D = H

The hope that design brings… having my eyes opened to the relationship of design and hope has greatly influenced my life and professional career. Before I get into what D=H is all about, I want to give credit to Oran Parker for helping to stimulate these thoughts and ideas.

So what is this about design equaling hope? As designers, what do we really do? What does a client truly want from us? What is it that they are actually investing their money in? Let’s look at a hypothetical situation. Let’s say a ceramic artist, a potter, comes to you. He tells you that he has never had any form of advertising for his ability. He loves what he does, is passionate about pottery, he’s good at it, and wants to spend the rest of his life making and selling his artwork. So he wants you to develop a logo, online gallery for people to buy his work, brochures, business cards, press kit, mail-out postcards for his art openings as well as billboards for when he has upcoming shows. He even wants you to help develop his show room for his location. So what is he asking from you? It goes deeper than just your knowledge of computer software, or your ability to think creatively, or a business card with a nice logo.

He is asking for HOPE.

This man wants to make ceramic art for the rest of his life, and to do that, he needs people to know who he is, and know that he is good and what he does, and have an image that is professional and visually communicates a since of trust in him. His hope is that you will give him that, and it will increase his business, and he will make more money, and be able to do what he loves the rest of his life. He is investing more than money in your services; he is investing the hope of his future. I honestly believe you could go as far to say that your success does not rest on winning an Addy Award, or who makes up your client list, or pulling in a certain bankroll. It’s about your client’s hopes becoming a reality because of what you give them. That makes a successful designer! If you achieve that, the awards, client list, and money will fallow.

You can apply this to anyone. Our clients are looking for hope; they are looking for the means to heal more sick patients, to fix a person's broken car, or to bake delicious cakes. No matter what it is, their hope is that we can help them achieve more business to do what they enjoy. Now, our tools to give them this, comes from our creative thinking, and technical skills. But spending each day using those skills alone is not what we do!

For me personally, I saw and felt this for the first time at the end of my last big project before I moved to Oklahoma. I was designing a vehicle wrap for a for a pest control company. It all started with him coming in and wanting to wrap his Jeep, so that he could take it on calls and do sales trips. When he came in, we talked about what he wanted this wrap to do. He wanted it to WOW people, and help get his name and logo more recognition, and create a look that he would use in his print communications. In the first meeting with him, I could tell he was passionate about what he does, and would normally end our meetings saying, “I’m off to chase down some termites.” As funny as it sounds, he loved what he did as a “pest controller”. He was passionate about protecting people from termites, and informing people about pests. It was what he enjoyed and you could see he genially cared about it.

As the project developed, I pitched him two concepts, then after choosing one to pursue, he came in at about 3 hours into the design. Looking over the rough layout, we made a few more changes then kept going. He saw the work in progress a couple more times, then we approved it. Now in every meeting, I could feel the excitement in him building, he was getting fired up. His plan was to debut his Jeep during half time at our arena football team’s home game. Drive it out on the field for all the fans to see and have his company talked about over the PA. This was a BIG deal to him, and soon became a BIG deal to ME. It was a great idea for him to instantly get his name and wrap out in front of a large group of people, to show it off. Soon his hope in this vehicle wrap became my hope as well, it was now something we both were investing in. Every day we got closer to finishing the job, I could see his hope building and becoming more confident in what we were creating for him.

I will never forget the day he came into pick it up. He even brought his wife and kids to see it. Once he saw it complete, he shook my hand and I could tell, we gave him exactly what he came to us for. We gave him hope! I will never forget the smile on his face when he shook my hand and told me thank you. Trying to put it into words is hard, it’s just what being a designer is all about.

So, do more than give someone a design, bring light to their HOPE!