Awesome Briefs

7/29/2019 Awesome Briefs

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a g u i d e o n h o w t o g i v e

a w e s o m e

b r i e f st o g r a p h i c d e s i g n e r s

& o t h e r t o p s e c r e t s


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c n t n t

i n t r o d u c t i o n 3

w h a t t o p u t i n y o u r b r i e f 5

d e a d l i n e s 7

a u d i e n c e / t a r g e t m a r k e t 9

m e s s a g e 1 1

b u d g e t 1 3

b r a n d i n g o n a b u d g e t 1 7

t h e n o t s o s m a l l p r i n t 2 2

h o w t o g i v e f e e d b a c k 2 3

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I n t r d c t i n

Hello, my name is Caroline Duffy and I am a freelance graphic designer and

illustrator. I was inspired to write this little guide because, until recently, I

believed I had experienced my fair share of clients who provide bizarre, esoteric or

even non-existent briefs in my ten years in this job. However, in the last six months

Ive received some of the most ridiculous requests from people who really should

know better so-called marketing experts included. I have a few friends who are

also designers who say that it isnt just me who is left scratching my head at some

of the things clients instruct me to do. And, being the sort of person who believes

that if you dont like something you should do your darndest to change it, I thought

Id come up with a little help for clients existing and potential to enable us all to

work more effectively together and thus live happily ever after.

t h e a n e c d o t e s

A couple of months ago, the marketing executive of famous charitable trust,

headed by a member of the royal family, asked me to create a sample design

for said trust when tendering for some work. She did not provide a logo, brand

guidelines, target market, or desired look and feel. Unfortunately I dont own

a crystal ball, so was unable to scry into her mind for what was needed.

Last year, I received a request to help with a logo and some branding from

the MD of a local company. I questioned him thoroughly about his target

market, niche, the history of the company and the look and feel that he

wanted, then went off to create initial designs. All rejected. This had never

happened before how could I have got it so wrong? I spoke to him again,

asking for more detailed feedback, then created more designs. All rejected

again. It soon became clear that he didnt want any of my original designs

he wanted an exact copy of the branding of one of his competitors. If hed

said that at the start I could have politely declined and walked away without

wasting days of my time on a hiding to nothing.

The essence of a good brief is clear communication of what you want, both for

the look and feel you desire and the technical specications required. This guide

attempts to walk you through the process of creating an excellent brief, and then

when thats done, some tips on how to work with designers to ensure the best

results all round.


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w h o t h i s g u i d e i s f o r

anyone and everyone who might ever have responsibility for brieng a designer,

in short. You might be considering starting up your own business; you might

suddenly be given responsibility for your companys newsletter. Whatever, this

guide will help you communicate your needs to a creative type.

w h a t t h i s g u i d e d o e s

is to break down into sections the things its important to consider before brieng

a designer, so you can give them the best brief possible. The sections start off with

a list of items a brief should include; later sections deal with those items in more

detail youll nd information on target audience, message, budget, and deadline,

along with a list of things to agree with the designer before you proceed and the

best ways to provide feedback. Some of these things may be obvious to you; some

may be irrelevant (for example, if your company already has a comprehensive

branding guideline), but be assured they are in this guide because someone

somewhere has got it completely wrong and it has caused problems for me or my

colleagues.

Another essential little section Ive added isBranding on a Budget hints and tips

to get the most bang for your buck when youre starting off and cash-ow is limited.

Its not strictly related to brieng, but some of these shortcuts mentioned at the

start to a designer could save the both of you time and money.

f e e d b a c k

Id love to hear feedback from other designers and non-designers alike. If there are

any glaring omissions here, please feel free to mention, so I can update this guide

and make it as comprehensive as possible. Email me at [email protected].

I will of course credit any suggestions used!

r e c o m m e n d e d r e a d i n g

If your job, or a large part of it, is to work with designers, I heartily recommend

investing in the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook of Pricing & Ethical Guidelines. It

does an awful lot more than it says on the tin.


