This is a question uttered by many of those who have at some time invested in a new brochure, website or maybe a logo. “I can do that myself” – and why not, you are entitled to do so, you have Microsoft Word, you know what looks good… right?
It is very easy to dismiss the creative craft as ‘fluffy’ and assume that any individual with a design program and an ounce of creativity merits the title ‘designer’. But perhaps the role of a designer needs to be considered a little deeper. Let’s start with when you need a designer: simply stated this is whenever a corporate asset is audience-facing. In the case of your website or company intranet, not only does design consider the creative elements like colours and logos, but it is also responsible for usability and accessibility. Usability because there is no sense in investing thousands of pounds in integrated state of the art online technologies if the user doesn’t know where to log in. Accessibility; not just about considering the blind using a website, this is also about people who are dyslexic requiring text to be laid out in a logical way, or those accessing your site through a mobile phone. These are all users, all must be considered. A designer is there to think about these people, and knows how to talk to them.
“Can I use anyone who calls themselves a designer?” Well that is entirely up to you. You may know a chap around the corner working from his bedroom who says he can do it for a song, but… if he was any good surely he would be working in a studio? It is important to feel confident that you are getting what is best for you and your business, and that it is being represented in a way that best reflects your service. Good design can enable your business to operate on many levels. Don’t let a poor design be the deciding factor in someone placing their business elsewhere.
Getting a designer with the right attributes to take your business forward is paramount; as I have said it is not just about the ‘fluffy’, although that is a large part of it, but also requires experience and understanding of what has come before. Deciding to include or exclude/avoid certain elements on this basis is critical to the success of a design and its impact with the target audience.
So simply taking a brief and deploying based solely on the requirements without considering historical elements can lead to ineffectual design. On the flip side of this, consideration/incorporation of what has come before can lead to a more successful result. An example of this is the 2008 Obama election campaign, which drew considerable inspiration from the Kennedy Campaign and the iconic imagery of Dr King Jr. This influences the target audience, promoting an emotional response and trust in something /someone they know little about, largely by association. This is no mistake, the designer with his understanding of design and historical knowledge was able to use it to great effect: experience can give you something a little more.
Understanding how to overcome challenges is another thing that comes with experience. These may be challenges faced many times before, but finding a fresh approach to a solution is what adds value. An example of this can be found in the TaylorMade Center of Excellence site; this is a professional fitting service offered to TaylorMade customers, their site needed to be an engaging brand supported flagship for the service and act as a transaction booking facility. The solution to this was developing a flash site that worked as an online brochure and information source, with frequent calls to action to a simple calendar based booking system. The culmination of which has surpassed revenue expectations in the first year.
Getting it right first time. Now this is something every designer strives towards, and the longer you have been a designer the better you become at taking a brief and ensuring you have all the elements you need to produce the goods at the first attempt. Experiencing the feeling of utter rejection when a client throws the best part of two weeks’ work to the floor and tells you, “I don’t like it but I am not sure why” gives you even more incentive to get it right. This is, however, all part of being a good designer; if you don’t fall, you can’t learn how to pick yourself up.
Ultimately, fifteen odd years’ training and learning and a team’s collaborative experience of working with some of the most difficult… sorry… selective clients gives good designers an understanding of what works and what doesn’t. Design is still very much a collaborative effort between the client and the creative; it needs to be based on trust and belief. When this works the results can be… more than you expected.
design/ creative
