I spent some time recently working with Dare, a fantastically talented new media advertising agency, anyone who scans the Campaign awards results will know how highly regarded these guys are in the industry and in the wider commercial field. I was at Dare to help them look at their creative processes and how they intend to keep their innovative edge. This problem affects most companies but especially those in the creative sector. I started doing projects with Dare 8 years ago when they had 15 people and were the definition of a guerrilla-marketing agency with radically innovative projects being developed by the seat of their pants – with startlingly good results. Now they are over 200 people and its more difficult to be fleet of foot, when you have the footballer Kaka for 15 minutes for a shoot its hard to be footloose and fancy free.

A group of designers and technical experts came together, really to think about how to keep the gorillas spirit alive, and really preserve opportunities for serendipity with a larger structure. It was an interesting day, largely because there was such a flexibility of thinking and willingness to consider new ideas from the participants. It was also stimulating because there was a palpable sense of tipping point where innovation moves from an implicit, unacknowledged activity towards a appreciation that these things can be brought into the light, without crushing the life out of them.

This is symptomatic of wider debates in the design industry (with some notable dissention from people such as Rick Poynor in his article ‘Down with Innovation’). Some agencies use a very clearly articulated production process such as Prince2 while others are much more organic, one this is for sure though, these sorts of discussions are going to become more common and more important as the design industry matures.