The ability to brief a designer well is essential if you want to produce work that not only looks good but also fulfills your requirements and reaches the target audience.
Here are my top tips for communicating effectively with design professionals.
First , a few things to avoid:
Don’t
- Ask a designer to do a job for you and start doing it yourself. The fact that you may have used the graphics package on your laptop a few times does not make you an expert.
- Make the brief so restrictive that there is no room for any creativity by the designer
- Expect the designer to be a mind reader who can create what you have in your head, despite the fact that you have not communicated your ideas. .
- Be afraid to tell the designer if you feel their work has failed to meet the brief.
Do
- Have a clear idea of your budget, timescale and target audience. Also, the quantities you want to produce.
- Give the designer a clear idea of what you want people to do as a result of receiving this piece of communication. For example, will your leaflet be competing for attention at an exhibition or conference? Or, are you trying to attract people to attend an event?
- Brief the designer about any corporate guidelines and housestyle requirements. For example, if a logo always has to be placed on the left, in a certain colour, the designer needs to know this from the outset.
- Agree a realistic timescale. That means planning your work schedule with sufficient time for the print process as well as design time.
- Think about the environment, try to use recycled paper and only produce the quantities that you need. Discuss with the designer other things you can do to produce material in a way that is environmentally friendly.
- Show the designer examples of publications that have a similar look and feel to the effect that you would like to achieve. The more visual material you can use to communicate your ideas the better.
- Let the designer choose the colours. If you really can’t stand the colour they have chosen then agree a different one. Remember, fulfilling the brief and using your favourite colour, are not necessarily the same thing.
- Say thank you when a designer has delivered a good job for you. Thanks and acknowledgement are a way of demonstrating your appreciation of the designer’s work. Just as in other areas of life, if you build good relationships with good professionals you will work with them time and time again.
These tips should help you work successfully with a designer. Depending on the size of the project, and the amount of time you have available, it may be worth using the services of a professional to manage a design project.
If you would like to discuss how I can help you with my services contact me for an initial discussion.
