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When was the last time you had a second look at the solution that you are handing over to the client? How many times have you complained about the lack of time given to you and how you could have done it better if it was more? This vicious cycle will be your safety blanket to produce mediocre design and hence a diluted end product.

In the 'Reality' of your everyday design practice, you settle into boundaries that you create, from the erect vertical that hold the roof up to the design process that you adopt. The 'automatic pilot' solutions that you developed to counter crisis time design has become your idiom. These boundaries keep you from thinking outside the box and the product will end up being the same each time. A round version, a square version and perhaps one on an angle.

We often read in design publications on design firms that declare they produce unique solutions as every client poses a different problem. How true is that statement? Are we pulling the wool over the clients eye by labelling our product with sophisticated descriptions and scientific analogy. Or are we trying to understand our client's business and providing a service that we are paid for.

Australia's booming design industry is considered to be highly professional. Presentations I have been involved in in Europe tend not to be as slick as what we are used to. Perhaps they have the luxury of a visual literate market and do not need to over sell the product. The drive is the concept or idea, rather than the slick black folder that in sits in.

Professionalism is only a part of our profession. We have to be careful not to disguise our product by its context and not having a good content. After all, however streamline the practice is, we are still in the 'creative' business.

Flicking through design annuals, it is hard to find many evident of designs that breaks new ground, is driven by a sound idea and is a unique way to solve a clients problem.

As paid advisers, we should be conscious of our responsibility not to deliver a recycled product and not something that is just consistent with the way we work.

Someone asked me once: Do you run out of ideas? Where do they come from? The simple truth is that the solution can only come from the problem. If all problems are different, then all the solutions will evolve to a unique solution. If you sit in your studio and plan what the next look you are trying to achieve, or how many ways Helvetica can be reinterpreted, then you will be hard to come up with something different all the time.

One extreme example is Bruce Mau Design (clients include Rem Koolhaas, Vitra and recently his own 'Lifestyle' book). I read that not one of his staff is a graphic designer. They come from all fields and backgrounds including architecture, arts and marketing. This ensures that from the outset, the approach will be richly diverse and gives wider perspectives of the problem.

Take time to evaluate what your design approach is and the product that represents you. Even if you are a student, being computer literate, skilled in typography will be a good starting point. What makes you better is having a product that someone cannot reproduce, the enhancement of your personal approach to creativity.

[Editor's note: Alvin was previously with Emery Vincent in Melbourne, then Studio Dunbar in Amsterdam, then KSDP also in Amsterdam, and now with Koeweiden Postma Associates - he's a thoughtful guy, dontcha think?]

The views expressed this article are not necessarily those of AGDA. Please respect the copyright of the author.

"Totally agree with you. Sometimes you tend to go too deep into the routine day of work that you forgot about the exclusivity of every project and their problems. You have to remind you all the time that you are a creative person who'll find the newest solutions design to suit the client. Whatever the budget or the time frame is. Whatever the restriction are, there is always way to teach client about creativity and be able to get out with a creative solution even if they are quite straight. A the end, you are the designer and they pay for you. I am from Quebec, Canada and I live in Sydney now and I can tell you that diversity, influences from the country even the weather influence a good design so let's be open to everything."

"The last five words say it all. 'Your personal approach to creativity.' Once you find your 'angle', or the way you look at the world, the clients who talk your language somehow find you. When you don't have much to say, you find clients who dictate. It's simple but it works."

"It's good to see designers who don't have a narrow outlook. i'm at uni and if i mention science or anything that is not really directly related to design, people further shut their already small minds."

"Of course Alvin is correct! We do need to keep thinking outside the square to give our clients the solutions they deserve. However, sometimes the client will hand you the square, place you inside and forbid you from even touching the sides. What do we do then? I here you ask. Do we push on relentlessly arguing our point or do we play the give and take game and ultimately produce the half-baked solution which neither impresses our client or satisfies our creative appetite? In my experience it is better to treat the client as if they do actually know a little about the business they are ultimately financially responsible for and work within their comfort zone (leaving the egos at home) to ultimately produce the solution they are happy with.

Don't get me wrong! I am not advocating we allow the client to tell us the best font, colour or position to use (that is what we are paid for) but what I am saying is we should listen to our clients who, usually, are not looking for a 'life-changing' solution to their problem but simply want to sell more product."