Very nice, but does it bloody work?

Graphic Design is a broad and varied church and sometimes it’s not entirely clear what the end goal is. We all seek to be the best we can, but how do we define the successes and failures? Truth of the matter is there are but a few ways in which our creative efforts can be assessed. And it basically boils down to who likes it.

Design Awards

At regular intervals, we are provided with the opportunity to put our latest and greatest works in the spotlight and seek the approval (or critique) of our peers. Those who are successful will earn the respect of their colleagues and a yellow pencil or something made of glass to adorn their desks or reception areas. Their work will be referred to as ‘innovative’, ‘witty’ or ‘clever’. It is unavoidably a little self-congratulatory but by no means pointless. For those seeking the approval of the industry it encourages raising the bar and exploring creative avenues that perhaps a normal day’s work might not provide. It encourages creative development that will subsequently weave its way into the day to day design for other paying clients.

Client Approval

You’ve been working on a rebrand for nearly two weeks. The logos have been tweaked and polished and are another shining example of your craft. The client loves it. The client’s wife loves it. All the senior managers in the client’s organisation love it. It is signed off; a done deal. However, it pays to remember this. Why did your client come to you in the first place? I’ll tell you. Because they are not designers. They do, almost certainly, know about their customers and what appeals to them, but that’s not the same as understanding good design. You need their approval because, quite simply, they are paying for it.

Results

The mailshot went out a fortnight ago and the response has been jaw-dropping. Customer enquiries for your client have gone through the roof and exceeded even the CEO’s wildest reckoning. For you, the designer, the project was satisfying but is never going to provide you with another glass paperweight. But it’s another success, another testimonial for the website and another page for the portfolio. All of which will help win more business in the future as new clients are attracted to past successes. Your design pulled in new business for your client, and will for you. Your design worked.

A logo is not a brand

A few years ago I was in Manchester to see a certain Irish rock band. We were staying in a serviced apartment somewhere in the city and in the name of laziness and not wanting to get lost, we elected to take a taxi to the stadium.

With no real preference of choice I simply called the first number on a list in our apartment. I booked the cab, and thought no more of it.

The taxi arrived on time and took us to the show. A few hours later we stumbled out of the stadium and headed in the direction of where we thought our apartment was. After 10 minutes the crowd that had carried us along had all but disappeared and we were… er… lost.

“Sod it” I said, “I’m calling a cab”. So in a city I’ve never been to before I called a cab company who’s first and only contact with me had been a few hours before. The conversation went a little like this:

CabCo: “Hello there Mr. Robins”
Me: “Err, hello… how did you… never mind… can I get a cab please?”
CabCo: “Certainly. Are you going back to the Sunnyvale Apartments on South Street?”
Me: “Err… yes please.”
CabCo: “Where are you?”
Me: “Not a bloody clue… hang on… outside Mothercare”
CabCo: “OK Sir, we’ll have someone with you in 5 minutes”

And lo and behold, they did. Despite having only had one contact with me before, they knew my name, where I’d come from (and as such where I was likely to want to go) and, given where they’d taken me earlier in the evening, which branch of Mothercare I was likely to be near. And to cap it all, a taxi ride 10 minutes across Manchester cost us just four quid.

There’s a twist in this tale. I can’t for the life of me remember what that taxi firm was called. But I do know this. If I had reason to go to Manchester again, and I thought I’d need a cab when I got there, I would make a point of calling my mobile provider and asking them to check the numbers I called on the day that Bono and his chums made me slightly deaf. Their customer service exceeded all my expectations and that is what has made me remember them years later.

The point is this. A logo is a key visual or graphical mark that represents your company or brand. The brand itself is how the customer feels about the product or service you provide. In this instance, the logo and name of the company has passed me by, but the experience has stuck with me. Now, if you can marry the kind of brand experience that I’ve described here to a great, memorable logo or visual representation, then your company WILL be remembered and recommended by name.

About the Author

David Robins is a Graphic Designer with over 12 years experience in the design industry. To find out more about the full range of Graphic Design, Web Design, Logo Design and Brand Development services he can provide, go to www.dlrobins.co.uk

When two tribes go to war

I’ve heard it said many, MANY times that a print designer CAN NOT be a web designer. Yes, they can knock out a bit of HTML and even throw together something that looks half decent, but they’re not really a proper web designer. I’m not sure really what constitutes a ‘proper’ web designer in the context of this argument, but I’m going to throw out a (perhaps) rather provocative statement here.

Web designers (and by the same definition, print designers) are simply designers who constrain themselves to one design environment.

The web is, after all, merely an environment. It has it’s own requirements, foibles and capabilities. There are things that you can do here which simply aren’t possible in print. It requires an understanding of the underlying technologies, an attention to accepted standards and an awareness of the trends of the day. The same can be said of print design. And if there are any ‘proper’ web designers out there who might argue, let’s see you try and spot varnish or die cut a web page…

In truth I believe that an individual can be proficient in both disciplines. Furthermore, you could well argue that such an individual could provide a more cohesive design solution across the two environments than two individuals working in their respective fields.

