For this week’s Teardown. I thought it was only fair to share an example where my own visuals have come in below the bar.

(Oh yes, there are many.)

So I put my “House of Cards” Headshot through the IRIS app.

This visual metaphor literally came to me in my sleep a few weeks ago.

The general idea is that experts/consultants can often get caught up in pretty deliverables, but really, especially now, clients are looking for relief.

In my view, an Intellectual Headshot (framework, time-series, process visual) can help ground a distressed client or help them organize their own thoughts toward solution.

That’s what I sought to express, creatively.

Despite the minimalist look, it actually took quite a bit of time to simplify the concept and captions, and after a couple hours, I was happy enough to publish it.

And upon retrospective evaluation, IRIS slapped me with “Noticed, but Fleeting”. Ouch.

Specifically, she said yes, the dichotomy was instantly graspable and self-reflective, but that the visual overall was too detached from my service.

(She’s not wrong.)

And probably most importantly, IRIS said it didn’t inspire a conversation about help with practical IP.

So, what now?

She gave me a couple ideas to rethink the visual.

• Concept: the “practical” side was underdeveloped - instead of a fan of cards, could it be something else more closely tied to a client context
• Execution: the sweating client actually confuses the message - shouldn’t they be relieved?

All told, this is all fair feedback, even if I think IRIS is undervaluing the clever ‘a-ha’ of the right frame.

But this also is exactly what I needed to hear on this one — essentially “nice visual, bro - but does it actually do anything?"

If not, why are we even doing this?

Now it’s up to me to go a tad deeper to get this one over the line....

Want to try this out with your own visuals? The free IRIS beta is open now.

💡

-Wes