Tips for a ­Good Design Brief

In order to get the best out of your designer it is important to supply him or her with a comprehensive Design Brief.  Whilst it is the designer’s responsibility for creating and bringing life to the design, there are certain things that you, the client, can do to ensure the process runs smoothly and produces the best possible artwork.  Who knows, these tips may even save you time and/or money along the way!

The Basic Outline

The basic outline is a brief description of your requirements which should include the following things:

• A brief description of your business.  This gives the designer an idea of what you do.
• What are you trying to achieve?  State the purpose of the design.
• Who are the target/primary audience?
• Keywords describing the desired look and feel if the design (i.e. corporate, modern, trustworthy etc)

Design Specifications

It is essential that correct specifications are provided to the designer at the earliest opportunity.  It is not always straightforward for the designer to alter these retrospectively, and sometimes this will incur additional charges.  Providing the designer with the answer to the following questions:

• Is the design for web, print or both?
• What are the dimensions or size of the design? i.e. A4 or 120mm x 80mm
• What file formats does the final artwork need to be delivered in? (i.e. pdf, jpg, gif etc)

Providing Copy and Images

One of the biggest frustrations for a designer is being provided with very low resolution images by the client – try to provide the best quality images you can.  When submitting copy (or text) for the design make sure this is in a format that the designer can ‘copy and paste’ from (i.e. MS Word) rather than having to type it all out.  This will save the designer time meaning he or she can dedicate more time to the atheistic aspects of the design.

A Simple Sketch

Don’t be afraid to submit a simple hand-drawn sketch with your design brief.  Even if you are not the most artistic of people, a simple sketch of your ideas or design layout will quickly give the designer an insight of your intentions.  If you don’t deal with your designer face-to-face then you can always scan your sketch and email it over.

Examples of Work

Don’t get me wrong, we all want our artwork to be unique, but there is no harm in sending your designer a few examples of relevant work that you like the look of.  This will narrow it right down and give the designer a clear idea of the type of design that you are trying to achieve.  This can really speed up the design process as the initial draft is likely to be on the right track rather than it taking 3 or 4 drafts for the designer to understand your requirements.

If you follow these tips you should be well on your way to receiving a great design!

By Kingsley Thompson
Pocket Money Designs

One of the most important tips for businesses on a budget is targeted marketing.  It will increase your sales, it will save you time and it will save you money.

Take leaflet distribution for an example.  Why waste money printing and time distributing 25,000 leaflets across your city when they may only be relevant to 1 in 100 recipients?  If 1 in 10 of these recipients decide to contact you in response to your leaflet then that equates to 25 leads from 25,000 leaflets.  This is hardly a great hit rate (and these figures could be optimistic!).

Who are your customers?

Firstly you need to ask yourself:  Who are your potential or target customers?  Are they small business owners?  Are they 18-30’s?  Are they parents? (and so on).  It is important that every business knows it target market and where it expects the majority of its business to come from.  The vast majority of your marketing plan should be based around this.

Where do they ‘hang out’? Advertise there!

Once you have decided on your target customers you need to figure out where they ‘hang out’.  If your target customers are parents for example, then the majority of them will attend local schools to drop off or collect their children.  Why not hand out your leaflets there? Or at least pin one to the school notice board.  If your target customers are small business owners, then they often attend networking events and local business forums.  Why not go along and hand out your literature to anyone who may be interested?  Business owners also approach accountants in the early stages.  Could you arrange for some leaflets to go in the accountant’s office?  Think outside the box

The beauty of targeted marketing is just that: It’s targeted.  Instead of printing and distributing 25,000 leaflets to get 25 leads, try distributing 1,000 targeted leaflets, you’ll be surprised at the result…

By Kingsley from Pocket Money Designs

Looking for effective leaflet design?

Pocket Money Marketing is a FREE service offering effective marketing tips and advice for businesses on a tight budget.  Whether you are thinking about starting-up, or you already own a small or growing business, here you will find all you need to help you take your business to the next level.

Be sure to return regularly as there will be input from experts in various fields of marketing such as PR Consultants, Graphic Designers, Website Developers,  SEO Specialists and many more.

Regards,

Pocket Money Marketing

Pocket Money Marketing offers effective marketing tips for businesses on a tight budget.  Be sure to visit regularly as our posts will help you to boost your business to the next level!