Concepting is the most demanding part of my job. A concept is not a design, not a visual, and not text. It's an idea that brings all those elements together with seemingly effortless grace. Clients and readers must get it in a glance. It can require no thought, but must be clever enough to catch attention. Like I said, it's the most demanding part of my job.
The day begins. The creative director makes a simple statement. "We need a concept for this piece." What he means is, go knock your brains out and come up with no less than 40 original, creative ideas for how to communicate the story of this brand.. product... offering, etc. He's been doing this a long time. He knows it's not going to be the 7th idea, or even the 27th that moves forward. It's usually somewhere around 38 or 39 that I finally get an idea with enough juice to carry a brand--or a brochure--or an ad.
The concept seems obvious after the fact. One of the best tests of a good concept is that, once you come up with it, it seems so obvious. Of course this is the way to convey this message. Of course this is our brand story. How could it be anything else? It speaks to the heart of what the client is trying to convey. And when you're lucky enough to hit the bulls eye, the client may even think they came up with it, it's that "right on."
The concept is not a training manual. Concepts are simple. They require no explanation beyond a headline, or at most, a subhead. Their purpose is not to educate the reader on the ins and outs of a business. No one should need to read the body copy to understand a concept, or have the clever meaning behind the concept explained to them. As a former university teacher, I often forget about this rule. I want to explain. I want to lay it out for my reader why this concept is so cool, if you just think about it this way. To guard against this "teacher tendency," I make myself scan my list of concepts on the printed page and ask, "Would they get it in a glance?" If not, it hits the trash.
The concept cannot wander off. Often I'll come up with a killer concept. It really gets the message across. Then I realize, yes, it's getting the message across, but it's not the right message. Sigh. I've been carried deeper into the forest, following creative breadcrumbs only to realize I've lost the original message. I had it somewhere back at the beginning, but I went astray. There's nothing to do but tuck your igeniuous, irrelevant message away for future use and return to the beginning of the path.
When a concept works, your reader remembers it. They think about it while jogging the next day. They have a little chuckle. Their brain automatically pulls up the image you linked with the copy and registers a positive emotion. You've done it. You've married a brand to an emotional response. You've raised recognition. You've engendered loyalty. You've sparked interest to know more. Congratulations, you can now call yourself a "concepter."
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