So, just last week Duong was asking some pretty ridiculous questions about a project, that I couldn’t really answer because the client themselves couldn’t really answer them since they weren’t sure what they wanted to see themselves.

My response; “Think outside the box, but don’t think too far outside the box. Break some boundaries, but not too many, you don’t want to take away from what they’ve been doing already.”

So Duong put it into terms like only he could; “So in other words you can play in the sandbox but sometimes you’re allowed to play outside of the sandbox, but you always have to come back in?”

That was kind of a neat way to phrase things. I almost want to tell clients when we’re doing different pieces of their marketing it’s like playing in the sandbox. You always want to break barriers and come up with new designs that set your client apart from the competition, but you don’t want to take them too far out of their element and what they’ve been doing that no one, not even themselves know what they do or who they are.  Those that aren’t playing in the sandbox and are all over the playground - on the swings, the jungle gym, teeter toter – no one knows what message they’re trying to get across. As long as you’re always running back to the sandbox, people see that one constant in the message and can link you back to past messages they’ve taken in.

Playing in the sandbox keeps you from venturing too far, but stepping outside those little walls lets you explore new ideas and options without disrupting what you’re trying to accomplish with the design. You’re being different and unique without taking away from your client’s image they’ve been building over years.

It’s almost like the old phrase “thinking outside of the box”, only the new “outside of the box” is inside the box.