12 questions to start a design process

In my design world, everything is objective at the beginning... 

When a client tells me what he/she wants usually we end up creating something that is totally different from what she/he said. Therefore, during the design process, the first step is the most critical and time consuming. It is when you are transforming the conversation into a concept for the projects. And during this concept/idea process, a professional designer should already know if the clients are really giving the true ideas about his/her company. And for some clients, you are able to talk to them and get the real answer, but sometimes it is a challenging task. For me, I usually put something real quick together based on our first conversation which can be a quick sketch or even from other old projects. Once the client have the "visual", then it is much easier to open up more conversation and dig deeper about his/her design needs.

Here are some questions that I would ask my clients:

1. What sets you apart from your competitor and who is your competitor?

This is a question for both new and existing company. Your competitors 5 years ago may not be your competitor now and what set you apart 5 years ago could be different from now as well. So when you start a marketing/promotional pieces, you need to look at your company again in order to create a piece that truly speaks for you and your company.

2. How would you describe your services/product?

Again, this is for both new and existing company. Are you providing the same services as you did when you started your company? Did you change it? If so, why? Is it because you have different kind of customer? Or is it because you change your products and anything else? 

3. What "personality" do you want to reflect in the project? (For example, direct, bold, witty, forward thinking, trendy, traditional)

This determine the "style" of your project.

 

4. What message would you like to communicate?

I always find this tricky for any design projects. It is because what you want to communicate sometimes may not be the same message that your audience received. Therefore, work with your designer very closely on this one especially with the question #3, the "personality" (style). If you got it right on these, then your audience will definitely get what you are selling/providing.

5. Who is your target audiences? (Age group, Gender, Nationality)

6. How are you going to market/advertising your company?

7. Where is your target market?

This is very important especially with our technology. You can easily advertise your service/product on the web or blog and have it be viewed around the world. However, are those oversee people your target audiences/customers? If yes, great! But if not, then you need to set your target area.

8. Do you have any specific imagery in mind that you want to use?

9. Do you have any color preferences? And any color that you don't want to use and why? 

10. Do you have a tag line? If so, would you like it stated with your logo?

11. Where will your logo/projects be used? For example: print, web… 

It determines the color usages, visual effect such as using icons, imagery, or typography. 

12. Which logos/marketing materials appeal to you and why?

This is a great reference for your designer. Design can be very objective sometimes. So if you can give your designer some reference it will save lots of time and money on both sides.

Ads

Today, I got an email from my friend about a youtube link. And I want to share it here. I haven't seen an ads for a long time that actually tells a story. And selling a brand without selling the product. As I mentioned from my previous blog, when you build a brand, you are also building an emotional value with your customer. We buy based on our emotions, which is built by the experience of using the product, and the company's consistence promises. And this ads will just do that. Of course this is a very long ads and probably will be edited as 15s, 30s, or 60s in real time. I don't live in Thailand, so I am not sure if this one actually got produced to Television. But I am sure you will remember it for a long time, and what they are trying to sell.

Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um9KsrH377A

What does branding mean to your company?

Nowadays, everything can be considered as a brand even an individual person in his/her career. A good branding is a combination of business strategy, marketing, and the relationship between the company and the customer. One of its purposes is to build a long-term healthy and profitable growth in the company. Each company will have different ways to communicate to their target audiences which mean they need different design materials to have their “voice” be heard. A memorable name, a well-designed logo, and a business card are all good but all of these are “information message” about your company as I see it. You needs all of these materials to keep the brands exist in the market. However, I always suggested to my clients that the most important things to keep your brand last for a long term and have people remember your company are to be consistence, systematic, and keep the promise to your customer. Once you have your Brand designed and developed, you need to keep it steady. A consistence message will keep your clients loyal to you and build up their emotional trust. A well systematic company keep their talents in the company and it also attract new people to work for you. And keeping the promise to your customer by delivering the same messages time over time, it creates a vision of “focus” and “stable” which will attract even more customer.