This is the email the Designer sent after the presentation:

They loved the brochure!

At first I presented the normal-sized version of the new brochure, and the CEO was nodding his head from spread to spread. He really liked Britt’s sample bullet point copy. They liked the illustration style as well. His main feedback was that he thinks the set-up could be drawn out a little more aspirationally in the payoff.

Then I showed them the oversized version. The Director of Marketing thought it might be a hassle for people to unfold. CEO loved it. CEO and I both talked DM into it eventually. CEO loved the boldness of the graphic at the large size, and he picked up on the timeliness and casual feel that printing oversize on fake newsprint would create. They might want to execute the brochure in both sizes, so CEO wants us to price both versions.

They bought off on the illustration style.

I told them next step would be to develop real copy (Britt, I’ll talk to you about the new opening spread), show real illustrations, and start working on mechanicals.

I think that’s about it…

Have a good weekend.

Two days after we present round 1 brochure creative, we learn the CEO hates it. It’s too conceptual. He doesn’t get what we’re trying to sell. A long way from where we need to be. Simplify.

In a flurry of BlackBerry transmissions between the CEO and Director of Marketing, the CEO hashes out how he thinks the brochure experience should flow.

This is a good thing. I appreciate that their CEO is this involved. Again, his reaction was instinctual and genuine. I admit to feeling annoyed upon first hearing that we basically have to start over with this piece.

Over the next two days, I have multiple conversations with the DM and the Designer. We buried the point under a clever concept that demanded too much of the reader. I can’t argue with that.

Finally I sit down to write out a new flow. This is the cadence of the piece. The cover is the hook, the rest of the pages are the story. My role is to make that story compelling with as few words as possible. People skim, so strong headlines and subheads are imperative.

I spend the bulk of a day writing a new content outline. Something naws at me; it’s not right. It’s still too complicated. I go on a walk. I read some blogs. I read the paper. I send some invoices. I work on another client. Then BAM, it hits.

I pull out some scrap paper and mock up a miniature brochure, writing out what it needs to say on each piece. This is it. I can feel it.

I email the new flow to the Designer. He sits on it for a number of days. I start to freak out. Two days before we’re scheduled to present round 2 to the client, I call him. He hasn’t done anything on the design. We talk. I realize that he and I are similar in our appreciation for procrastination. The best ideas do not come out until they absolutely have to.

Later in the day he sends me a PDF of where he’s at with the design. I think the primary visuals are missing the point. I email him new headlines and intro copy. We work back and forth over email and phone for the next 36 hours, refining layouts and copy. The form changes. A new wrap-up spread is inserted. I rewrite the copy at the last minute. The visuals don’t click until the day of the presentation. Love it or hate it, this is how brochures are created. This is how most creative work is created.