Making The Intangible Tangible

Your work as an artist is not to translate someone else’s vision for them, but to take it further then they could ever have imagined themselves.  The difference between a fashion designer and a seamstress, an architect and a draftsperson, an interior designer and renderer.  Yes, your client is commissioning you, but, if you hope to get paid, it has to be about your work not their vision.  Translated – your creative business has to be focused on making the subjective real, the intangible tangible, far more than it has to do with delivering great art (i.e., stuff).  While not everybody can produce great art once designed, I bet there is someone out there who can do it for less than you can.  In today’s world, those that can produce amazing copies is astounding.  As such, the value of production is plummeting relative to the value of creation.  Thank you global communication and technology.  If it is about the thing, you are (or soon will be) bounded by what others will charge to deliver the thing.  And that number is only going lower.

I spoke last week at Event Solution’s Idea Factory and the week before at W.I.P.A.’s launch of its Phoenix chapter.  Incredible professionals in each room with a deep desire to work hard to be better at what they do.  I talked about the importance of process, of making the intangible tangible.  I gave the example of just how much work interior designers working on commission have to do in order to get paid.  I mean why would anyone pay 35% more for a couch than they would by just walking into a store?  (Answer: because without context, the couch is just a couch).  Also, an architect presenting his vision for a house or hotel. I then asked the room if they thought what they did to present their vision rivaled either an interior designer or an architect.  Crickets – no hands and a lot of blank stares.  Just not what they felt like they had to do to serve their clients best.  Better to focus on budget, on what their clients want, and to deliver on their expectations.

Here’s an aggressive statement:  Those artists and their creative businesses that dare to set new expectations for their clients will survive and thrive in our new world order.  Everyone else will be left behind.  The new expectations will be based on the size and scope of making the intangible (i.e., all of the incredible art swirling around in the mind of the artist) tangible well before the actual art is delivered.  Amazing delivery is assumed as it should be and is therefore irrelevant to the discussion.  If I want to see the work of the top 15 florists in my area, it will take me minutes to compare and see just how good everyone is.  Creation (ok, ideation) and everything leading up to actual delivery is what matters vis-à-vis your competition. Whether you are a designer (graphic, event, fashion or interior), photographer, caterer or musician, how you put your vision into your client’s hands months before actual delivery is the time you can spend giving them confidence in your ability to deliver joy.  The journey more than the destination, yes, but really a better map.

Ask yourself how much money you spend on all things social media, advertising, accreditations, etc. as opposed to investments in presentations and the skills/staff necessary to make them better.  Better not relative to your competition but to other industries dependent on them.  Clients value your vision most of all.  Rewards (i.e., real profit) will go to those that work hardest to translate, communicate and honor that vision long before it ever comes to fruition.