Top Eight Ways To Get The Most From Your Designer

Are you giving your graphic designer the background information they need for projects? At the first meeting with your graphic designer, you should come prepared to answer some basic questions. When you come prepared, you streamline the process for the designer, and get better (and faster) results because there is a fuller understanding of you, your company, your product, and your audience. Have answers ready for these top eight questions:
*1. What is the purpose of this project? What is the message?
*2. Let me know as much as you can about your “target audience,” be they clients, customers, prospects, colleagues, or employees.
*3. Clarify the project scope. Is the project for print or the web?
--If in print, does it require 2-color or 4-color printing, or does it use “spot” (PMS) colors? How about the format, size, or assembly of the new piece(s)? What quantity do you need? Do you have a paper preference? Do you have a favorite printer you’ve worked with before, or shall I recommend one?
--If it’s for the web, how many pages do you need, for what purpose, and how do they function?
* 4. What is your timeline? When do you need it completed?
* 5. What is your budget? Printing methods, paper selection and sizes, even cutting and folding can have an impact on the final project cost. There are many ways to approach a project, some of which you may not have thought of before, and I’m here to make helpful suggestions.
* 6. At our first meeting, please bring previous “business collateral” — for example, brochures, flyers, newsletters or business cards you’ve done in the past, especially if there are elements you want to re-use. Is there copy to re-use, or shall I write new copy for you? Do you have original electronic files?
* 7. Also bring any photos, illustrations and/or logos you’ve used before and want to re-use. They are best in electronic format at high resolution (300 dpi or “dots per inch”). If you have original AI or EPS vector files, that’s best, otherwise PSD format is the next best. (Other formats are TIF, JPG, GIF, and PNG). If you need photography, will you supply it or do I need to find stock photography for you? If you need a logo used, will you supply it or do you want me to design a new one for you?
*8. It’s great if you have information or collateral about your competition. What makes them similar or different? What makes your business unique or sets you apart?

Many clients have a file they keep with this type of information, and it’s easy to just pull it out for the meeting. But if your company hasn’t assembled such a file, be prepared to spend some upfront time talking over these points. Ensuring full understanding at the beginning goes a long way to ensuring a pleasing result at project completion!

Marketing Budgets and Templates

In these days of economic squeeze, companies are looking for ways to cut costs. Marketing budgets might seem like a target for budget-cutting, but if they are cut too much, a company’s message – and the bottom line – may weaken, precisely at a time when it’s imperative to keep strong.

Desktop publishing and presentational software packages have come a long way in recent years, and many of these programs come with a variety of pre-made templates. More templates are available on the internet, and others can be purchased on a CD. Templates for layout, templates for business forms, templates for web sites. Seems like a great idea – use a template and save the marketing budget. This is especially attractive to small businesses.

But how many times have you endured another boring PowerPoint presentation and recognized the template they used? Or seen a web site and recognized a home page from a FrontPage template? Or looked at a newsletter and recognized a Publisher template? The templates were originally designed by professionals and do prevent you from making obvious gaffes. But then, what makes the presentation or web site or newsletter you saw different, if it looks like someone else’s? And what does it say about your company when the templates you use are so recognizable?

To position your company as unique, the marketing materials you use should also be unique. Hire a professional graphic designer to create custom designs. One who understands your business and your audience. One that will help you stand out from your competitors. One that can work collaboratively with you or your writers to craft a message that is irresistible to your clients and prospects. And keep your bottom line strong. One other thing: professionals can guide you with creative ways to save money that you may never have thought of.

Templates aren’t all bad, by the way. There’s no reason a good professional designer can’t design a set of custom templates just for you, so you present a consistent look with your marketing materials, whatever the format. That’s a win-win: you can reuse your own custom templates again and again, differentiating yourself from everyone else, and you can do so without breaking your budget. That should be music to the ears.