The Loft Group is extremely fortunate to have such wonderul friends who are prepared to provide articles for our blog. Thanks Bambi Gordon, Small Business Mentor & Legend. Find out why at www.thewoo.com.au

Over the years I have spent a bit of time briefing designers – either for my own work or on behalf of my clients. 

I first started working with graphic designers in 1980 (Yes…I am that old) at the Herald & Weekly Times. I was in the Display Advertising department and one of my tasks was to put together house ads to run as fillers when we had unsold space that didn’t match the shape of any of our paying advertisers and no time to re-do the page layout (which – picture this – were done on big sheets of paper and an HB pencil…told you I was old). 

Usually it was around 4 in the afternoon with the ‘paper “going to bed” at 8pm (the time when all the final art for every page was locked off and went off for plates to be prepared for printing) when we suddenly had space to fill, so you couldn’t afford to dilly dally around in preparing your brief or your copy.  And you certainly didn’t have time to get a committee together to discuss whether the ad was OK to go. 

You needed to provide the designer with a simple, crisp and clear brief, and make sure that you had at hand all relevant logos, images, and the final copy. And with only an hour or so make it happen you had to accept that you would likely only get a chance to do one set of ‘authors corrections’.

It was all good training as it turns out. 

So, from years of working with creative types within newspapers, at ad agencies, and in TV, I offer the following suggestions for things you should try not to say to your designer.

*             “I don’t need you to design anything. Can you just put my company name into a nice font and do one up and down the page, and one across the page….with this slogan underneath…in a couple of different colours”

That is design.  That takes creativity and for your designer, who is an expert, to be able to find exactly the right placement, shapes, typefaces so that it looks right. And sometimes the simplest designs have taken the most creativity, effort and flair.

*             “Can you make the logo bigger?”

Big fonts or logos don’t necessarily make something stand out. In fact there is a good chance that by eating up the white space around them that the big logo will just add clutter to the page.

*             “Can you underline these words because they are important?”

More clutter.  Plus underlining can look like a link? Ditto putting text into upper case.

*             “Can I just see it with the background in pink/yellow/grey/different pic/new headline”

Adjusting copy and trying a couple of different colours or looks is OK – The initial design that you receive will help you to really nail what it is that you are after. But once you start tweaking the thing three, four or more times, you may want to address the original brief and see if you were clear in stating your objectives and requirements.

*             “…and can you also include our URL, phone number, twitter ID, facebook page, price, opening hours, street address, car parking details….”

Your design can’t be all things to all people.  Especially if it is an ad.  And even if you are designing a web-site or a brochure there will be a time and place for various pieces of information – It doesn’t have to all be on every page.  Decide upon exactly what you want the design to achieve, and keep focussed.

*             “I’ll get back to you after I just ask my wife/husband/dog what they think”

Are they your customer?  Far more important than your own views or those of your friends and family are the views of your customers.  If the design conveys something important to them, it works. It is not about whether you personally like it.

*             “I did some drawings in MS Paint/with my kids crayons….can you just copy these?”

If you are not a designer you are only limiting the creativity of the expert you have hired to send them off in one direction. 

The team at Loft Group have a fantastic Briefing Template that will make sure that you will be strategically focused upon what objectives your designs need to achieve, which will save you time, money, and ensure that they provide you with exactly what you want.

Use them – and try not to do any of the above!