Over the last few months, we’ve all adjusted to being at home more. For me, that’s meant spending more time with my children and three dogs, helping with schoolwork and finding new routines, all while helping oversee the creative output of Wray Ward. In early March, if you had asked me if it’s possible to manage a creative department, ideate and collaborate while working 100% remotely, all while maintaining a high level of creativity, quality and results, I’d have been skeptical.

Quarantine 2020 proved me wrong.

Our agency has delivered incredible work while working remotely. In the midst of the chaos, my home office has fostered my inner student of technology, seeker of inspiration and believer in collaboration. But while there really is no place like home, there’s also no place like a workspace designed to empower creative professionals to cultivate their craft.

Here are a few things I’ve learned as a creative director working remotely, and why I look forward to returning to the office.

What I’ve Learned

A combination of digital tools works best.

Every company has a different cocktail of tools they use to communicate and work during the pandemic, and our mix is Zoom and the G Suite. Neither platform is synonymous with creative tools, but they’ve been incredibly valuable to our creative process. Zoom gives us the client presentation vehicle, while the G Suite helps us collaboratively build content. I like the ability for multiple people to work within a file at once, as well as the notes, editing and assignment functions.

We were forced to adapt quickly — as was the rest of the world — but within a few days, we had maximized the tools and were already sharing best practices with each other. The fast pivot to these tools and online-only work has allowed us to quickly and efficiently collaborate. For the multichannel campaign work we do for clients, it’s been ideal. It’s a resource we’ll take even greater advantage of when we’re all under one roof.

A perk: Without being able to “read the room” during a remote presentation, Zoom’s chat function has helped me privately gesture to and prompt my team members during meetings in a way that The Brady Bunch screen view just doesn’t allow.

Working from home has made us even more inspired — about home.

We know from our agency research over the last few months that home improvement projects have continued to be important to consumers during the pandemic. And, because of the shared experience of being at home, we get it in ways we probably hadn't before. After all, we are also at home, staring at windows that need new blinds, light fixtures we wish we’d updated, and floors, doors and furniture we’d like to replace.

Our persona and insight work at Wray Ward is based on primary and secondary research, of which we, as individuals, have become engrained. When I meet with our brand teams to ideate for LEVOLOR or Floor & Decor, I have greater insight than ever before into the minds of our target audiences and what leads them down the path from inspiration to purchase. I’m living it and breathing it, and it’s led to inspired creative work over the last few months.