Together, we* create...
Great Communication Design Shows Trust
2023 presents the need for Communication Design to act as an agent for change.
From the first handshake, to the last invoice— Communication Design is an imperative agent in architecting change.
Articulating what Clients, Business Partners, and Thought Partners need, on a rolling-basis, means architecting Communication Design that yields interactive, inclusive, and standard-focused solutions. Before a conversation starts— strategy, timing, and risk render the reason for two+ parties to shake hands—to make a deal. To find even and fair ground.
Being able to distinguish good Communication Design, from bad. Understanding the difference between an idea or a discussion versus a tangible, growth-focused Product; great Communication Design requires attention to detail.
The Communication aspect of Communication Design is best articulated when safe spaces are created for clients, users, and operators. These places require massive amounts of energy and cultivation to encourage users (initially Clients, Business Partners, & Thought Partners) to feel comfortable expressing themselves, their needs, their fears, worries, concerns, budgets, insights, forms of inspiration, personalities, and timelines. Communication spaces cannot feel contrived, impartial, bias, or rigged. Who people are, within these spaces, what they need, envision, what is needed on a day-to-day, monthly, quarterly, yearly, and visionary basis all factors into why good Communication Design is not great Communication Design.
This kind of articulation can take months. Years if necessary. Great Communication Design isn't found until the processes of a Designed Pipeline is met with intent and value from both (or multiple) parties. Building great Communication Design takes risk; to really put yourself out there requires environments that encourage vulnerability, who use constructive criticism to educate, work with, and learn from the people involved. Spaces that utilize equal and fair time-management without weighted, or personal/overly emotive expectations.
Over the last 12 years of working in Communication Design I've learned that great Communication Design starts with trust.
Design, as an industry, has taken over the world in the last century. Closely coupled with manufacturing, transportation, product adoption, and industry creation; Communication Design plays an integral role across all forms of Business, Company, Culture, Economic, Brand & Product growth. The ripple effect of Communication Design across universalities like socio-economics, status, language, and even dreaded words like 'climate change' runs rampant, appearing to be ever-expanding, with a severe lack of standards.
Trust is felt. Trust is value. Monetary value. Felt. Perceived. Trust supports being understood. Truly seen. Heard... Something many North American corporations are failing to provide for as New Active Economies continue to shift.
What I've learned over the last 12 years of building Brands for emerging workforces is that trust-focused spaces rely on scale, access, inclusivity, and usability. If trust is inherently felt, how can our Communication Design build for more fluid, felt standards? Walking into a coffee shop or night club, our ability to feel trust (or sense danger) is as acutely aware as opening an inclusive app or an off-putting website, in 2023. And yet, despite having access to an increasing amount of Communication platforms—these spaces continue to fracture.
Casting a wider net, from the start, great Communication Design supports conversations across Access and Inclusivity to promote Usability by encouraging:
→ Emotional Intelligence. Doing the work so others don't have to. Go to therapy, please.
→ Take Time to process, to answer. In a culture of immediacies—time is a tool.
→ Active Listening. Observe behaviors, patterns, feedback. Sometimes saying nothing says more.
→ Push Back on systems that may work today (Patriarchal & Capitalistic-driven systems, and hierarchies) by coming up with tangible strategies & solutions for tomorrow's change.
→ Find Middle-Grounds. Design Brands & Products for lasting Sustainability. Focus on 10-15 year timelines, quick wins, and everything in between. Be agile.
→ Ask Questions. Big, seemingly impossible (and often uncomfortable) questions. We, as Designers, have the ability to pitch and promote alternative thinking. Do. The. Work.
→ Change takes a village. Play your part. Question everything. Build Stuff. Repeat.
Trust is a broadening field. As we give more and more of ourselves to these fragmented economies, spaces, and interactions—it's imperative that we continue to study, Design for, and make change within root issues like Communication Design.
Check out bright.ai, a shining example of Great Communication Design. Read more about their company culture, here.