Another Rich Picture, another pencil…
Another successful project delivered and once again I can't show it off online.
It’s a subject I have returned to several times but worth repeating here. All across Linkedin and the less business-oriented social media platforms people are showing off their latest projects, or their new products in glorious HD, with professional voiceovers, catchy soundtracks and snazzy graphics but I have to keep my recent work out of sight of the public. Hiding my best marketing visuals under a bushel. My Rich Pictures are never intended to go viral. Likes and shares are rarely an option. Sometimes the intended audience numbers fewer than the client-colleagues that worked on it. I once did a picture that was intended to be shown to a single, billionaire business owner to frame a conversation with the head of a global sporting organisation that he sponsored.
This most recent picture was part of a bid process. At this moment in time I don’t even know if a single person from the organisation requesting the bid will ever see the picture. It was decided to proceed as if it would be seen but only as a way to frame what messages the picture should hold. Its real purpose was to help to crystallise the complex business offer that required a consortium of independent businesses, with very different cultures, to come together as a unified whole to engineer a totally new way of achieving the bid client’s desired outcomes. The soft benefits were the main thing- the alignment, the buy-in, the team-building, the understanding of the complexity, the storyboarding of the solution. Principally as a demonstration of how the contract would be fulfilled (and exceeded), by necessity ditching the existing business models and overcoming geographical challenges on an increasingly complex global stage. It was high-stakes stuff with the major partner organisations recognising that it was a “must-win” for both of them.
This latest work by far exceeds my previous record for number of hours spent in meetings before a pencil was ever put to paper. By far the most miles driven, most hours in teams meetings, but only the second most hotel nights away (a Sunday to Thursday working week in Riyadh just pips it). All in all a long lead in time before the first turf was cut.
As usual when the first pencil iteration is circulated several people commented on how much I have managed to grasp in a short time. It didn’t seem like such a short time to me. Many hours in “sponge-mode” soaking up information and compiling a glossary of acronyms and initialisms. Long drives home after a day of meetings in hotel conference rooms or HQ offices with a head full of new information to imagine images for, to convert into visual metaphors. Consequently there were fewer than usual pencil iterations before the move to vector artwork. This always makes me nervous that something essential has been omitted but it’s been a couple of weeks since artwork delivery and no request for late edits yet.
Another picture, another pencil.
I wish I could show you even a small part of the finished thing but I can’t, beyond this thumbnail of a zoomed-in detail of my “watermark” red pencil that I like to hide somewhere in the picture. If you need a Rich Picture to help with your complex and sensitive project please drop me a line.
Paul Shorrock
Rich Picture Specialist