to maintain strong dialogue with the client in an In-House environment, what tools should the designer use to help keep the dialogue going and who’s responsible for providing/creating those tools?

Strategy:

I’ve got an article coming out called “The Big Squeeze” as it relates to the reinvention of the printing industry. One aspect of this transformation is the combining of multiple job responsibilities within one production operator. By your comments above, it sounds like content creation is going through something similar. Your last comment — …who’s responsibility is it…this refers to your need for a “trap” in your workflow. That’s an article right there.

Strategy:

Well, this sounds like an interesting dialogue. Perhaps we can take a look at the paradigm from both perspectives — inside out, and outside in. What do you say?

In-House:

sounds good to me by “trap” — what do you mean?

Strategy:

oh no, that’s what’s known in the vernacular as a tease — stay tuned!

Strategy:

Let’s start with…

• Planning
• Staff & Responsibilities
• Inventory
• Workflow
• Standards
• Skill Sets
• Job Management

We could cover each topic from both perspectives and perhaps along the way we’ll get comments from our readers that we can address or incorporate into our work as well. We’ll start off next week with a discussion about assessments and evaluating the creative discipline.