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W h a t t t i n r b r i f

w h a t y o u w a n t

12 page newsletter, logo device and full brand guidelines, 40 page quarterly beauty

magazine, 800 page website about ponies, etc. Self-explanatory, really.

d e a d l i n e

When the artwork has to be signed off (approved for print), when the website has to

go live, when the publications have to be delivered. If the project is a large one, you

may wish to give deadlines for the completion of various phases.

t e c h n i c a l s p e c s

For a brochure what size? How many pages? How much copy per page? How many

images? Whos providing the images (you or them)? How many colours? What kind

of printing (digital or lithographic this affects the design)? What kind of stock

(paper)? What kind of binding (saddlestitched, perfect-bound, wirobound)? If you

want the designer to get print quotes for you therell be other info theyll ask you for.

For a website how many pages? E-commerce? CMS (content management system)?

What kind of server do you have? Etc. If this sounds like gobbledegook, ask the

designer/web developer what info they need from you & how to get hold of it.

b r a n d g u i d e l i n e s

Give your designer a copy of your brand guidelines, if you have them. If not, tell them:

WHo you ARe:

Brief history, aims of your organisation.

TARgeT mARkeT/AuDIeNCe

Who youre trying to reach. More on this, later.

messAge

What youre trying to communicate. More on this, too.

NICHe/CompeTITIoN

A few words about how you differentiate yourself from the herd.

m e d i u m ( s )

If there are several things you need for one project (eg a printed brochure, an

e-commerce website/brochure and a series of adverts) list them here. A designer


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may be able to price a bundle of items more competitively then s/he would the

individualy.

b u d g e t

...if you have one and are prepared to release that information

y o u r c o n t a c t i n f o r m a t i o n

...obviously!


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D a d l i n

This is less of a problem than I always imagine it should be, however issues often

crop up, particularly around printing. A printer friend once told me of a client he

had who expected her brochures to be delivered the day after shed signed off the

designers les, and became very unreasonable (ie. shouty) when told that this

wouldnt be the case. In the end he had to take her on a tour around his print

factory to show her the various processes pre-press, platemaking, printing,

drying, folding, binding, trimming, packing etc. Sufce it to say that she left the

factory feeling a little foolish.

If you have to have something produced for a certain deadline, dont assume ask

the designer and printer how long each of their parts of the process will take, and

mention your deadline at the very start of the brieng process. If your job is a

rush one, the designer or printer might be too busy to handle it. Depending on the

project and time of year, I tend to allow one to three weeks for printing, but have

known of bespoke box production to take six weeks before Christmas. I always

check production times with the printer before conrming with the client, and will

inform the client of the latest day we can go to press to meet our deadline.

d e s i g n t i m e s

...are something else, and Im inclined to say theyre as

long as a piece of string. A lot depends on the attitude

of the client. Ive turned logos around in two or three

days with a switched-on, communicative client. Other

logos drag for months. I have clients I know so well

I can design something for them and theyll love it

straight away (naturally I charge these people less as

working with them is such a quick and easy affair). I

can design a 40-page magazine in seven days because

I know exactly how it should look. If I were to design a

new 40-page magazine from scratch with a new client,

it might take a month of to-ing and fro-ing to get the

rst one perfect. Websites can be turned around in a

couple of days, or take weeks on end. I tend to estimate

more time than is needed for new clients as were

unknown quantities to each other, to allow for amends

and revisions without missing deadlines; the client

is then often delighted when were nished with plenty of time to spare. When

estimating timescales Ill take into account how switched on and decisive I feel the

If you have to

have something

produced for a

certain deadline,

dont assume ask

the designer and

printer how long

each of their partsof the process will

take, and mention

your deadline

at the very start

of the brieng

process.


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client is, how many people need to oversee the design, etc. It changes for every job.

You get my point, right? Check likely production times from the start.

w h a t y o u c a n d o

You can speed up the process by ensuring that the copy you provide is nal,

proof-read and in digital format (ie Word), and that all images are present

and youve checked with the designer that theyre good enough quality. Be

quick with amends and detailed with criticism (see page 23). Try to organise

it so that as few people in your company as possible are involved with proong

process it delays the project and youll nd that the old saying that a camel

is a horse designed by committee is a true one. Make sure that anyone who

denitely needs to approve the les is present and not sunning themselves in

the Maldives or some such.

