Is One Concept Better than Two?
If you follow any brand designers on social media, or have even worked with one in recent months, chances are that you’ve heard of the One Concept Method.
But if you’re wondering what that is, how it works, or why it’s the way to go, keep reading!
Past Process
Over the years, designers have traditionally provided the client with multiple design options as part of the process. It has been considered common practice to present 2-3 design options, but some designers would share even more than that.
Every designer will tell you that when they’ve provided multiple options for a project, there’s always one that is their favorite; it’s the option that they secretly hope that the client picks. The one that they know will work best for the business and translate better across a variety of applications. But because the industry was catering to personal preferences for so long, the idea of what would work best for the company took a back seat to what the client liked the look of the best.
Now, you might be thinking that it makes perfect sense to get as many options as you can to make sure your designer comes up with a design that you really like, but remember, quantity doesn’t mean quality!
More importantly, our personal style preferences aren’t always the same as what's best for our businesses!
And because of that reason, the industry started to question why we were presenting clients with designs that we knew weren’t the best option. If we knew a certain design or element wouldn’t translate best across applications, then why were we even showing it as an option?
Why were we catering to personal preferences and likes instead of focusing on & designing for what would best suit the business?
As the saying goes, the customer is always right. But in this case, we had been designing for the wrong customer all along!
Designers (and our clients) were focused on the design client as the customer, but in reality their customers were the ones that we needed to design for. After all, that’s who would eventually be buying the products & services!
And so, the One Concept Method has started to take hold in the industry.
The Differences
While the multiple concept option may be a better fit for some designers, clients, or projects, there is one major difference to keep in mind:
The multiple concept approach centers around what design resonates best with the design client.
The one concept approach focuses on what will help the client best connect with their customers and achieve their business goals.
Now, let’s rewind for a bit to discuss why the multiple concept approach became the industry standard in the first place. One of the big factors in this was because it was a way to test the waters to see what clients liked best.
Usually, a client would provide design samples of other logos that they liked, or design direction of what they thought they wanted the design to look like. Designers would also hear a lot of “I’ll know it when I see it” as the design direction. So without a focus on strategy, and with open-ended design direction, multiple options were necessary to try to figure out what would resonate best with the client.
Unfortunately, a common issue with this approach became more and more prevalent: instead of selecting one of the options, clients started to ask for the different options to be combined together. It became commonplace to hear feedback like “take this element from option 1 and this from option 2 and this from option 3 and put them together.”
Designers will tell you that this approach usually ended up with an end product that wasn’t well-designed, that wouldn’t translate well across different applications, and most importantly, it was not a design that would have longevity, which meant that a client would need to rebrand just a few years down the road.
On the other hand, that approach ended with something that the client liked the look of, and that outweighed all of the other concerns.
But the biggest missing piece in this process was the design client’s target audience.
One Concept
And that’s where the One Concept Method aims to break the status quo. The primary focus of this approach shifts from the designer’s client, to the client’s customers.
It’s not about what our client prefers aesthetically, but what their customer will prefer.
We’re no longer asking our clients what their favorite color is, instead, we’re doing an in-depth discovery of who their customers are and identifying what colors will resonate the best with them to elicit a certain emotion.
The One Concept Method aims to take all personal preferences out of the equation, and instead, relies on a strategic foundation to inform all of the design decisions.
When using this approach, the design phase actually comes second in the process. The first step starts with building a solid brand strategy which includes these important topics:
Defining the "why" behind your business
We isolate the reason behind why your business exists, why you do what you do, and more importantly: why it matters to your customers.
Learning more about your target audience
Understanding your customer is key. Who they are, where they like to go, what they like to do, what matters to them, and most importantly—how to best connect with them.
Assessing the marketplace & competition to identify ways to stand out
It’s not only important to know your customers, but also who you’re competing against. By studying your competitors we identify what sets you apart and work to fill any gaps in the market.
Once we’re done building out the strategy, we use all of the great information that we uncover to come up with a game plan on how to use visual elements to best achieve your strategic goals. This visual game plan is referred to as the “Art Direction” which outlines the proposed color palette & stylistic approach that we intend to develop in the design phase.
By reviewing & approving the Art Direction before any design work has even taken place, we've reduced the opportunity for personal opinions to creep in and have defined (and agreed upon) the initial building blocks based on what will best support your strategy & resonate with your customers. And once the Art Direction is approved, you’ll received one fully built, comprehensive design concept that brings that strategy to life.
Find what Fits for You
Even though the One Concept Method is gaining popularity and is the primary method that Type A utilizes, it’s important to remember that, like most things in life, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. The One Concept Method isn’t always the right fit for every client or every project, and that’s OK! As long as the method you use is intentional and there is a clear strategic reason for using that approach, then go for it!
If you’re a designer, don’t feel like you need to change your process because everyone else might be doing something one way. Make sure you’re doing what’s best for you, and your clients! After all, when it comes to brand strategy, there isn’t one right way to do things. The right way is always going to be what makes the most sense for the client and business you’re working with.
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