We test the work on real customers before you launch it
Creative is normally approved by the people who commissioned it, in a room, on a screen. Every route we present is tested with a sample of your actual audience first, at our own expense, and you see the results whatever they say.
What gets tested, and who pays for it
A sample of your actual customers, not colleagues and not a focus group of strangers. We fund it because a studio that bills for testing has a reason to skip it when budgets tighten.
Creative work that meets its audience before it launches
Inkfield Creative Studio works with businesses across coastal North Carolina on brand, design and campaign work, with audience testing built into every engagement at our expense.
Brand Identity
Identity systems developed and then tested with your actual customers before a route is recommended, with the results reported in full.
Campaign Creative
Campaign concepts tested for comprehension and recall with the people they are aimed at, rather than approved in a meeting by people who wrote the brief.
Packaging and Print
Packaging tested in the conditions it will actually be seen in, including on a shelf at distance, which is where most pack designs fail.
Web and Digital Design
Interface and site design tested with real users on real devices before build, because a design approved on a desktop monitor is not evidence.
Audience Testing
Standalone testing of creative that somebody else made, for businesses that want an independent read before committing to a launch.
Brand Audit
An assessment of an existing brand including whether it needs changing, tested with customers rather than assessed on taste.
Creative is approved by the people who commissioned it
The room is not the audience
Three routes are presented to a leadership team. They discuss, they prefer one, it launches. Nobody in that room is the customer, and the decision was made on a large screen in good light with the reasoning explained aloud.
The audience gets none of that. They see it small, briefly, without explanation, while doing something else. Work that survives a boardroom regularly fails that encounter.
- Tested in realistic conditions
- Comprehension measured, not preference
- Sample drawn from your customers
- Results shown before recommendation
Test for comprehension, not for liking
Asking people whether they like something produces almost no useful information. We test whether they understood what the business does, what they recalled afterwards, and what they thought it was for.
Occasionally the favoured route tests worst. That result goes to the client in full, which makes for an uncomfortable presentation and a considerably better decision.
- Recall and comprehension measured
- Unfavourable results reported
- Route recommendations follow evidence
- Weaknesses stated alongside strengths
We fund the testing ourselves
Testing is paid for by the studio rather than billed. A line item for research is the first thing cut when a budget tightens, and a studio that bills for it has a quiet incentive to let it go.
It also produces evidence against our own work. When a route we favoured tests badly, the client sees that before choosing, and we have redone work at our own cost more than once.
- Testing never billed to the client
- Our own weak routes exposed
- Rework at our cost where testing fails
- No speculative pitching either
How a project runs
Five stages, and the audience sees the work before you decide.
Brief and audience definition
What the work must do and precisely who it is for, defined tightly enough that a representative sample can actually be drawn later.
Routes developed
Two or three distinct directions, each with written reasoning covering what it is doing and where it is likely to be weak.
Audience testing
Each route tested with a sample of your actual customers, in realistic conditions, measuring comprehension and recall rather than preference. Funded by us.
Results and recommendation
Findings reported in full, including where our favoured route performed badly, followed by a recommendation that follows the evidence.
Production and handover
Print-ready artwork or developer handover, plus layered source files, fonts licensed in your name and the full test data.
What people say
The route we all preferred tested worst on comprehension. They told us, showed the data and recommended against it. We took their advice.
Marketing Director, coastal hospitality groupThey tested our packaging at shelf distance and half the sample could not tell what the product was. That test cost us nothing and saved a print run.
Founder, food and beverage brandBefore you get in touch
Who pays for the testing?
We do. It is funded by the studio rather than billed, because a research line is the first thing cut when a budget tightens and we would rather remove that possibility.
Why not ask people what they like?
Because preference predicts almost nothing. We measure whether people understood what the business does and what they recalled afterwards, which does predict behaviour.
What if the route we prefer tests badly?
You see the data and our recommendation follows the evidence. It has happened and the conversation is uncomfortable and worth having.
How large is the sample?
It varies by audience and decision, and we state the sample size and its limitations plainly rather than presenting small numbers as conclusive.
Can you test work we already have?
Yes, as fixed-fee standalone work, on creative another studio produced, before you commit to a launch or a print run.
Do you pitch speculatively?
No, for anyone. Work begins with a paid engagement rather than unpaid concepts.
Find out whether your audience understands it
Standalone testing works on creative somebody else produced, before you commit to a launch or a print run.
Start a conversation