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Ian Thompson, Thompson Ltd
Ian - tell us how Thompson Ltd started out.
I started freelancing as a designer in 1984, working in-house for a group of companies. I don't think I took the business seriously until the mid-nineties - I was just a freelancer with a couple of assistants. But then I started to think about the sort of business I was in. I sensed that I'd always focused on the corporate identity realm, which is really about branding. So I've developed the company into a branding consultancy, of which design is just one part.
What was it like being a designer when you started out?
I was made head of graphics within a year of coming out of college, which was an unrealistic situation. There weren't many design companies in the area - in hindsight I don't think there was a single one. There was no real design industry.
How big is Thompson Ltd now?
There are ten of us at the moment. We've got two account directors, one account manager, four designers, an art worker and a couple of administrators. Two years ago I took on a managing director and as a result we've substantially extended our service so we now do advertising as well.
What prompted you to refocus your business?
I saw other businesses doing really well and started to take myself more seriously. I knew I could do the work - it was a matter of going out and finding it. I needed to find work that I really wanted to do rather than just responding to the jobs that were coming in, and to get rid of the work I didn't want to do. When you're reasonably skilled it's easy to run a business and simply do the jobs that come along. It takes courage and focus to say, 'This is the type of work I want - or don't want - to do.' I still have to do that from time to time, because as you get a reputation for a particular type of work you tend to get more and more of it. It may not be the kind of work you want for the future so you have to keep taking stock and asking, 'What is our goal?'
And what is your goal?
I want to be the best brand consultancy in the North of England. That means having a company that is focused around the disciplines related to design. The very nature of design means you have to deliver rigorous and robust solutions to problems, and that permeates everything that we do. Design is a very rigorous discipline - I think marketing and advertising companies can be less rigorous. We also take a common sense approach fdesign consultancies that are not too concerned about how their work marries up with the commercial needs of the company. We understand that everything we do, in one way or another, is about selling. It is fundamental to a business's bottom line.
The best businesses to work with are what I call 'challenger brands' brands that challenge the brand leaders in their field. For example, in the sports market, rather than targeting the brand leaders such as Adidas and Nike I'd look at the companies that are challenging them. Umbro is a good brand for us to work with. They have quite a big stake in the sportswear market but frankly they could do a lot better with a clearer strategy - and I like working with brands like that. These companies are outsiders. Being an outsider means you've got momentum, being outside means you're trying to move in, and that appeals to me.
How do you make contact with potential clients?
We actively market ourselves to companies we're interested in. We don't necessarily go in with ideas, but we will go and tell them how we work. We contact them through direct mail and phone calls.
What happens when you get a brief? Who looks at it first?
The managing director Phil Dean and I decide who'll take responsibility for a particular job. The first person who sees the brief will be the person who is directing that account. Account management is very important to us. The designers still talk regularly to the client, but I don't want them to get bogged down by the day-to-day running of accounts - I want the designers to be designing.
The next thing is to clarify the parameters. Obviously briefs don't always come in fully formed - they can take a long time to develop. The client writes the original brief from their perspective but there may be things that we need to know that the clients isn't really aware of. So we double check all the elements of the brief and clarify what it involves.
The main thing we focus on is the market for the particular job. We ask questions: Who is going to be looking at this, how do we need to respond, how do we want them to think, how do we want them to feel? People sometimes accuse us of manipulating how people think, feel and behave but I don't believe that our business can lead to huge behavioural shifts. People will do what they do. Our business is about anticipating what their needs and preferences are, so that a client delivers what is appropriate to them. We tap into a market that behaves in a certain way and make sure that the client's product or service fits with that market.
How do you gauge the market?
We do a lot of research. For example, we're branding a major national visitor centre in the south, so we've got to develop a strategy. We need to know what kind of place it's going to be, what kind of market it will attract. We have to come up with a name and brand. When I talk about brand I don't just mean design, I mean the total promise and proposition for the place. When we understand that, we can start to work on the design elements. Once the job is done, we'll hold focus groups to determine how the market responds and we may fine-tune some of the elements.
One of the things that's become invaluable to the research process and generation of ideas is the Internet. It's phenomenal. Before that you had to research using libraries and bookshops.
We still use books because we need a basic understanding of a lot of different subjects. Every client thinks you're an expert in their field and you're obviously not. You need a working knowledge of their field and the vernacular of their market so you can speak their language. We have a lot of books to help us do that. We also have a lot of design books so we can appreciate the solutions that other people have come up with. But our principle research source is the Internet.
It's also invaluable to speak to people who are either in the client's market or on the periphery of it. We have a tendency in this industry to brainstorm ideas among ourselves and to forget that we are an industry too and operate in a certain type of market. I speak to my family a lot - it's nice to get people from outside involved.
Do you organise events to encourage a fresh creative approach?
