Making It Say Something

Craft and effect are different skills, and the second is rarely taught. This course covers extracting a real brief from a client who has none, ranking a design so one message survives a blur, joining story beats with but and therefore, what the first second must do and where attention-engineering crosses a line, a one-page brand system, designing for a reel, a flyer and a 150-pixel thumbnail, and building a body of work with a point of view.

1. 1Nice work. What is it for?8 minBefore you open any software, write one sentence naming who sees this and what should be different in their head afterwards.
2. 2Nobody is going to hand you a real brief9 minA request names an object; a brief names who sees it, what they believe now, and what should be different afterwards — write it down and get it confirmed.
3. 3A design that says four things says none8 minRank every element into three levels and check by blurring the design — if more than one thing survives the blur, nothing does.
4. 4"And then" is the weakest word you own9 minBetween any two beats, if the honest joining word is "and then", the second beat is deletable — rewrite until it is "but" or "therefore".
5. 5The first second is a promise, and you have to pay it9 minThe opening has one job — answer "what is this and is it for me" — and it is only craft rather than bait if the rest of the piece pays what it promised.
6. 6Draw ugly boxes now or pay for it later8 minPlan in throwaway frames while changes still cost thirty seconds, and get consent in writing before the camera comes out, not after.
7. 7Your brand is not the logo, it is what you repeat10 minWrite your type scale, colour roles, spacing unit and voice on one page with actual values, because in six weeks you will not remember them and the drift is what looks amateur.
8. 8The same design fails in five different ways10 minDesign for the physical size and distance the piece will actually be seen at, because every surface has a different smallest legible element and resizing tools do not change what the piece says.
9. 9The thumbnail and the title are one thing9 minTitle and thumbnail are two channels of one message — make them complementary rather than redundant, and only promise what the piece actually pays.
10. 10Fifteen pieces with a point of view beat fifty with a filter10 minA portfolio is a prediction someone is making about you, so a small body of work with a visible repeated question is worth more than a large one with none.