Overview
Why we show clients exactly two directions, and what happens after they pick one.
The concept presentation is the most nervous moment in any identity project. Weeks of research and strategy come down to one meeting where the client sees the brand for the first time. Over the years we have tried every format, and we have settled on a simple rule. We always show two routes. Never one, never five.
Why not one?
Showing a single direction can look confident, but it puts the client in an awkward position. They can either accept it or reject it, and rejecting it feels like rejecting the whole project. Feedback becomes defensive on both sides, and the conversation drifts towards small details because there is nothing to compare against.
Why not five?
Five options feels generous, but it usually signals that the studio has not made up its mind. Clients end up mixing elements from different routes: the colour from option two, the typeface from option four. The result is a committee design that belongs to nobody. Too much choice also makes every option look weaker, because each one gets less time and less craft.
Two honest routes
Two routes give a real choice without diluting either one. Both answer the same brief and the same core idea, but they do it in different ways. Usually one route is an evolution, close to where the company is today but sharper and more confident. The other is a leap, a bolder interpretation that pushes the idea further.
Each route is presented as if it were the final brand. We show it across real touchpoints: a homepage, packaging, a social post, an app screen and a short motion study. Clients should be able to imagine living with it, not just looking at it.
How we present them
We restate the brief and the core idea before showing any design.
We present the first route in full, then pause for first reactions.
We present the second route the same way.
We discuss both routes against the brief, not personal taste.
We ask the client to sleep on it before deciding.
After the choice
Once a route is chosen, we stop exploring. This is the most important part of the process. All the time and craft that would have gone into extra options now goes into one direction. We refine the details, test the system on difficult cases and build the toolkit the team will actually use.
Sometimes clients ask to bring one element across from the route they did not choose. Occasionally that works. More often it weakens both ideas, and we say so openly. A clear brand is built on decisions, and a good process makes those decisions easier rather than harder.
The real goal
Two routes are not a trick to steer clients towards our favourite. Both are routes we would be proud to see launched. The format exists to create a better conversation, one about the brand’s future rather than about colours we happen to like.