The last thing we did started out as a life drawing session. Someone suggested that we do far less drawing than we used to, which is absolutely true. So we organised a day at the art gallery, invited friends, clients and designers, and did a session that was billed as life drawing but turned out to be much more. We had a facilitator who was also a life model and she performed poetry and movement related to the artworks on the wall. We will do things like that from time to time but we do less than we'd like to - maybe larger companies have more time.
How do you generate alternative ideas
I tend to start with the obvious ideas - they can often produce the right results. Do the obvious thing, don't labour over it and once that's over, try the things you've been dying to do. Often, if there's a block for example and we're working on an idea that's not brilliant, we'll scrap it and start again.
Do you present clients with a single idea or a range of ideas?
It depends on the job, the client and the progress we've made with that client. When you know a client reasonably well, it's easier to go in with one idea. If you're new to a client, you have to get to know both the corporate entity and the individuals who work there. There's a tendency to see clients from a corporate perspective but an organisation is made up of individuals. You have to understand the ethos of the company and the personal needs and wants of the individuals you're dealing with. With new clients, it's often wise to go in with two or three ideas that are not fully formed.
We always work backwards from the deadline and allocate an amount of time to each part of the process. We have to deliver certain elements at certain times, so there may be several key dates for showing roughs, getting them approved, showing visuals, artwork approval, making changes, etc. We have a planning meeting every Monday morning to work out what everyone will be doing at a particular time, but things can change. Usually it's clients who change their minds or there's a rush to get something completed but at least we've got a structure that we can turn back to.
Do you think having a formal process is essential to successfully completing a job?
A working process is very important but it won't get you everything - and sometimes it won't get you the most important thing of all. There are many service industries where process will get you 95% of the way and inspiration will only be required for the other 5% but this industry is different. Inspiration, imagination and the ability to look at a problem from a totally different, idiosyncratic perspective, is an enormous part of this job. The working process is there as a support mechanism but it's not the most important part.
For many years I worked without any real formal processes and I did perfectly well because what the client wants in the end is something amazing, wonderful and interesting. Most people are governed far more by what they want than what they need. They will tell you what they need is 80% but it's actually only 20%.
When you're young, you should focus on developing your imagination because it's your most important tool. You need to work on getting the best from yourself. Many times you'll sit down and think, 'I don't know what to do about this.' That's perfectly natural and it becomes easier as you get more experienced - you find more ways of cracking a nut.
Some processes are useful and will help everyone but it's important not to get swamped by them. Listen to those people who have tricks, easy ways of getting from A to B. Their advice won't get always get the job done for you, but it might help you complete the difficult part.
My best technique is splitting all creative jobs into five or six elements. For instance, if I'm doing a logo I've got to decide on the typeface, colour and shape, what context it fits into. I'll work on one aspect of it and as soon as I get a block, I'll work on something else. If I can't decide on the typeface, I'll move on to the colour and return to the typeface later - and then it will be easier. Move gradually towards a solution, don't make it hard for yourself.
Do you choose creative people over people with technical ability?
The two things are not mutually exclusive. There's no such thing as a creative person who doesn't have technical skills. Anyone who is working as a designer is working on an Apple Mac and using programmes such as Quark Xpress, InDesign, Freehand, Illustrator, Photoshop and a suite of other tools that are predominantly web based. Quark Xpress has dominated the industry for a long time but InDesign is taking over. Photoshop is amazing - it just gets better and better.
When you start to work on something do you sketch things out or go straight to Macs?
I think most of us still sketch. Some people go to the Mac more quickly than others - again, it depends on the job. If it's a very typographic brief, you may go to the Mac very quickly because you need to see how the font will work. But using pencil and paper is still the best way to kick off ideas.
Do you produce plans and working drawings
Yes we do, but they're not working drawings like engineering working drawings. We produce digital artwork.
How do you present your ideas?
Usually we present ideas on screen and in hard copy. Hard copy varies: it may be a bound book or presentation boards, depending on what's best for the type of work we are doing. Size is a factor. We use whatever will give the client a clearer picture of the end result. Having said that, with our regular clients we present a lot of work on PDFs that we can simply email to them. That normally happens after they've seen something physical.
We tend to have two people at presentations or in meetings. That's what bigger companies do, and we aim to match them in the service that we offer.
How do you monitor costs?Nothing happens without costs being quoted, right at the start of a job. All quotations are a combination of the cost of our people's time and external costs such as the print process. We have hourly figures attached to every member of staff and we estimate how long each person is going to be involved. Jobs are often modified as they progress, so the costs are modified too. We track costs continually so it never gets to the stage where a client says, 'My goodness I didn't expect this.'
You often have to be more efficient than the client in the costing process. The burden of responsibility is on you as a supplier to give the client the information they need about costs.