An experienced designer will work plenty of fat into the schedule to allow for

amends, etc. And, as Ive pointed out, the better your designer gets to know you,

the faster theyll be able to come up with the goods.

c h r i s t m a s

is a law unto itself. If you want something

printed for the festive period, plan to print

in October. Seriously. The world and

his dog want things done for Yule,

so it pays to get ahead of the game.

Although it can seem depressing to be

planning Christmas brochures in July

(which is when the big companies Ive

worked for do it yes, really) youll be

grateful for your foresight when every

printer in Europe is blocked up from

mid-November.


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A d i n c / T a r t a r t

w h o a r e t h e y ?

Who are the people you are trying to reach? If you havent done this before, its very

useful to spend some time thinking about this in detail. All the great brands do

this. To communicate with someone effectively, you have to tailor your message to

them, therefore you must know them. How wealthy are they? How educated? What

gender? How old? What are their political afliations? Whats their attitude to

life? What car do they drive? What car would they LIKE to drive? What are their

hobbies? Form a very specic idea in your mind of the exact person you are trying

to reach.

Now, examine the way other brands have targeted

themselves at a market. Cosmopolitan and Thats

Life are both magazines aimed at women, but how

do they communicate their differences? Mercedes

Benz and Ford both sell cars, but their markets are

different. Furthermore, Mercedes, BMW and Audi sell

competing models of car, but sell themselves as subtly

different. They all speak, consciously or subconsciously, to different types of person,

and a person who chooses one of these brands over another usually does so in order

that ownership of the car will say something to others about who they are. The

same goes for your product or service. In what obvious or subtle ways do you differ

from your competitors? Who would someone buy your product or service? What

would buying from you tell that person about themselves, or tell others?

Sometimes this exercise can seem difcult. We dont want to narrow our focus too

much and lose potential customers or our current range of customers is pretty broad

and were unable to narrow that down. To the rst problem, Id say that vagueness

is not really a selling point, and to the second related query, Id say that, with a bit of

creative thought, you will nd some link, some common factor between your current

clients. You may nd that its just that they appreciate the way that you work.

In my case, Ive worked for all sorts of clients, from FTSE 100 companies to brand

new shiny start-ups, including a museum and a soap manufacturer, a life coach

and a scientic publisher, a shamanic practitioner and a TV production company.

What do they have in common? Nothing apart from they like the way I work.

They say I am intuitive, easy-going and theyre condent that Ill always come up

with exactly what they need. So what I do is sell the way I work and my target

audience is the kind of people who like a designer who uses instinct and intuition

Vagueness aroundtarget market is

not a very good

selling point


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as much as logic and reason (apologies for the self-bigging up here, but really, did

you expect such an awesome little guide like this to come without even a wee mote

of advertising?).

You might be a plumber who services the boilers of the poor and installs the ensuite

wetrooms of the wealthy. You might take pride in the quality and timeliness of your

work. Your audience may well be people who are sick of cowboys who dont turn up

or rip them off, and want a prompt, reliable, honest technician. Its really up to how

you shape your audience just make sure youre comfortable with it, its realistic,

and you know you can deliver.

Ask others for their input partners, friends etc.

Outside opinions can be interesting.

Look at how your competitors dene their

audience. How is yours different? What information

can you give your designer about the big difference

you want to highlight?

Try to deconstruct the way big corporations

communicate to an audience. Pay attention to

adverts, marketing materials and in-store displays.

Notice tone of voice, colours, typefaces, imagery,

etc. Who are they trying to reach?


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m a

So youve decided that your target audience is a Porsche-driving degree-educated

mother of two whose hobbies include skiing and dressage.What are you going to

say to her?

