The Cost of Good Design: Part 4

To complete our series on the cost of good design the second biggest influencer on both “how much should good design cost” and “who says its good” (after following good systems—both ones you create and ones based on codified design fundamentals) is you.

You must pick a designer that reflects your budget, that you can work with and whom you believe can represent your organization, company or solution most effectively. (see Cost of Design Part 2).

One you have a designer and you begin to work on a project together the onus is now on you to provide information. Designers are not psychics and while everyone has that one perfect story that happened to them (or a friend or a friend of a friend) where the designer used their extrasensory perception and plucked the design magically out of the client’s head the first try, most experiences involve several rounds of interviewing, thoughtful exploration and iterations to perfect your visual message.

You are allowed to hate whatever the designer creates. You are also allowed to love it or be apathetic towards it .You are allowed to feel however you wish to feel regardless of the sound logic or reasoning behind the designer’s choices.

Two things now need to happen almost simultaneously: you need to be able to defend the end product and for many people that involves simply “liking” it regardless of logic while for others they need a few bullet point reasons to “sell” the concept to their shareholders or their boss. You also need to feel like you contributed to the creation of your material—your voice was heard and/or valued and you were not simply talked into or tricked into a concept that does not reflect you/your company/your vision. This second part is closely linked to the sales concept that “no one likes to be sold but everyone likes to buy.”

How do you achieve these two closely linked, almost simultaneous feelings? You communicate to your designer and you do so constructively. Provide feedback. Do not feel like you are “confronting” them or “hurting their feelings.” Holding back and not providing constructive feedback will hurt you in the short term by not achieving what you want and in the long term you may potentially spend a lot more than you expect to “redo” things with different designers.

Like most things in life it pays (and occasionally saves!) to spend time researching not only your potential resource but also fully understanding what your problem is. You might not need a video on your website explaining your process but better placement in international publications for your already written articles that also explain your process. Think first about what you intend to achieve before you jump into a potentially costly endeavor.

Remember these seven, simple steps to increase your chances of creating your ideal design piece AND have a good time doing it:

1.      determine your true need

2.      research potential designers and/or design firms

3.      find a resource that fits your needs

4.      confirm that resource has processes and follows established design principles

5.      agree to pay that resource

6.      communicate with that resource to achieve your final, desired product

7.      pay that resource

Bio:

Colleen Jolly, PPF.APMP, a 12 year proposal veteran, manages a professional visual communications company twice listed on the Inc. 5,000 list of fastest growing US-based companies – 24 Hour Company – with offices in the US and UK. Colleen is very active in the APMP including acting as Secretary for the International APMP as well as of the NCA chapter. She was named an APMP Fellow in 2010 and additionally is Layout Editor for the APMP Journal; regularly contributing articles. She is a frequent worldwide speaker on creative and general business topics, and has spoken at most APMP events around the world. She holds a BA from Georgetown University and is an award-winning artist and businesswoman—most recently featured in Northern Virginia magazine's 'Top 10 Entrepreneurs Under 30'. She is active in leadership roles in arts and women’s non-profit organizations and has been published five times in a women’s entrepreneurial calendar.