When I first stepped into the role of Creative Director, I thought I knew what I was signing up for. Big ideas. Bold campaigns. Creative freedom. What I didn't know was how much experience would play a role. Of course, this cannot be rushed. You live and learn. I learned them the hard way, through wins, setbacks, and everything in between. Here’s what I wish I’d known sooner.
Us Creative Directors dream big when we start out. We have a grand vision. We see work that inspires us, and we want to be that good. But we’re also hopelessly naive. We haven’t learned the hard lessons yet. Although obvious in retrospect, we play a trick on ourselves—all I need to do is turn this idea in my head into reality. How hard can it be? Yeah, hard.
For some reason, we miss a couple of important aspects.
One, communicating an idea is tricky. We can never be sure that the person we’re talking to is perfectly replicating our vision. They might say they understand, but until we both see the result, only then will we know for sure.
Two, we are often holding our idea too tightly. We want it to be exactly like we envision and in doing so, we stifle both the creatives we work with and the idea itself. It has no room to grow and evolve.
Over time, we learn to loosen our grip. Yes, it’s crucial to have a clear vision, but we learn how to communicate it in a way that lets it breathe. We learn by doing, by making mistakes. This is where the magic happens.
We also learn how important having a highly robust creative process is. This is the very foundation that allows us to fail safely. When I first started my career as a Creative Director 15 years ago, we really didn’t have much of a process. At the time I believed that having too strict a process would restrict the creative. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Not having a robust animation production process led to unnecessary difficulties. For example, we didn’t used to lock down the script with the client before moving on to the written storyboard/ideation. This led to the client making changes much later in the process. And it’s a lot harder to work changes in at the animation stage than it is on a Google Doc!
Some fear might rise here that the client will be unhappy if they cannot make changes post-sign-off, so let me clarify a couple of points. One, once we explain the rationale (conserving their budget!), they are totally on board. Two, we don’t block changes later—we just make it clear that they may require additional budget.
In my experience, locking down each creative milestone actually has a very positive effect for clients and helps them manage other stakeholders (who are the ones who usually make changes at the latter stages).
It’s worth bearing in mind here that each milestone should have a defined purpose. For example, we produce a style frame and gain sign-off so both us and the client feel confident in developing the full visual storyboard. And we produce a storyboard so we both are aligned on what will be animated (and how).
This also enables more creative freedom. We can “push” the style, and if it doesn’t land—all is well—we gain feedback and revisit the style. We’ve risked very little, as opposed to going all-in on a visual storyboard.
Enter the ego. We can’t escape it. We’re driven people—and we have a vision! What we might miss is how crucial each team member is in creating a masterpiece. For example, I might have an idea about how I’d like something to look, but I’m not a designer. This is where communication and mutual respect are king.
Let it be an open conversation. Be as clear as you can in the vision and your thinking behind it—sharing any reference materials if you have them. Then let the conversation unfold. Be open to changes and challenges. Be curious as to how your team are interpreting your vision, and the ideas they put forward to evolve it.
Sometimes it can also be very useful to let the team run with it loosely. Often I’ll convey the feeling I want for a certain animation section, but leave it wide open for the animation team to bring their magic to the table. I am constantly amazed at what they produce. It is often not what I originally imagined, but far better.
In short, communicate your vision clearly—but let the experts be experts. Don’t try and control their thinking and creative expression. This doesn’t mean you’re losing control of the initial vision, rather it means you’re comfortable enough to allow it to evolve.
I used to be terrible at delivering feedback. “Hmm, I don’t like it, but I can’t quite say what I don’t like,” or, “Erm, it’s not quite what I had in my head.” Let’s be clear—as a Creative Director it is YOUR job to direct. So if it is not shaping up how you’d hoped, the responsibility falls on your shoulders. Maybe you weren’t clear enough in communicating your vision. Maybe you didn’t explain the rationale well enough. Or maybe you didn’t convey an important aspect that the client mentioned in the initial discovery call.
First and foremost, go in with a very open mind. Be self-aware. If you don’t like it, first sit with this feeling. Explore it internally before opening your mouth. Ask for the thinking behind the work: “Talk me through your thinking here,” then listen. Often the creative team will have tried various things and found they didn’t really work. Maybe you envisioned it a certain way, but upon closer inspection the brand guidelines couldn’t accommodate this approach.
Secondly, explore routes together. If you’re unsure what’s not working for you, work through some different options together. This is where the creative really gets to shine. You’re actively playing with ideas and seeing what works, and what doesn’t. This additional insight evolves the creative in ways you might not have imagined at the outset.
Same goes with client feedback. You’ve no doubt poured your heart and soul into the creative, so some feedback can feel like a kick in the teeth. This is where experience in the field can really pay dividends. You get to know when to push back, and when to back down.
For common pitfalls, see our blog on explainer video mistakes to avoid.
Invariably, things will go wrong. How you respond is what matters. Are you cool as a cucumber? Or throwing your toys out the pram? If you’ve developed a highly robust creative process, then you’re already on safe ground. Breathe. All is OK.
One thing I found immeasurably helpful was to create distance before responding. Let all the emotions come up, then go for a walk, have a coffee, or do another task. Forget about it for a while. Let your mind process it (both intellectually and emotionally). You might even want to write out an email with what you really want to say (emotionally) just to get it out your system, then delete it and start again.
Meditation helps! Becoming more self-aware really hones your ability to assess feedback from a neutral stance. It stops you from deflecting and instead opens up room for novel creative solutions. Often these can be better than the original!
Ah, this is a biggie. As you get refined in your ability to direct, you’ll start winning bigger projects. And they’ll go well. You’ll pat everyone on the back (and yourself). Wow, I’m really getting this now. The client is delighted. You are delighted. Your name gets about. Your reputation grows. Gold.
One day you see a familiar-sounding email in your inbox. “We’ve been recommended you. We’d love you to pitch for the work.” You smile. Life is good. You do the usual, send off the pitch and mentally start spending the money.
One week later you get the bad news. They’ve gone with another agency. WTF. Why? I don’t understand! You feel hurt. It’s natural. Maybe you project your frustration outwards, or maybe inwards. What did we do wrong? Sometimes you’ll get some more information about the rationale for the decision, but often you won’t.
It’s just part and parcel of being a Creative Director. You can’t win them all!
No two Creative Directors are the same. We all grow into the role in our own way. But if I’ve learned anything, it’s that there are challenges that we all face. For me, the most value lessons were about staying open, staying steady, and learning from the brilliant people you have around you. If you’re on this path, or thinking about stepping into it, I hope something here helps you hold centre a little more lightly—and a little more confidently.