The messages Im talking about here might be explicit or implicit. Mention both in

your brief. The explicit message might be that you sell chandeliers, or maybe that

you sell chandeliers and you have a sale on. The implicit message the one you want

to say about yourself, perhaps is that you are an exclusive, long-established

specialist in the nest bespoke lead-crystal chandeliers who sells to only the

most discerning customers. After all, one can purchase chandeliers at B&Q, no?

The implicit message can seem to be a bit of a nebulous concept. Its rooted in

right-brain feeling and emotion. The right style and tone will push the important

buttons in your clients head, making them more receptive to your message. If this

sounds horribly manipulative, well, maybe think of it another way. There are subtle

messages we have all learned to read from a young age certain codes, if you like.

Take a look in a large newsagents all the bridal magazines will look roughly

the same (pinks, silvers, white, script fonts), all the childrens comics too (bright,

primary colours and simple typefaces), and the gossip magazines (shocking red,

shouty headlines). When we go into our newsagent looking for a particular kind of

magazine, we disregard the designs of the different genres. Think of it as a visual

shorthand. Therefore, if you want your establishment to appear exclusive, there are

certain codes the designer will use to give that impression. Ive been designing CIO

Connect magazine (a quarterly publication for top IT executives) for seven years I

design it to feel fresh, informative, authoritative and precise. I d design a surng

magazine in a completely different way. See?

h e l p !

If youre struggling to come up with the implicit message, meditate on the following

exercises:

How do you want your customers to feel about your business? What words would

you want them to use to describe you, and the experience of working with you?

Perhaps some of the following: innovative, reliable, exclusive, everyday, cheap,

conservative, passionate, therapeutic, efcient, hard-working, quirky, egalitarian,

prompt, creative, professional, edgy, fun, consistent, serious, capable, experienced,

helpful, relaxing

Think of other businesses that communicate the same message about themselves

that you want to say. They dont have to be in the same industry as you. For


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example, I was briefed by the MD of the UKs largest bathroom retailer that

he wanted the new catalogue I was to design for them to be like Ford Motor

Companys a bit aspirational but not out of reach of the common man. If youre a

hairdresser, you may see interior decorators selling the same exclusive & bespoke

femininity that you want to sell.A mechanic might want to replicate the reliable

value-for-money experience IKEA provides. NB this doesnt mean that the

mechanic would brief the designer to copy IKEAs branding just to tell the same

story about the brand. There are many ways to skin a cat!

Get other people friends, colleagues & family

to describe your company its values & their

expectations of it. Flick through the Yellow Pages

& look at how various adverts make you feel

about that company. Do the same for magazines,

newspapers and any consumer product. Develop

your visual literacy!


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B d t

Hi, I was wondering how much it would cost for you to design us a band logo and

CD cover. We got quoted 50 quid for this from another bloke. Dont worry if you dont

have the time or deal with bigger clients we wont be offended LOL.

LOL indeed. Sometimes I dont know whether to laugh or cry when Im presented

with requests for quotes from clients who have totally unrealistic pricing

expectations. One wonders at the sanity of the other bloke. This would-be client and

rock-star has found someone who will do what I reckon is at least two and probably

four days work for 50, equivalent to at most 3.13 an hour, and hes asking me to

do it cheaper. ROFLMAO, as they say.

Some people seem to think youre a rip-off merchant when you give them a price

which is much higher than they imagined. After all, Im just charging for my

time, right? Never mind the 4,000 Ive just spent updating my computer, display

and software, never mind the knowledge, talent and experience Ive accrued over

the years, never mind the fact that hes just asked me to solve a complex visual

problem for half minimum wage or the fact I have a mortgage to pay and starving

cats to feed as far as they see it, by asking for 500 for a logo instead of 50,

Im taking their dreams away from them and theyre angry. To be honest, its ne,

because I have no desire to work with someone who cannot see the implicit value

in what I do. It does leave me saddened and defensive, though, and Id rather avoid

the situation if at all possible. Thus, Ive started to put some prices on my website

www.carolineduffy.co.uk, to give people a rough idea of what I charge. From

what I can see this seems to be fairly rare among graphic designers and agencies,

and I guess it leaves me open to undercutting or whatever, however Ive come to the

conclusion that my prices are fair, reasonable and value for money, and also that

the wise person knows that you get what you pay for. There is no way I could do my

best work on a logo for 50, and I never want to do less than my best, right?

