The Creative Lead Playbook
Welcome the Creative Lead Playbook. My name is Cathy Davenport Lee. I’m a product design and creative marketing leader who’s been in the digital industry for over 15 years.
I’m here to tell you all the stuff you DIDN’T learn in school, so you can navigate the politics, get buy-in more quickly AND become the creative lead you’ve always dreamed of being.
Whether you’re just starting out, making a transition, or just looking for some support along your journey, this podcast is here to help. Listen on to find out more.
And don’t forget to sign up for Lunchbox Notes, my free advice and encouragement letter for creatives looking to thrive. Let’s reignite your creative journey—together.
The Creative Lead Playbook
Stop Faking It: Getting Greenlit, Pt. 4
Having worked on the brand side for a good length of time, I can tell you that there's one thing people do (agencies, vendors and designers alike) that results in major side-eye and skepticism when it comes time to review the creative work.
The good news? If you STOP doing this right now, I promise it will make your projects go far more smoothly.
It's really simple advice, but it can take time and care to pull it off properly.
Listen on to find out more.
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I’m Cathy Davenport Lee, and I hope today’s episode leaves you feeling inspired and ready to push the boundaries of your creative career.
Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and sign up for Lunchbox Notes—my free encouragement and advice letter for creatives. Stay connected for more insights, tools, and resources to help you thrive. Until next time, keep creating, keep pushing, and let’s move this industry forward together.
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Hey there!
Another installment in the "how to get your creative work approved" today. It's wildly direct and wildly simple. But it WILL make it way faster to get to concept approval.
Ready?
DO NOT SHOW YOUR CLIENT A DESIGN WITH FAKE CONTENT.
ALWAYS USE real (or believable) content in your mockup.
Specifically:
- Don't use Lorem Ipsum for every single text placement. Even for body copy, start with something believable even if you have to fill the rest in with placeholder content.
- Don't use any kind of "FPO" photo that doesn't relate to the material and that couldn't feasibly be part of what's going to be used.
- Don't mock up a row of thumbnails or a carousel on a webpage JUST because you like the way a certain type of component looks or functions.
- Don't mock up branding on collateral that your client isn't actually going to be using just because you think it looks cool.
- Don't use "jokey" content.
Sorry to pull out the all-caps on you, but I see this kind of thing a lot and it makes me wince, every time.
Why is it important to use real content?
Even though Lorem Ipsum is really useful for filling out a paragragh or a headline, its use obstructs the viewer from understanding what the text field is actually supposed to be used for. So it becomes confusing for a client who's trying to understand how to apply this to their brand.
Example: Is that "eyebrow" text a label, a category, or it is for displaying the expiration date of an offer?
You might also be disguising the fact that they don't really have the text or the imagery to build the design out in a way that's going to be visually satisfying. Meaning, even if the client ok's this version, when you get to the stage of swapping out their real actual content, it's going to feel like a bait-and-switch to them.
Using a generic (thematically not relevant) stock photo is even worse, because it makes the brand feel generic. When you use a placeholder or stock photo, it should feel tonally like something they would REALLY use.
If you want to create trust with your client, you need go to the lengths of researching what kind of content the brand ALREADY has, how they arrange it themselves, and then make a design recommendation that pulls all of that in. You need to solve their problem, that being: "I have a bunch of stuff and ideas and I don't know how to put it together in a beautiful way" - not just give them another beautiful, but disparate, item.
If you work on an agency or a brand team, you might have a partner whose job it is to make the content real. If you're freelancing, you'll have to do it on your own (but ChatGPT helps).
Ultimately, if you want to show up as a higher-level creative, these kinds of details and research are what get you there. It's how you tell your client, "I see you, I respect you, and I have a smart solution for you."