My friend and fellow Duct Tape Marketing Coach Randy Vaughn of MarketingTwins.com sent me this hilarious video. Well, for those of you who HIRE designers, this might not be so funny, but for those of us that are sometimes asked to deliver on impossible demands, this video definitely struck a nerve.
Graphic Design Process of Designing a Stop Sign
How could this team have produced a better outcome? Here are 5 tips for companies hiring graphic designers and marketing agencies.
1. Begin with the end in mind. What do you want done? Leave the “how” to the professionals. For example, if you say, “I want a big, red blinking box that says STOP” – that’s what you’ll get. But if you want someone to STOP, a graphic designer can often find a less obnoxious, but more effective way to accomplish that same objective.
2. Every partner logo does not need to be on everything.
3. Every perspective does not need to be included. You absolutely CAN get “too many cooks in the kitchen” and end up with nothing but stone soup. (That’s a story from my childhood, where every kid comes in and asks for something to be removed from the soup recipe. “I don’t like carrots.” ”I don’t like onions.” “I’m a vegetarian, no chicken please.”) Pick a voice. Stick with it.
4. Marketing research has its place, but PLEASE apply common sense to your findings. Just because you market to women doesn’t mean you have to make everything PINK.
5. Don’t feel obliged to have all the answers. Give the graphic designer or marketing agency an opportunity to speak up. They are trying their best to please you! But they can’t read minds. And they don’t want to be rude. You may know your company and product better than anyone else on the planet. But you have presumably hired a graphic design or marketing expert, someone who has spent years honing their craft. Usually they are thrilled to tell you why they are making the suggestions they’re making. You just have to ask, then come together as a team to make a collective decision.
If you continue to do what you’ve always done,
you’ll continue to get what you’ve always got.
Any other suggestions for working with a graphic designer or marketing agency?
Publicity photos: please make sure they are less than a year old. I am fairly certain people will notice the 15 year age difference when they meet you face to face.
Tawny Press
August 18th, 2008