The above little rant attempts to illustrate that many clients new to commissioning

design are a little lost when knowing what to expect to pay. For tips on how to get

the best out of whatever budget you have to hand, go toBranding on a Budget on

page 17. Read on to work out what you need to do, who you need to talk to and the

questions you need to ask to formulate a realistic budget

h o w t o w o r k o u t h o w m u c h m o n e y y o u n e e d

Firstly, most if not all designers quote based on how much time a project

will take, whether they quote hourly, page or per-project rates. A logo will take me


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on average X hours, so I will quote Y money. Ive heard of hourly rates of between

15 (are you mad?) and 100 (just wow) but I believe that for freelancers, 40-50

is about average; more for agencies with their higher overheads.

Designers present their prices in different ways (sorry) so youll need to

do all you can to make sure youre comparing like with like. For example, I quote

a xed price (usually by project or by page) for all work, and that price includes all

reasonable amendments. Another designer might charge a different xed price, but

charge you by the hour for every amendment you make. Check this, as it can really

make a difference to your budget

Bear in mind that unlike, say, plumbers (I imagine), not all of the time a

designer will charge for is when they actually appear to be doing stuffon

their mac for you. A good proportion will be thinking time. Its a rare thing to bash

out the perfect logo in an hour.

Break your project down into constituent parts. If youre after a brochure,

for example, think about

design costs

expenses incurred by the designer (couriers, travel?)

copywriting

photography and/or illustration

proofreading

printing, including proong and amendments

distribution

Get prices for all parts like a building project, get three quotes for everything and

then go with the people you like the best. You may want to write and proof-read the

copy yourself, however if youre unsure of the difference between lose and loose, or

when to use an apostrophe, for the love of God get your copy read by a grammar

nazi such as myself. (Youll all be checking this guide for typos now, right?)

Be as specic as possible when asking for quotes. A printer will need to

know dimensions, number of pages (a page, to printers and designers, is one side of

one leaf of paper, so a four page A4 document will consist of one sheet of A3 printed

both sides and folded in half to A4), type of binding, type of stock (paper), how it

will be printed (digital or lithographic), how many inks, where it will be delivered

and by what date. There are so many variables its hard to give an exhaustive list.

If youre feeling out of your depth try asking a designer or an independent print

consultant for advice I recommend David Richards www.davidrichardsukltd.

com as he is brilliant. Brief your designer about who will be responsible for

sourcing photography and illustrations if you need stock photography bought

or original photos commissioned let them know. Dont assume its included in the

price. A designer will add a handling charge to purchasing stock photography to

cover their time searching for it.


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If you need a specic typeface to be used, mention it the designer may need to

buy it and add this to the cost.

q u o t e s

There are different ways of quoting for a project, so request the way that suits you

best.

HouRLy

pros you dont pay any more than exactly the time

the designer took

cons you have no idea what the nal bill will be.

You could set a threshold (eg. I dont want to pay more

than 700) and ask the designer to let you know when

youre reaching your limit.

DAILy

pros and cons the same as above. Used for larger

projects.

peR pAge

I charge per page for magazine and most brochure work often the pagination

changes between commission and printing, so this way I get paid for every page I

design and the client pages only for what they get. The obvious exception to this is

if I design a page which the editor later drops of course I charge for work done.

This rate is very fair everyone knows where they stand. All pros here, no cons.

NB therell always be some concept design money added to the per-page

rate (where the designer has spent time coming up with the style of the document

prior to laying out the pages to t that style), so a four-page document will have

a higher per-page rate than an equivalent sixty-page one. If you want to really

get down to brass tacks, ask the designer to quote for a concept design fee

which is separate from the page rate. That way if your four page doc becomes a

forty page one you wont be stuck with an expensive rate.

peR pRoJeCT

pros As long as the client makes no amends to the quoted spec, they know

exactly what the design will cost them. Plus theres no temptation for the designer

to dawdle and drag the project out to get more money, as there might be when

working by the hour or the day.

cons if the project takes less or more time than anticipated, the client or the

For both of these,

dont be afraid to ask

for timesheets to be

completed from the

outset


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designer loses out. My experience is that when

working with clients over time these things even out.

