No doubt, whether you design for an agency or whether you design as a freelancer, you have had to deal with the aggravation of “rush” work. Usually, rush work is a product of a client’s poor time management, over-eagerness, or lack of understanding of what exactly goes in to a proper design job. It could also be the fault of the novice designer, promising completed work by an unrealistic date. Regardless of what effects caused the “need” for this rush work, one staple remains true in pretty much all rush work cases: the end result will be, at best, average.
Rush Work Equals Rushed Planning & Research
When you have an overly cramped timeline to complete a design project, corners have to be cut. One of the first to be cut is the planning & research stage: essentially, the foundation of the project. Good design is effective design, and discovering what will be effective is a product of logical planning and research – both of which take time.
When we cut corners on the planning & research stage, we are laying a foundation that is already weak.
Rush Work Equals Fewer Concepts
Generally speaking, if a project’s deadline is too soon, fewer concepts will be explored by the designer & other project members. It’s a simple time issue; there really isn’t enough time to fill up your artboard with various concepts, playing around with some, fleshing some out, and so on. The designer’s process, which he or she has honed over the years if they are an effective designer, will be compromised. When compromising the process, we compromise the result.
While I’m not a proponent of quantity over quality, I do believe that some of the best ideas come later in the drafting process. I know I’ve been multiple hours deep in a logo design project, with multiple design concepts that aren’t quite there yet, only to finally come across the winner much later. Had these projects been on an overly tight timeline, chances are I would never have gotten to that point – leading to a final design that isn’t quite what it could have been.
Hit the jump for the rest! (more…)
