Let me take you back to autumn 2019. Before the business even had a name, I had a less-than-cohesive document with notes about why it should exist. About what it should offer, who we should work with, and what our process should look like.

Sitting opposite my not-yet-husband-or-business-partner at an old dining table in a woodchip-walled room, I wrote ‘figure out what people need and just do it’. And then I shouted ‘WHAT ABOUT CALLING THE BUSINESS NEED?’ – and then I called it Need.

Some months later, we started using the term ‘necessary design’ – something that’s now become our sort-of strapline. But what does it mean?

Luckily, it’s not rocket science. Because neither of us are rocket scientists.

Put simply – which is the way we like to put things – ‘necessary design’ is just doing what the client needs. No more, no less.

As a process, figuring this out involves some heavy-lifting up front – mostly research, discussions, and creative problem solving.

Before we do so much as a sketch, we work closely with clients – conducting things like stakeholder workshops, audience assessments, competitor benchmarking, communication audits, and analytical reviews.

Based on the information we gather, and our expertise, we make our recommendations. That can be a rebrand, a website, a campaign, an internal comms overhaul, easy-to-use templates, social media management, copywriting support, photography updates, all of the above, or none of the above.

No fluff, no noise. Just considered design – and the right amount of it.

But how does it work?

I’m going to take you back in time even further. Around 20 years prior to 2019.

I was one of around 30 kids in a drama class. The teacher gave us all the same task: to get – and keep – her attention.

All of us, me included, went straight to doing as much as possible. We got in her face. We waved our little limbs around. We stomped and jumped and screamed and made ourselves as big as we could. But one girl didn’t do any of that. She stood still in the middle of the room, making no noise at all.

Of course, because this child was doing something different to get attention, it meant she wasn’t competing with the pack. She won the competition, and I – after smashing up the room in a fit of loser rage – learned a valuable lesson.

Now, I use it in design. You can shout all you want. About your values, your offering, your great feedback, your process. You can add vibrant colours, flashy sounds, fill the world with your communications. But does anyone care? If it’s not authentic to your organisation, if it’s not relevant to your audience, and if it’s not necessary design, then the answer is probably no.

More doesn’t always equal more. More communications might not add up to more profit. More words certainly doesn’t equal more efficacy. More content doesn’t mean more engagement. It’s more valuable to get it right.

If you need help figuring out who you are, why you matter, who your audience is, and how to stand out with the right design, get in touch.