And Ive been doing this long enough to be able to

judge pretty well how long most jobs take.

r u s h w o r k

Need something in a hurry? Want your designer to

drop everything and work from dusk until dawn on

your project? Budget for an extra 50 to 125%.

t e r m s o f p a y m e n t

Get all detailed quotes in writing, and know when youll be expected to pay,

and how much. For example, for all new clients I usually ask for 50% up front

(depending on the project) and then 50% on supply of artwork. Existing clients get

invoiced upon supply of artwork and get 30 days credit.

e X t r a t i p f o r t h e b r a v e

If you have a xed amount of money, you could pass this info on to the designer and

ask their advice. For example, a client told me recently that she had 1000 to spend

to improve the look and feel of her brand. I was able to give her several different

bundles of options, all of which were discounted as compared with what I would

have quoted for each service individually. Obviously this method requires a bit of

trust, but your designer may well come up with excellent options which you hadnt

thought of.

As mentioned

before, check whether

amendments and

corrections are included

in your xed fee


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B R A N D I N g o N A B u D g e T

In which I pass on my best advice for business newbies on getting the most bang-

per-buck for your brand, while hopefully not doing myself out of a job.

Youll do well to consider your brand in its entirety right from the start, to ensure

a professional and trusted image. You can pay thousands for a comprehensive

branding ID, and of course, getting a designer to do the lot will lead to guaranteed

awesomeness. But not everyone has that much cash to start off with. Get some

quotes, and if you nd them scary, heed these hints and tips for cutting corners.

t h i n g s y o u n e e d

LOGO

WEBSITE

t h i n g s y o u m a y n e e d

BUSINESS CARDS

STATIONERY (letterheads & compliment slips)

VAN/SIGN GRAPHICS

TWITTER BACKGROUND

BROCHURE/FLYER

First things rst, work out what you can afford. Then get a logo. I recommend

getting this done professionally, because it is your business described visually and

is vital to get right. You may have a strong idea of how you want it to look. Discuss

this with your designer if s/he thinks it will work, s/he may well discount the logo

price because therell be less conceptual work involved. Do take advice on this and

get second opinions if needed. The last thing our beleaguered planet needs is

more ugly design.

When you agree a price for your logo, make sure the graphic designer will do the

following to save you time and money later on:

1) provide the logo in a vector format with fonts converted to outlines ,

so that it can be blown up to whatever size you need and the text always looks the

same. Also you wont run into any problems with font licences etc. Also ask for a

JPEG to be used in Word documents and on the web.

2) provide the logo in a) monochrome and b) reverse-out options (so that

your logo will work in a) black and white and b) can be used white on a black or

coloured background.

3) provide you with one or two brand colours (usually colours from the logo)


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in both RGB (web) and CMYK (print) colourspaces to ensure consistency

4) suggest a couple of suitable commonly-available typefaces to use a

header one and a body one, eg. Helvetica black for the header and Garamond Book

for body text, again for consistency.

What youll then have is a denitive set of logos, colours and typefaces. Use only

these and use them consistently for a clean, professional look. This little guide uses

two typefaces (bar the hideous anomaly a few lines down) Century Schoolbook

(roman, bold and oblique) for the body text, and ITC Avant gard for headers. It

uses two colours black and red. Texture and interest is added using the cardboard

and scribbly tips and underlining of chapter heads. Simple, see?

i n g e n e r a l c o l o u r s a n d t y p e f a c e s , e t c

DO NOT use Comic Sans. If I nd that any one of you has used Comic Sans I will

hunt you down and set my cat on you (be afraid she has many hidden sharp

points). Visit this website www.comicsanscriminal.com if you need to know

why this must be so. In short, unless you are a childrens clown, the typeface is

unprofessional and ugly, and if you are a childrens clown, there are much better

friendly typefaces to use.

