The Turnkey Test

These days a lot of designers are scrambling to sell the process instead of the creative. Some think that adding more layers or exhausting the gray cells equates to more revenue. Or at least justifies the price they’re after.

The real split is medium vs picture those who design for the medium versus those who design for the picture.

You can usually spot the jar of fog when someone explains the pretty picture, forgets the medium and sells you a process that is only a summary rather than something turnkey.

When someone claims they created a system but a teammate or a customer can’t pick it up and generate the same result, all they’ve really created is a summary of the process. Or worse, a summary of the justification for the process. If you can’t hand it off, it’s not a system. It’s not turnkey. It’s a summary, non-transferable and over time it becomes debt. Usually packaged in a jar of fog.