What Can Gaudi Teach Clients About Creative Depts?

Great work takes time. In the case of Gaudi's Sagrada Família it took most of his life and then some. It's still unfinished with plans to have it completed by the mid 2020s. Now I'm not for one second comparing the great Catalan architect's work to a press ad or a promo flyer. Or am I saying a time frame of nearly 150 years from start to finish is acceptable. It's the process of creating anything that I'm concerned with. And in this respect Gaudi's methods reflect any great creative process.

Having time to wander and explore. Gaudi famously tested all of his ideas with full size mock-ups. He once hoisted a live donkey up into the façade of the church to see how it looked in a sculpted nativity scene. He also made plaster casts of still born babies so he could model a Massacre of the Innocents. It's somewhat easier for us to experiment these days and see how things will look but that's not the point. The point is that he was given the time to try.

And he was also given the time and license to adjust his buildings as he went along, modifying details in response to unusual stones he found in the quarry. Great communication takes time. It's not about having it finished by next Wednesday. And it shouldn't have to be about getting it right first time, the digital age is here, test some then test some more. Treat it like a journey and you'll get a lot better results. It's daft to think of advertising in the same way as Gaudi approached his architecture but like I said the principles of creativity still apply. The client's usual response is to want something instantly. Why do these things take so long? Well it's all about exploring the opportunities, finding out what works and what doesn't. The nuances of communication are subtle and things that made sense one day look completely ridiculous the next day.

It is not a tap to turn on and off, it's a constant process of trial and elimination. Just like Gaudi. And it's also about being allowed to fail. Clients business is built upon standing out from the competition, advertising has been one way of doing this. With the digital age upon us it looks like advertising will lose its power and the product will again become king. But that's for another time.

Jon Kelly
http://www.promosapient.com