Use only the colours and typefaces recommended by your designer. You can pass

them on to sign makers, advertisers etc in order to maintain brand coherence.

Overall, if you have to do anything yourself, make sure you keep it clean and

simple. Pay attention to the quality of paper you print on this can affect a lot of

the perceived value. Ensure that everything you produce has the same look and feel

uniform colours, typefaces and logo positions. If in doubt, ask your designer.

w e b s i t e

First, go to www.freeparking.co.uk and buy your domain name (your domain

name is the address you want your website to be mine is carolineduffy.co.uk)

before anyone else does. No technical knowledge is needed for this, and itll

probably cost you around 10 for two years ownership. You dont have to do

anything with it just buy it so its yours.

Then go to www.wordpress.com and have an explore. Here you can set up your

own website and/or blog, using one of thousands of different professionally-designed

themes. You need no coding or design experience to do this, and its FREE. Ive

designed illustrative headers for clients so that their Wordpress website looks a bit

more unique, without them paying for a full site design. Your domain name will be


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yourdomain.wordpress.com. Choose a theme based on the layout and colours that suit

your brand best. If youre that way inclined and want to learn a little bit of CSS coding

(I recommend CSS: The Missing Manual by David Sawyer McFarland) you can alter

colours and typefaces easily and change headers, logos etc. Then, when your business

has skyrocketed and youre sitting on a pile of cash, you can get a designer to create

you something from scratch, using the domain name you bought right at the start.

b u s i n e s s c a r d s

It used to be a rule of thumb that the fewer colours (inks) you used on your cards

& stationery, the cheaper the printing would be. With the rise of low-volume digital

printing, this rule has become obsolete, so you can make your cards as colourful as

you like (but remember the general less-is-more rule, right?)

There are many online printing sites that will print cards for next to nothing. Use

them, but if you can afford to, get the designer who created your logo to design

these, too. The pre-designed templates a lot of these online places provide often

look a bit generic, and by using your own design youre strengthening your brands

consistency from the start. And when you can afford to gold foil-block business

cards out of 450gsm ivory Conqueror, the change wont be too shocking.

If you have more than one person in your business

who needs business cards, make sure you get

everyones done at the same time. This will save a lot

of money.

Generally, the more you print of anything, the

cheaper the unit cost. The set-up costs can be the

largest proportion of the print quote, and Ive seen

print quotes where a quantity of 1,000 is only 5 more

than one of 500. So print as many as you think you

could ever possibly need.

s t a t i o n e r y

As per business cards, if

youre going to get them

printed, you can get this

done cheaply online; also,

print everything at the

same time on the same

paper.

Ive designed templates in Word for clients so that

they can print professionally-designed stationery on

their ofce printer, as and when they need it. This

could save you hundreds of pounds.


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v a n / s i g n g r a p h i c s

Just a little reminder to tell your designer to create a vector le of your logo. Raster

les (like photos) are made of pixels and will blur and distort when blown up to a

massive size. Vector les are actually made of mathematical equations and retain

their handsome looks even when applied to the side of a lorry. Typical vector le

extensions are (most commonly) EPS (encapsulated post script), but also AI (Adobe

Illustrator) and PDF (portable document format). If you only have a JPG (a kind of

raster le) of your logo youre going to have to pay for it to be re-drawn, which is a

massive waste of money. Ive heard of designers who will only supply logo designs as

JPGs check this from the start and avoid these cowboys like the plague.

