GETTING THE BEST FROM YOUR CREATIVE/MEDIA PROJECTS

My aim is to give you hints on how to make your creative project experience as simple and less stressful as possible. I’ve identified 4 basic and effective steps to take, based on my experience, which you should be aware of to help you achieve the best with little or no stress.

STEP 1: KNOW WHAT YOU WANT.

This may be obvious but most effective when it comes to any creative or media project. For this exercise, I’ll use the example of branding. Sometimes, you might just want simplicity as in not wanting to stress over anything but just want anything that looks good. If that’s the case, just do a search online for design studios that offer template facilities of various logos that you can choose from. You can use Online Self-Service in those design studios’ websites to whip-up a logo at your convenience. However if you need a creative input, it is not good enough to say “I just need a logo”. For a start, if a designer go away with just that request. Both parties will go through one of the most painful experience of the creative process. So, first thing first. What colours (s) do you want to be associated with your brand? Again, please don’t say “whatever you think is best”, because that line never works. Depending on how big you expect your business to be, I hope it will be HUGE, you will want to do your homework on colours and what they mean to your prospective clients, culture, market, religion or society. Again, you can get information online about colours and their significant but ask around from friends, business associates and through research to understand colour placement and what colour represents in your chosen market and community. Once you confirm your colour, and then ask yourself “what inspires me?” or what will attract your customers. Meaning, do you want your logo presented as just text/number or would you love to incorporate anything else that is significant, i.e. symbol, equipment, plant or creatures. Sorting out these will make it easier and less costly for designers to work with you.

STEP 2: KNOW WHAT YOU'VE GOT.

Establish how much you’re willing to spend or how much your budget really is. There are great designers out there who are still willing to work with you, regardless of your budget. Based on my experience with Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, I know how tight the budget can be so it’s best to get this second step right so that you can be better advised by your designer on the best way forward. Lets say you want a leaflet. If you’re not a very big organisation and you are not particularly interested in glossy or fancy leaflet; the designer can design an electronic leaflet that you can print out of your desk-top printer, if you’ve got a good one. If you want to print this way, the designer will produce a design that minimises the colours used and make it desk-top printer friendly. Or you can request from an industrial printer to use lower grade paper, but make sure the design compensate for it so that quality is NOT compromised. If your project is a website and budget is tight, you can use also do a research to find Design Studios that offer Website Templates Self-Service and just follow their easy step-by-step guide to build the website at your convenience. Its really not rocket science and you don’t need to be an expert at design but know your way around the computer and internet. However, for creative input, some designer can still work with you regardless of your budget. However, the ease of this step will depend on you following Step1 of my creative/media process.

STEP 3: KNOW WHAT YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE.

This ranges from "I have some pictures I want you to use" to "I know a thing or two about design". We love and value your contribution from beginning to the end but please make this known at the beginning of the process. Creativity is disrupted and time/money is wasted if at the middle of the process, in some cases the end, and you suddenly don't like the image used or you then produce "here is the one I did earlier" concept. It helps to work together so we know that we are working towards the same goal and most importantly what you have envisioned.

STEP 4: KNOW THE TIME-FRAME/LEAD-TIME.

Many clients always say, “I need this urgently”. But then when I send them draft for approval, they suddenly get so busy that an approval that could have taken ONE minute or an hour ended up being something I send a week-long email reminder before I can get approval. And when they finally get back to me the next question they’ll ask is, “so Im I getting the finished work tomorrow”? You need to know the time-frame for your project. Many designers always endeavour to work with your time-frame/lead-time, but they also have Standard Procedure that they follow to produce excellence. So if you don’t know or respect your lead-time, your designer will either not respect your time-frame or they will produce a less than satisfactory project. Therefore, as soon as you commissioned a designer to get involved in your project, the designer will outline a time-frame for you, following the above 3 Steps. Secondly, the designer will let you know when the draft will be ready; when they expect your response with correction or amendment; when they hope to get your approval which will then determine when the project will finish. So do NOTE that even if the designer agree to a time-frame and you fail to reply at the scheduled time, it will ultimately affect the completion time, it is, therefore, wise for you to follow the time-frame as close as possible. If you however don’t see the project as urgent as it was originally meant to be, then let your designer know so that they can categorise it accordingly.
If you need further advise on any of your graphic or website design projects, do feel free to contact me or visit: The 4 Sight Studios.