You nailed the kickoff meeting, and the client is super excited with sky-high expectations. As great as this sounds, this comes with a cost—increased pressure and armpit stains. 

How and where do we begin?

If the brand exercises are done well, you have the information to map out the desired visual direction. However, there is no surefire recipe for success. Creativity at its best requires us to explore the unknown. This can make taking the first few steps feel daunting. Enter blank page syndrome.

How did we get all the way over here?

Other times, we start in the wrong direction. Exploring the creative unknown means detours, wrong turns, and cul-de-sacs. We eagerly begin with the most innovative ideas. We explore bold patterns, unique typefaces, and visionary images to exemplify the brand most creatively. It is easy to fall down the rabbit hole of creative exploration only to resurface hours or days later in the wrong direction.

To remedy both issues, I have recently added a new step. This is to start a brand or design project using capsule design assets. This is inspired by the concept of the capsule wardrobe. 

The capsule wardrobe is a collection of timeless, versatile, and high-quality fashion pieces that are easily mixed and matched. They work well together. They tend not to go out of style and always look good. Also, they create a solid base for your brand style and can play well with bolder and unique elements and accessories. 

I found the capsule wardrobe concept works as well with branding and design. First, it provides a toolbox of items to begin the project. This bypasses the blank page syndrome problem. 

Secondly, it creates a sandbox full of timeless fundamentals to play with and explore that tend to get our projects moving in a fruitful direction.

Capsule Design Benefits for Creatives

While I believe everyone could benefit from the capsule design approach, there are a few benefits that designers and creatives will appreciate most.

Timelessness.
By using classic and timeless elements and typefaces, you ensure your brand will look great today as it will ten years from now. When fickle trends change, you will be less likely to cringe at your brand years from now. If you decide to rebrand, it will likely be due to a change in your business direction and not due to an outdated brand identity.

Reduced Decision Fatigue.
By starting with a capsule base, you are reducing decisions from endless options into an efficient toolbox. The most daunting creative challenges tend to be ones with a lack of parameters and boundaries. With a collection of timeless fonts, colors, and elements to play with, you have a preset place to begin. It saves time, avoids dilly-dallying, and reduces stress.

Increased Creativity.
The creative industry is built on tight deadlines and rewards those who can produce under pressure. This culture of stress, anxiety, and unforgiving deadlines cultivates creativity-deficient, trend-chasing, and minimally innovative work. 

Starting a project with capsule design elements sidesteps blank-page anxiety and sets a purposeful and creative direction in motion. This efficient and strategic start saves precious time for more innovative ideas to flourish later.

Reduce Scope Creep and Endless Revisions.
Using capsule elements builds a foundation of approachability, balance, clarity, and relatability that resonates well with non-creatives and executive stakeholders. This will help them buy into your solution early. It can also create a safe space for non-creatives to embrace and adopt your more creative and innovative ideas. 

Deliver on time and on budget.
With a more efficient work process, decision-making, and reduced revisions, you are more likely to deliver your work on budget. Nothing breeds dissatisfaction between a client and a vendor, such as going over time and budget. Any process or tip that can improve the outcome in these two areas is worth implementing.

Capsule Design Benefits for Non-Creatives

While I think everyone has everything to gain from this method. The following benefits may grab non-creatives interest.

Give More Specific and Strategic Direction to the Creative Team.
When discussing a project, vague terms like modern, trendy, or clean can be misinterpreted. Instead, with a splash of capsule design knowledge, more specific terms like sans-serif type, white space, and organic-flavored neutral colors can help a non-creative communicate in a language the design team understands.

Vagueness is stifling. This is also the culprit of the next pitfall...

Avoid False Starts and Rabbit Holes
Excessive research and exploration saps precious time and resources. To find a specific solution to a nebulous problem, the team casts a wide net of possible solutions. This creative deep-dive leads them down a complex and bizarre path (aka rabbit hole). This can lead to a false start in the wrong direction. This is a budget and morale killer.

Again, using capsule design terms will create clarity. Discriptive directions like "warm neutral colors, ample negative space, and elegant serif fonts" feel actionable. It gives the team a more direct path to explore. 

You can always encourage the team to provide an additional "whatever you think is best" solution to promote creative freedom. 

Lastly, using "capsule design" elements can help improve satisfaction in the workplace. Consider this last point...

Maintain Sanity During the Duration of a Project
Vague directions expand workload. Expanded workloads promote short deadlines. Shorter deadlines reduce creativity. Reduced creativity miscalculates solutions. Miscalculated solutions miss deadlines. Missed deadlines equal lots of sad-faced emojis. 😢🥵🥶😱🤬   

The most challenging creative projects are the ones with no boundaries. This is due to the lack of clear directives. Being specific at the start preserves the time and energy the team needs to overcome any obstacles they may encounter later and see the project across the finish line. Also, improved communication creates understanding between the various factions in a workplace. This leads to a happier and healthier work environment where creativity can flourish because communication is king.

As you can see, there are many benefits to familiarizing yourself with the concept of capsule design. The next installment will share the Ambi Studio capsule design elements. It will include timeless typefaces, enduring color palettes, and other reliable design elements to get your project off and running to a solid start.