Im tempted to stamp my foot and insist that you get van and sign graphics done

professionally, as its so important they look right. Get a quote from your usual

designer, but also get one from the people wholl create the sign or van decal for

you, who may be able to create something simple for not much money.

t w i t t e r . c o m

...is a free and brilliant way to promote your business get on it! You might think

it is a waste of time, but I and some of my clients have won hundreds of pounds

worth of work by getting involved, so its worth trying it out. Follow people in your

line of work to nd out how they use Twitter; look

at those who have a lot of followers and try to work

out what theyre doing that attracts people. I tweet

in both a personal and professional capacity as @

duffyc (I tend to nd professional-only tweeters a bit

cold) as a big part of what I offer is who I am and the

way I work. Im still feeling my way around, but my

main tips would be keep it positive, NEVER moan

ESPECIALLY about clients (whinging is a real turn-

off full-stop; whinging about people who pay you is

beyond idiotic, but I have seen it happen). I unfollow

whingers immediately (in real life, too!). Use Twitter to drive trafc to your site

I post almost every job I do onto my blog and then post my blog onto Twitter, so

curious followers can click through and see the kind of stuff I do, and from there

get to my website. Customers tweet about me and recommend me to other people.

Tis bloody brilliant.

Consider a good quality photo of you as your avatar. Logos are boring and inhuman

in this context Twitter is a SOCIAL medium. I want to know what you look like!

I and some of

my clients have

won hundreds of

pounds worth of

work by getting

involved

in Twitter


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As regards your customisable Twitter background, the simplest way to promote your

brand is to have your logo non-tiling in the top left-hand corner (the tiling option

means your logo will be repeated across the screen and top-to-bottom, like bathroom

tiles, yes?), and make sure that the colour you choose Twitter to use as your

background colour exactly matches that of your logos background. You can tile an

image (I often choose a favourite recent illustration of mine) or tile a series of images

by using photo-editing software to create a square full of smaller squares of different

images. See @beamazingtodays twitter page for an example of this that I created.

b r o c h u r e s / f l y e r s / c a t a l o g u e s

ALWAYS get these professionally designed and printed. For one, its unlikely youll

have the software to produce print-ready les, and on the off-chance you do nd a

printer who will accept PDFs made from Word, its likely theyll charge you extra

for having to faff around with them. If youve had a good price from your printer

to design your brochure, check their previous work to make sure it isnt ghastly.

And, be aware, photo-copies are for school ftes and jumble sales. They arent

professional, and if you want customers to trust and buy from you, this is one area

on which you really mustnt scrimp.


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T h n t - - a l l r i n t

In which I list things you might want to check out before you agree to proceed with

a designer:

q u o t e

how long is it valid for?

how many initial concepts are to be created?

are amends are included; if so what kind and to what extent?

is the designer VAT registered?

What the kill fees* are?

Who will own the copyright for the nal design?

What kind of expenses might be incurred by the designer (travel, couriers,

typeface purchase, etc)?

Who is responsible for purchasing photography/illustration?

What the payment terms are?

s a m p l e s

Know that, according to the rules of yore, your designer is entitled to ve printed

samples of anything they design. In practice Ive not always insisted on this but

do check.

p r o o f & p r e s s a p p r o v a l

It is ALWAYS the clients responsibility to give press approval. If you provide

amendments to the designer, it is your responsibility to check they have been made

correctly. If you sign off nal les to go to print, you are deemed to have carefully

proof-read and approved them and are 100% happy with the job.

*kill fees are fees charged by the designer should the client decide to cancel the

project before completion.


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H w t i v f d b a c

And nally, a few paragraphs on how to say if you dont like something:

We creative types have a reputation for being temperamental. I dont know

whether thats true, but I know that, as a professional, I want nothing more than to

leave my clients happy and fullled (and then for them to pay my invoices on time).

There is no point in me producing work that I like: if the client hates it,

Ive failed. Simple as that. What can get a bit frustrating, though, is when the

client is uncommunicative. Sometimes getting useful feedback on your work is a bit

like squeezing blood from a stone.

With this in mind, Ill say that there is a right way and a wrong way to tell a

designer youre unhappy with what theyve done for you:

WRONG: I dont like it. Can you do it again?

RIGHT: I dont like it. Its a little too feminine Im really not a fan of pink. I

wonder if Comic Sans is actually the most appropriate typeface for an accounting

rm? Wed like our brand to have the same feel as, say, Mercedes Benz. Can you do

it again?

Also, if there are bits you do like, let the designer know about them, and why you

like them. It really helps us get into your lovely clienty heads.

BE SPECIFIC. IT DOESNT HURT (really).


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