One of the big challenges this #designathon was finding our creative direction. Starting from almost scratch (the "client" had a new logo they liked), our challenge was to find a direction for our design efforts. We'd taken on building a website as well as developing a couple of brochures as our deliverables. Our Creative Director suggested we start with designing for a set of print ads, which gave us a kind of intellectual framework from which to let our collection of monkeybrains swing.
We spent the better part of four or five hours winding our way down many paths of creative possibility trying to drive towards a unifying word or phrase or concepts or ideas. We'd start to coalesce around an idea, but it wouldn't feel just right and we'd eventually try a new direction of thought. We brainstormed in groups of varying sizes and bounced around and between the rooms with ideas.
After several conceptual directions, we rallied around one we really liked - telling the story of family homelessness from the point of view of the children in these families. We were inspired by the creativity families exhibit in making ends meet, as well as the creativity parents generate in protecting their children from seeing the stark truth of their situation in lieu of a child-suitable fantasy. We were struck by the juxtaposition of We started to develop a visual direction with the selection of photography overlayed with graphic treatment. We envisioned images of an underpass with an overlay of "child"-drawn sketches of "My Family Vacation." When we presented the concepts to the client, they were concerned about reinforcing stereotypes of homelessness and we got schooled on the invisible nature of family homelessness.
Very few, if any, of the people they help ever lived under an overpass, or lived on the street. The true nature of family homelessness is a nomadic lifestyle of an endless series of extended visits with friends or family, or a family sharing a single dingy hotel room. A family without a home is constantly searching for the next place to land long enough to find the next place to land. Without some kind of divine intervention, this cycle can last a lifetime. Services like Safe Haven provide families with stability and support to get them back on their feet.
So halfway through the designathon, we were, for all intents and purposes, back to square one from a design strategy perspective (The Marketing team, full of marketing genius, had already turned in three final deliverables). Everyone was waiting for a final design direction to proceed on their components of the project. Without a clear visual design, very little could progress. Copywriting resources were being used to brainstorm (an excellent use of their time, though limiting their ability to actually write copy for websites and brochures), and things were starting to back up.
We took the feedback on the design and "stopped the presses" - we needed an entirely new creative direction. Given that the original direction took us half the time of the event to generate, it was kind of a stressful moment.
And then... serendipity! Our Creative Director nailed a concept that was a complete departure from our original concepts. We showed them to the client, and they loved it. We were once again off to the races (and it's been a race to complete all the deliverables).
Looking back on the evening, it seems that we couldn't have gotten to the place we did without going to "the dark place." It was a reminder of the natural rhythm of life... "It's always darkest before the dawn." This was true in so many ways for us in this event.
