Digital won’t be the only discipline but I’m guessing we do cop it more than most; maybe it’s a left over from the immediacy of the web or perhaps, dare I say it, a lack of experience from the client side. Whatever the reason I’d be a richer man if I’d taken a penny every time a prospect or client has looked at me across the meeting table and said with a slight of air of compassion – “oh, don’t worry. I’m not after anything complicated, something nice and simple will do fine”.
Why is it necessary to say that, is the client wanting to underplay what is going to be involved, do they know what is going to be required. Perhaps though naivety is not the issue at all and it’s gamesmanship and the tag of ‘simple’ will, they hope, reduce the quote and final price.
But that’s the paradox isn’t it? I mean, “simple” is complicated. Simplicity is not something that comes from nowhere but from investigation, understanding, learning, trialling and testing (to name but a part of the process) and then web and digital work takes more than its fair share of complexity. Take for instance the “simple” requirement of an HTML email. It needs a designer, copywriter, a front end developer (one, by the way, who is versed in spam scores, accessibility and deliverability across multiple email clients) and project managing. The email will undoubtedly need some back end coding to integrate with existing technology and manage subscribes, data protection etc. Co-ordinating all these requirements within the agency, let alone with a client, working to a deadline that is highly likely to be too tight, is complicated. Web build – yep, throw in information architecture, project methodology, testing, server migration etc. and it doesn’t get any simpler (nor any cheaper).
The success of the iPhone, Google, Amazon, Oyster and Ocado are not just down to luck in landing at the right solution. Those companies have employed people (directly or via an agency) to work with them, sift through the issues and prototype, learn and adapt based on user feedback. Sure, the end result is a ‘simple’ experience but that’s because they have invested time and resource to filter through the complications.
So next time you are asked to develop a ‘simple’ solution, don’t stand by and accept it. Take your time, explain the process you will need to go through, the skills and experience of your team and that, sure, ‘simple’ will be achieved but to do so requires time and patience from all sides.
The pundits and visionaries will keep on predicting what will come next (and some will get it right) but the copper-bottomed 100% fact is that more is going to be demanded of the internet. And then, as night follows day, so the demand for digital simplicity in an ever more complex world will continue.
Those who win through will, in my mind, be one of two types. Either you need to be able to design and find simple solutions to complex needs or you need to be able to explain complexity in simple terms.
Really… it’s quite simple.
William Makower
Managing Director, Panlogic Ltd