Design Methods and Practical Development

Process of Elimination

It is extremely rare that one idea will be created straight away that will be a perfect solution to your design problem or response to your brief. The majority of companies find that they will work through numerous ideas to find the one that works best. In order to do this they will go through a process of elimination.

When presenting ideas to a client it is usual to have a variety for them to choose from, though normally one tends to be stronger than the others. Discussion will then take place about which is most suited to the brief and at the end of the meeting usually one will be taken forward for development.

It's actually breaking it down into options and then saying well which is the top option and which is the second top option with things like ideas. It does tend to be put to the vote. If everyone thinks that's the best idea then we'll go with that and it might not be that it's internally voted, it might be voted by the audience as well. It's all about options and actually everyone's got a chance to feed in. Dominique Lee

There are several stages to the process of elimination though these may vary depending on the medium. If a company approaches a broadcaster with a number of ideas, it may be that they are looking for a particular strand at that time, so even though an idea may be brilliant, if they don't think it will be well received at that time it will be rejected.

In a brainstorming session lots of ideas are discovered, but many of them on closer inspection will be unrealistic in terms of:

• Timescale - too time consuming?
• Budget - too expensive?
• Mainstream appeal - too alternative?
• Interest level - too dull?
• Originality
• Suitability for project or client

It is easy to get carried away in a brainstorming session, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes a great idea can come from a much more flamboyant and unrealistic concept.

Often it will come down to a vote on which handful of initial ideas are taken to the client to get their response. The worst scenario at this stage may be that the client prefers one of the weaker ideas. This is when tactful negotiation and an explanation of why as an expert in your field, you feel that a particular idea is stronger.