The Less You Know…

Good graphic design is about building and maintaining the right image for your business. It’s an integral part of brand building and it’s vital to the success of your advertising. On the same token, our success as a design firm lies in your satisfaction as our valued client.

There was a time when clients hired graphic designers — more commonly referred to as commercial artists back in the day — to develop a concept, work out the design, and produce the final visuals. The client simply provided the scope of work and made decisions. However, with today’s technological advancements, many clients have gotten their hands dirty in software like Photoshop and played around with fonts to some degree. Because of this, the notion of design as a specialized skillset has been greatly diminished. Even so, design today remains as it always has been — a process of problem solving and the execution of business-driven solutions.

When a skilled designer positions your logo in a certain manner on the page, she does so for reason. When she selects a particular font, she does so for a reason. Designers utilize white space for a reason. Designers select certain color combinations for a reason. The reason in all of these cases is to communicate effectively and to maintain brand integrity for the benefit of your business. A good designer can back up his aesthetic choices with fact and theory. It’s also true that any designer you hire will bring his own style and experience to your project and not every designer is a good match for every project. When you make the decision to hire a specific designer, his individual style should play a huge part in why you hire him. Keep this in mind throughout the design process and remain aware that this is the style you chose and this is the style that you are going to get. A good client sets personal taste aside and focuses on making sound business decisions. A good designer gets past technology and implements sound design principles.

The old adage that someone knows “just enough to be dangerous” really holds true in this age of blurred lines between computer graphics and smart design. The worst thing that you, as the client, can do is to dictate aesthetic things like fonts and colors and positioning. The less you know about such things, the better off you will be in turning out a successful design project.

There Is No Box

It happened again. A client came to me about doing a new direct mail campaign and said, "We need to start thinking outside the box." The problem is that most people don't really get what outside the box means and they tend to use this phrase either out of frustration of not having an immediate answer to why their marketing efforts have been sub-par, or as a way of covering the fact that they are simply lost and don't know how to approach their marketing needs.

The non-existent box as explained in The Matrix…

Boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead only try to realize the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Boy: There is no spoon.
Neo: There is no spoon?
Boy: Then you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.

Thinking outside the box requires a willingness to take new perspectives and to create value in new ways. The problem is that people tend to approach this without looking inside first. The results are generally off-the-wall ideas that get everyone excited but miss the mark and are really little more than a gimmick. So instead, let's try focusing on who we are, where we fit in, and how we relate to our intended audience…

* What is our key opportunity?
* Who is our target audience?
* Where do we want to be?
* How do we get there?
* What is our primary consumer benefit?
* What should the consumer's net impression be?
* What support do we have?
* What are the mandatory facts that we must communicate?
* How do we want the consumer to respond?

Thinking outside the box creates a separation between our brand and our audience. Just as Neo must become one with the spoon, you must become one with your brand. Once you've done that, you begin to realize that there is no box and that your brand can interact freely with your audience. You will development more creative — and more effective — ideas to bend your marketing in the right direction.

Catch Light Productions
http://www.catchlight.com

Download our free Creative Work Plan and become one with your brand today.