Should you get creative direction for your brand? Get more insights from a creative director through creative calls

Have you ever felt stuck in the creative process or just needed the opinion of someone with a different perspective for your design projects?

I know firsthand how easy it is to get stuck in a creative rut.

It’s like when you’re trying to cook a new recipe: you have all the ingredients, but somehow, the meal just doesn’t turn out the way you envisioned it.

Even the best designers and creatives can find it difficult to see the bigger picture, especially if they have been working on a project or concept for a while.

There are times when we just need someone to bounce ideas off of and see what designs would work best with our creative vision.

That’s where having a “trusted advisor” can make all the difference. And this is where the creative director (CD) comes in.

Just like how a personal chef can take your culinary ideas and turn them into a gourmet masterpiece, a creative director can do the same for your design projects.

They have the expertise to transform your vision into specific, cohesive design concepts that your team can execute seamlessly.

I’ve found that regular creative calls with my creative director have been a game-changer for us.

It’s like having a creative sounding board that can help us see the bigger picture, provide fresh perspectives, and ensure that we’re interpreting the client’s design needs correctly.

Whether it’s onboarding a new client, working on an active design request, or just brainstorming for new ideas, the CD is there to guide you and ensure that the final product is nothing short of amazing.

Even when they’re not on a call, the creative director is still working behind the scenes, summarizing briefs, providing art direction, and ensuring the creative quality of your designs.

It’s like having a personal assistant for your creativity. They take care of all the nitty-gritty details so that you and your team can focus on what you do best.

If you’re not already working with a creative director to oversee your design work, I highly recommend giving it a go.

At Deer Designer, we give our clients on the Agency Plan regular creative calls with our CD so they can collaborate and share ideas.

It can be the difference between a good design project and a truly exceptional one. It’s like having a secret weapon in your arsenal—one that can take your agency’s creativity and client satisfaction to new heights.

Do you need a creative director? What can they do for you? How can you make the most of your creative calls? Read on to learn more!

All about creative calls

Creative calls at Deer Designer usually include a consultation session (some people call them “discovery sessions”) where you can talk about your ideas.

During this call, the CD can tell you if it’s a good idea, recommend potential ways to improve the idea, and what assets and information would be needed for it.

However, other than brainstorming, you might have specific goals or projects for these creative calls.

This is even better, as the CD can prepare a proposal or a deck with different ideas for the specific goal or project you want to work on.

Here are some common goals for creative calls:

Onboarding new clients

While we may have an idea of what would work for your brand based on your existing social media, website, or brand guidelines, it might be different from your interpretation of your brand and your actual goals for your design messaging.

This is why we recommend our new clients have a creative call with our CD first.

Having this call makes sure we are interpreting the brand identity and goals of your company correctly.

During this call, the CD also helps you get oriented on working with Deer Designer and how you can get the most out of your subscription.

This usually involves orienting you on how to compose your design briefs and helping you sort out which tickets should be prioritized for deadlines.

This also helps us get to know your workflow and establish how the design team can align with this workflow.

Working on an active design ticket

For these creative calls, we usually ask you to send in the design request number, a short description of what you need for the ticket (i.e., updates, revisions, etc.), and any content you’d like to add to the request.

This gives the art director time to prepare for the creative call, gather the information you need, and create proposals if something should be revised.

Translating your ideas into the design language

At times, you might have the specific design or style you want to achieve, but you might not be able to explain that in a way that your design team would understand.

After all, not everyone speaks the design language, especially if you’re not a designer. Not everyone knows how to use specific illustration styles, website pages, and design formats.

Our CD can convert ideas such as “I want a cute vibe for the website” or “I want people to know about our limited-time offer” into specific design proposals that both you and the team can understand.

Providing links, images, or videos of the designs you want to reference can be very helpful for your design team to better understand your needs.

Here’s what Ysa Bondoc, one of our Creative Directors said:

”I had a client who wanted to make a poster that was an infographic with illustrations, but they didn’t know how to put that into the design language.

It is my task to convert that into a language the design team understands.”

Brainstorming for ideas

As mentioned earlier, it is common for clients to want to brainstorm ideas and collaborate. They usually tell us their ideas and ask their creative director whether it’s a good idea and/or if they can still improve it.

One example is a client who wanted print ads for a magazine.

They had ideas for the copy but were not sure what the visuals should look like.

Based on the given copy, the company’s brand guidelines, and knowing what the company does, the CD was able to come up with the following:

• The type of imagery that can fit the given copy
• Ideal photos of products to add to the ad
• A recommendation to include a QR code that leads to the client’s page

Specific tasks your creative director can oversee

The CD, like the design team, can work on essentially anything that needs design.

Some common tasks include art direction for the following:

• Branding or rebranding strategy
• Art direction for logo design
• Web design ideas specific to the client’s industry

But you can feel free to talk about anything design-related with your creative director.

We often say, “If you can think it, we can design it,” and that is especially true with a CD to put everything together into specific and cohesive design tasks.

Other ways the creative director works for your brand

Even if you don’t have a call with your CD, they still help your design or creative team in the background with a few things. Check it out:

Summarizing or breaking down the brief

To make sure that your designer’s time is spent working on your designs, the CD usually analyzes the instructions before sending them to the design team.

This way, your designer will have the design brief summarized and broken down into specific tasks to work on.

Providing art direction

Anytime a brief says, “I want your creative opinion/I’m looking for your creative input,” this actually takes time out of your designer’s time in designing, as they take some work hours thinking of the best way to execute your design request.

When you have a CD on your team, this task goes to them, and once they have the direction, your designer can get started executing the task right away.

All hours are now just put into designing.

Checking the output’s creative quality

Before the design goes to you, your creative director reviews your designs along with your quality analyst.

Your quality analyst ensures your designs meet technical standards, while your creative director ensures they align with conceptual and artistic standards.

Creative Research

Sometimes, you may have a project and feel unsure about how to begin.

While a creative call is ideal, if your schedule is too busy, you can always send in a request with just your idea and ask, “Can my creative director come up with ideas based on this?“

Your creative director will then review what you’ve provided and send you a response (or even a proposal) on how to proceed with that project.

Do you need creative direction?

If you are on the Agency Plan at Deer Designer, go on and request a weekly creative call through your dashboard.

If you aren’t an agency client yet and would like to try it out, just get in touch, and we’ll see what we can do for you 😉

Key takeaways:

• If you’re an agency client and need a creative’s insights on a design project, you can book a creative call with our creative director at Deer Designer.
• During creative calls, you can onboard as a new client, get updates or work on revisions for active tickets, turn your ideas into specific design tasks, or consult about upcoming creative projects.
• The CD can work on art direction for specific projects like branding, logo design, and web design.
• Even if you don’t book a call with the CD, they will still be working with your team in the background to ensure the creative quality of your designs.