The Paradox Of Choice — Are We Right?

When it comes to design some clients think that more is better, but what happens when you receive too many designs and have to choose between them? Too often we’ve seen that having too many design options yields a less than desirable final product — usually as a result of designing by committee. It’s the good old paradox of choice conundrum. But sometimes you receive two really good and very different designs and in those instances how do you choose the right design?

It’s difficult to separate personal taste from what will fly in the real world. No matter what you’re having designed – a logo, a print ad, a website or a car wrap – the principles of effective graphic design strategy are basically the same. Use the three questions below to help reduce your choices down to a single design that you can feel good about.

Is it too trendy?

It’s easy to become trendy when designing. This is true for just about anything that can be designed, but especially when it comes to ads, postcards, fliers and websites. It’s fun to be current, and there’s nothing wrong with it. But think through the pros and cons. Maybe the postcard only has a two-week shelf life … by all means, have fun, be trendy and go out on a limb.

But what if it’s a website? It’s not practical to be trendy for the sake of being trendy. Some popular modules don’t work on all platforms or operating systems. In this case, err on the side of caution and be conservative with technology.

Is the design too expensive to properly maintain?

I’ve always wanted a horse. Buying a horse has never been an issue, but maintaining a large animal with all the associated vet bills and boarding fees stops me from becoming a horse owner.

Here’s a business scenario that roughly correlates to this. Let’s say that your business wants to run an ad campaign, so you hire a marketing agency. One of the concepts the agency presents requires six ads, each with custom photography. Unfortunately, photography isn’t in the budget for all the ads.

As in my horse example, this ongoing ad campaign might sound great, but it exceeds your ability to maintain it. But don’t worry, you have options. You can choose a different design altogether or brainstorm with the designer to see if there are other remedies.

What isn’t a good option? Ruining the concept by using great photography for one or two ads but not maintaining the same visual impact on the other ads in the campaign.

Will it produce well in black and white?

This is especially true of logos. With the long arm of branding, logos need to work well on everything from ball caps to print ads to car wraps. If your logo is too detailed or color dependent, it’s not going to survive the many required platforms for its use. Instead, you end up with versions of your logo that are poorly reproduced or dumbed-down. And the branding you and your graphic designer put time and energy into gets diluted.

These three basic questions should make it easy to narrow down your design choices. Of course, working with a talented team of graphic designers ensures you’ll have great options to choose from. Contact us today to learn how we put great thinking, strategy and design to work for our clients.