Chapter 3: Don't Draft...Craft

How to make something real, right from the start

In creative work, it’s easy to get lost in the draft.

The great thing about working with art and words is that there are a million ways to go. It’s always a thrill. But it can also be a trap.

You can get so caught up in possibility that you forget to make choices. You can get so interested in the view that you forget to land the plane.

So we never want to draft. We always want to craft.

That’s why, at Open Book, we don’t just want to come up with a good idea. We want to know how it works in real life. For us, that’s the true test: how an idea works when we make it into something real—how it helps actual people think and see and feel.

And what we’ve found is that working toward something real doesn’t close down the possibilities. It creates even more.

Because the sooner we go beyond rough drafts to crafting real prototypes—specific language and designs to test internally—?the sooner we can discover what’s working and what isn’t. We can build on what really works. We can leave behind what doesn’t.

And that means we’ve got a solid foundation for each new next step—and all the possibilities that come with it.