How to refine your studio’s process with these 5 simple steps

Rob Howsam and Stuart Youngs of “PURPOSE” explain the five-stage “See, Think, Create, Do, Review” approach, which helps to add substance to the work. You must be wondering who these guys are. Rob, formerly at Lewis Moberly co-founded Purpose back in 2003 and Stuart Youngs joined the agency three years later. They are now both executive creative directors at Purpose and therefore it would be wise to take this advice on board.

Stage 1: Step back. Look around.

The first stage of the process is to “See”, which lays the foundation for the other steps to follow. In this stage, the most vital factor is understanding the client. This involves everything from weekly surgeries in a brand’s infancy to quarterly tactical and annual strategic reviews. Furthermore, Stuart Young proceeds to give a deep insight into how “emotion” is related to the step “See.” He expressed how questioning the organisation’s ambitions, the marketplace and the internal and external perceptions were crucial in taking it up a notch and leaping onto the next level.

Stage 2: Write the strategy

Moving swiftly onto the next stage of “Think”, where we develop that insight from stage 1 and translate it into a narrative that informs the brand strategy. Ideally, we would take all that understanding and articulate it into something that becomes a brief for everybody internally so that all members of the team are on the same page. From here onwards, we can utilise that strategy to initiate building a plan.

Stage 3: Turn the talk into the walk

Now that we have our brief from the previous stage we can develop on that and begin the “Create” step. Here, it’s all about bringing the brief to life and translating it into a distinct, relevant brand experience that can adapt to different environments.

Stage 4: Make it run

Finally, we have the “Do” step, which is primarily based around building the brand from the inside out. This may possibly range from inspiring people internally, to providing guidelines and magnet systems, to delivering coherence through all communication channels. Moreover, Rob Howsam proceeds to describe how he views channelling creative thinking. He believes that the members at Purpose are “problem solvers” – closer to engineers than artists, which partly outlines the reason why most graphic designers require the ability to successfully comprehend a situation and provide a suitable solution to resolve the issue.

Stage 5: Look again

For a brand to successfully prosper there’s a sincere requirement of providing constant attention to the brand for it to be effective, and this involves a valuable and worthwhile investment of time and money. Waterside Creative helps brands evolve by embracing new technology, market developments and by proposing ideas to develop as well as collaborating with a network of specialists to produce the finest quality of work.