Less Cowbell?

We strive to push creative boundaries—to create stunning work that gets noticed. We work to exceed our clients’ and our own expectations. We constantly raise the bar and then leap over it. We just can’t help ourselves. But what happens when we’ve gone too far? Is there such a thing?

There are times when we need to remember the intent of the work before diving head first into the land of conceptual thinking. Blasphemy, you might say? No, just honesty. Sometimes we just need to get honest with ourselves about how far to take the art direction or design of a project.

This is not always an easy feat. Whether an art director or a designer, it is in our nature to make everything beautiful (or as beautiful as it can be). Sometimes we overthink beauty. Sometimes the most beautiful direction comes with simplicity of design.

Sure, we want everything that has our name on it to be amazing, but sometimes amazing means knowing a client and delivering exactly what they need. I’m not saying we should compromise the integrity of the work, I’m saying that we should know when to go to the fences and when to keep it simple. Otherwise we can just spin our wheels into the ground—frustrating our clients and ourselves.

Can you recall a time you had to tone down the cowbell?