The key word here is ‘design’. The art of visual communication. The magic of presenting, in a given environment, the information you wish to communicate to the viewer. The constraints of that environment are things which we must recognise, and in our pursuit of design excellence, challenge. We must be led by the design itself and not the environment in which it sits. No great design ever came about by adhering too strongly to the rules. We must explore what is possible, upset the status quo and bend the tools to our will, rather than being limited by them.

Website or waste ground?

Of all the marketing methods that are available, one of the most universally identified and yet widely misused is the internet. Websites are top of the pile here, with good reason. They represent a myriad opportunities and countless ways to get it wrong…

If you don’t yet have a website I’d urge you to read through this before embarking on the journey to get one. It should help avoid at least some of the pitfalls and will at least mean that whoever you use to design and develop your site will get a clearer idea of what you’re after.

Firstly, and this applies to you whether you’ve already got a site or not, what do you want your website to do? If you have a website that’s nothing more than a placeholder with some scrappy information and an address then you’re missing a huge opportunity. Most people will have thought a little more about this one and will at least have some basic information about the company, what products or services are on offer and some alternate points of contact; email or telephone numbers.

There are two ways of assessing your website requirements; what you expect from it and what your customers want from it.

From your side of the fence you might just need your site to include the most basic of information and urge your customers to get in touch by ‘phone or email. You might want to use it to gather information about prospective customers so that you can get in touch with them. There are numerous other options to the hard sell route and many that may be more beneficial in the long term.

From the customer’s perspective it largely depends on the type of product or service you’re selling. An exclusive clothing brand will want to use the site to maintain and accentuate its exclusivity and is unlikely to show prices or offer special online discounts, but may feature a list of official outlets or resellers. At the other extreme a mail order stationery company might need a fully automated online ordering system with secure credit card payment. Think about how your customers buy from you in the real world, evaluate the successes or shortfalls of this method of doing business and then take a look at how your website might fit in to the picture.

Another angle is to take a look at the primary needs of your business. If you have a high turnover of customers that’s not due to the nature of your product or service (eg. Estate agents) then you might consider using your website to provide fresh new offers to past or existing customers to entice them to buy from you again. If you’re selling an expensive product to an small number of customers, you might be able to feature a testimonial from one of your happy customers extolling the value of your offering. For every hurdle that your business faces, your website could well provide a solution.

Let’s not forget that your site can do more than just help sell your product or service, you can use it as a communication tool to reinforce the relationship with an existing customer. And the better experience someone has of your company the more likely they are to recommend you to friends, family or work colleagues. And what better recommendation is there than one from someone you trust?

This leads us on to the final point – ‘newness’. If the content of your website is stale and out of date the eventually the visitor count will dwindle and you’ll be left wondering what you did wrong. Old news on your site gives the impression that you are a slow moving, passive organisation and that the consumer experience is likely to be the same. Conversely if your site features news about the company’s latest innovation, this season’s new colours or a limited special offer you’ll come across as a company that is doing good things for its customers.

This is by no means a sure-fire checklist of how to build and maintain the perfect site and no doubt some of it is blindingly obvious, but you’d be amazed at just how many commercial sites out there break some or all of these rules.

About the Author

David Robins is a Freelance Graphic Designer with over 12 years experience in the design industry. To find out more about the full range of Graphic Design, Web Design, Logo Design and Brand Development services he can provide, go to www.dlrobins.co.uk

Creatively speaking

Chances are, if you’re not in the business of creative marketing, at least some of it is a mystery to you. You might even be wondering what you’re actually getting for your money…

Essentially, creative people are problem solvers. The problem in question is how to make your product or service stand out from the crowd, how to make it heard above the noise of advertising and branding that we’re all exposed to each and every day. In a crowded marketplace a well thought out approach to branding and marketing your product can be the edge you need to get ahead of your competitors. Get it wrong and you’ll be left in the thick of the crowd or, worse still, out of the running altogether.

All of this needs an in-depth understanding of the marketing industry, how consumers respond to different stimuli and a talent for looking at things differently. If done successfully the results can be spectacular and deliver products to the world in a way that marks them out as iconic. There are those brands which have risen above the throng and stamped their names in history, now synonymous with their respective products; Hoover, iPod and Coke are just a few examples. Whilst those are a rare few amongst countless thousands of products and brands we see and buy every day, the expertise that put those items in the consciousness of the public at large is worth every penny.

About the Author

David Robins is a Freelance Graphic Designer with over 12 years experience in the design industry. To find out more about the full range of Graphic Design, Web Design, Logo Design and Brand Development services he can provide, go to www.dlrobins.co.uk