Death on a whiteboard

If you want to get something done, I've learned you don't write it on a whiteboard.

Over the years, I've had a number of clients with whiteboards mounted on the walls of their offices. Without exception, not much changed from one week to the next. Any scribbles were usually just that – scribbles. One client had even gone to the trouble of marking out a section for his kids to doodle, and I was always intrigued by the idea of holding serious business discussions as Laura woz 'ere would catch my eye across the room.

When it comes to workshops, whiteboards take centre stage. However, it usually doesn't take too long before they start to interrupt rather than illuminate the discussion. There's rarely any pens to hand that work for more than four words, after a couple of lines you start to realise that you're writing on a ridiculous slant that makes everything trail off into the bottom right hand corner, and it's only once you've riddled the board with a sheen of half-baked ideas that you discover you've been writing in permanent ink.

Technology doesn't make things any easier. If you have a whiteboard from which you can make prints, one of three things usually happens: there's no paper, you write on the one screen that doesn't print, or you fail to use the only colour that reproduces with any degree of legibility. And if you're lucky enough to have one of those whiteboards that saves everything to a central hard drive, you can be certain that it will be saved to the hard drive never to be seen again.

Unfortunately – and in spite of my better judgement and past experiences – I recently learned this the hard way.

Our studio is now the proud owner of a brand new, shimmering whiteboard. A breeding ground for cartoons and caricatures, it produces little in the way of insight or efficiency. To make matters worse, it has been hung (professionally, I might add) at the perfect height for anyone below 5 feet tall. Now and then, I stare longingly at the whiteboard, in the desperate hope that it will spring into life, but I'm also slightly worried that it will instead crash to the floor, pinning any nearby designers to the ground.

But then, it could always be worse. We could be having one of those brainstorms where there's no such thing as a bad idea – like buying a whiteboard.

The power of imagination

You’ll know from my last post that a good quote can go a long way, so it’s fitting that this post starts with one.

“We have to believe in the power of imagination because it's all we have, and ours is stronger than theirs.”

I found it written in the booklet that came with “Out Spaced”, a B–sides and rarities compilation album by Welsh psychedelic rock band, the Super Furry Animals. Not the most obvious place to find a quote for a blog about branding, but then Super Furry Animals have always been a band full of surprises.

What I like about this quote is not so much the point it makes about reliance on our imagination, but the fact that it presents imagination as a competitive element.

I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve heard so–called brainstorms begin with those infamous words, “There’s no such thing as a bad idea”, only to have those very same words prove their author a liar at least half a dozen times within the first five minutes. All too often, people view creativity as an excuse to express their artistic alter ego, without actually applying their imagination to the problem at hand.

Imagination in branding is critical.

And it's even more critical to remember that ideas are not simply good or bad, but actually better or worse. That's the real difference that makes not only great brands but also great agencies. A refusal to settle for the mediocre in the dogged pursuit of creative excellence, even if it means having to deflate a few dreams and even shatter some egos.