A computer on a desk in a dark room, a window behind it

NotesOctober 21, 2026

Why first ideas take nine days

Not two, not thirty. Why we show clients real work on day nine of every project, and what happens on the eight days before.

Every project at Signal has the same date in its plan: day nine. That's when the client sees three directions, each one drawn as it would look on launch day.

Two days is too soon: we haven't listened enough. Thirty days is too late: by then everyone has fallen in love with an idea nobody has tested.

The eight days before

1.Days one and two: a workshop with your team and a walk through everything you've made before.
2.Days three to six: interviews with customers, people who left and people who never came.
3.Days seven and eight: the studio goes quiet, and three teams of two each make one direction.

Day nine was the first time an agency showed us something we could imagine on the street the next morning.

Theo GrantHead of brand, Orbit Workspace

Start a project

Got a launch date? Let's talk this week.

Start a project