Founder and director Hugo Morrissey shares lessons and laughs from his first chapter of Black Book Design Collective.
I’ve always found branding agencies to be a bit of a nightmare. My perception has been that they’re pricey, slow to reply, and the most creative thing about them is their ability to invent new costs.
However, since launching Black Book Design Collective earlier this year, it’s been interesting to see the other side. I’ll even admit that I can now sympathise with the aforementioned brand agencies, but only ever so slightly.
With my newfound perspective, I’ve learned four key things.
1. Fast, cheap, great: you can only choose two
When you’re starting out, it’s tempting to say yes to everyone. Cash is king, right? Yet some of our most stressful clients were the ones chasing 48-hour, weekend deadlines with no budget. I said yes because we wanted the work. Lesson learned.
Now I’d rather say: “We manage our team with strategic oversight and creative direction. We want to get it right for you, so we won’t rush if it risks sub-par work. If you need fast, we need to prioritise or allocate more resources to ensure we don’t do more harm than good.” You might lose a job in the short term, but what you gain is trust in delivery, protection of reputations, and the open door to better future projects.
I’ve learnt that in creative work, speed rarely equals quality. A tight brief is essential if you want it fast and great, so be honest about it.
2. Keep it tight to get it right.
The brief is the contract between you and the client. This is where expectations are set, so a tight brief is everything. Scope creep happens every time, which isn’t always a bad thing when it’s about adding value and building relationships. The issue is when it’s left unchecked and when you’re not totally aligned on what’s in scope and what’s not.
Without a clear direction from the outset, the creative process becomes a race towards poor design or, worse, mediocrity. At least bad design acknowledges its flaws and can be ironic, whereas mediocre design inspires nothing.
So, if the process is being hijacked with new ideas every five minutes, you’ve lost control. What’s become clear to me is that you have to stay the expert, which sometimes means taking a stop, resetting, and then continuing with a clear, aligned goal.
3. It’s fun.
Creativity is fun. As someone who is often focused on productivity, my co-founder will remind me to have fun, because it’s where the magic lies. It often doesn’t seem like work, spending a few hours brainstorming ideas with designers or sitting down in a café writing for an hour.
Companies are trusting us with their “babies”, and it’s up to us to develop a brand for them that they are proud of, which resonates with their target market and that they love. To be part of this process, to see various creative routes explored and to see a brand born from nothing and built into something spectacular is epic. Add to that the pride our team takes in helping to create this brand, and that’s where the good stuff is.
Very few brand stories start with the opening of an Excel document.
4. UK branding agencies charge an arm and a leg, and sometimes a hand and a foot.
One thing that hasn’t surprised me, though the scale still shocks me, is that UK branding agencies charge an absolute fortune. If you’re meeting an agency in a shiny central London office, remember you’re paying for that rent. Sure, some agencies are undoubtedly superior to others, given the experience of their teams, but the amount some charge for the value they create still seems off-kilter to me.
As the un-agency co-founder, I do believe that many top agencies miss this trick. It is not just about the cost, but the value. Is the juice worth the squeeze?
Don’t get me wrong, I know branding isn’t easy. It is messy, unpredictable, and occasionally makes you want to throw your laptop into the sea, but it is also exciting, addictive, and far more rewarding than I expected. As an entrepreneur in my second business, I find it incredibly exciting to help bring other businesses to life and support them on their journey.
Six months in, I am still learning every day. If there’s one thing I know for sure, it is that good work comes from good people, clear conversations, and a healthy dose of humour.
