How to Choose, Brief and Work with Graphic Designers

By Amanda J Field

A company’s visual identity - as it appears in everything from business stationery and brochures, to product packaging and websites - is central to a company’s impact on the market. It’s the first impression a prospective customer gets: but for many businesses, design is seen as a ‘necessary evil’, best avoided, but if that’s not possible, then best done cheaply. This down-to-earth, succinct handbook will show you why you should choose your designer as carefully as you would choose a new, senior member of staff; why good design need not cost any more than bad design; what the difference is between a ‘brief’ and a ‘briefing’; how to stop design budgets spiralling out of control; how to conduct tenders; how to get the best from your designers; how to handle approvals; and how to judge design concepts. It is packed with practical advice and guidance that is just as applicable to a new-business start-up as it is to a multinational organisation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chaplin Books
• Release date: Nov 26, 2013
• ISBN: 9781909183421

Book preview

contents.

Chapter One

Why You Need a Graphic Designer

The development of computer-based publishing programs has transformed the graphic design business.

The good news is that packages like QuarkXPress, Adobe InDesign and PhotoShop have enabled professional designers to turn work around quickly, to experiment more easily with different ideas, to produce highly finished visuals, and to have control over the entire process from creative idea to finished artwork.

The downside is that it has put the ability to be a ‘designer’ into the hands of every business person - from one-man/woman businesses, through departmental heads, right up to board level in major organisations. And they have seized the opportunity with enthusiasm. The result is comparable with your first experiments with a video-camera. The dangerous difference is that, whereas you would only think of sharing your amateur holiday movie to your family or to friends on Facebook, business people are displaying their ‘artwork’ (complete with a multiplicity of typefaces and colours, and awash with ‘clip art’ images downloaded free from the internet) to their most influential audiences - staff, customers, suppliers and business partners - and thus unwittingly damaging the image of their companies.

Design is a business for professionals - cutting corners by trying to do it yourself (or asking your IT specialist, web manager, or admin assistant to do it) may appear to save you money in the short-term, but it will most certainly hurt your business in the long-term. Thinking you can design because you own a sophisticated computer design program is a bit like thinking you can be a heart surgeon because you own a scalpel.

Design templates on programs such as Microsoft Word, Adobe InDesign or QuarkXPress - or even on Microsoft Word - may be tempting to use, and will give a superficially professional look to your design, but they are not always the answer: you still need good concepts that are not clichéd or passé, that are appropriate to your company, and that are exciting and innovative.

A company’s visual identity - as it appears in everything from business stationery, van-sides and brochures, to product packaging, websites, exhibition stands and PowerPoint presentations - is central to a company’s impact on the market. It’s the first impression a prospective customer gets - it’s your ambassador, and just as important in that role as your staff.

But for many, design (and allocating design budgets), is seen as a ‘necessary evil’. If you can avoid spending on it entirely, that’s ideal, and if you must spend, then pick someone cheap - that’s the opinion of many business people.

This attitude is certainly not confined to small businesses.

In many large companies, policies about graphic design often only extend to the major, high-profile items. So, whereas the annual report may be designed by a high-quality designer, individual departments are allowed to design their own brochures or fact-sheets; or there’s no standard way of laying out a letter or sales proposal. The cumulative effect of all this communication can have quite