TermCoined by the studio
The Direction
The finished work a reading ends in: the position and its words, a brief for every page, the maps, and the order of the work, set with the people who decide.
The record says what is true; the direction says what to do about it. It is finished work, not advice: pages mapped to new language, the missing sections named, images made in the brand’s style, and a session with the people who decide in which the order of the work is set.
Why It Matters
Recommendations that need someone to interpret them are rarely carried out. A direction is written so that the firm, its own team or its agency can act on it the next morning, and so that each change carries the date on which it will be measured again.
How the Studio Uses It
In the reading described in What Are You Actually Paying For?, the direction was an alignment of sixty-five pages in the firm’s own brand style, with every page of the site mapped to new language; a set of about five hundred images in the brand’s style, named and tagged for every page that needs one; and a four-hour session in which the order of the work was set in the room. Alignment delivers a direction and checks it again at ninety days.
What It Is Not
It is not a strategy deck and not a list of best practices. Every line in it comes from the firm’s own record, and every page in it is the firm’s own page.
Asked About
The Direction.
Does the studio have to carry it out?
No. It is written so that anyone can act on it.
How is it checked?
Each change carries a date and the number it should move, read again against the same record at ninety days.
How long does it take?
About a month, then the check-in.