Design Process

Proposal

A potential client (lead) hears about us through a friend, family member, or previous client.

Less often, a lead learns about us through marketing via our website and social media. These Leads are weaker. Instead of marketing to everyone, focus on educating leads that come from referrals. Everything written on the blog and posted to Instagram or LinkedIn should speak to the anticipated questions of our strongest leads.*

Lead visits our Instagram page or goes directly to our website.

Most of the time they skip the Instagram and site and either e-mail or call direct.

If they make it to the site first, the goal is for them to fill out form under the “contact” tab. That form saves both the lead and Trischler Design Co. a lot of time. Some potential clients may realize that we’re not a good fit before they finish the form. That’s great! We’re not for everyone. Those who do fill out the form, it forces them to evaluate their needs and expectations, which will save time in future meetings. Win.

After the form is sent, a meeting over the phone or in person is set up. The point of the meeting is to see if there’s chemistry, if there’s a challenge worth solving, and if, as Peter Thiel says, “this is a business (non-profit) that I have enough confidence in that I would consider joining it myself.” Ultimately, as David Perrel, put it, “is it the kind of project you’ll be proud to tell your grand children about?”

Depending on the outcome of the meeting(s), the next step is a proposal (InDesign template). A proposal captures everything from the initial form and meeting including: What does success look like? How are we going to get there? Who are the point people? What are the project deliverables? What is the schedule? How much will it cost? What are the terms of our relationship?

If it takes awhile to get a response from a client, e-mail them weekly and share some form of content related to the project. Previous blog articles or projects are great. Anything to educate the client why we’re their best decision (or, the wrong decision) is helpful.

Once the proposal is accepted it is turned into a contract and sent for a signature via Adobe Sign.

For smaller one-off projects, minimal proposals are sent through Harvest. It’s a lot quicker, but lacks the depth that a larger project requires.

Once there’s a signature, there’s a project. Yay! It’s time to build the framework for the project.

Create client/project on Harvest. Harvest is great for keeping track of a project budget.

Create a folder on Dropbox for the project. They’re usually named by the initials of the client, year, and project name. Example: TDC-19_Website. Inside the folder are three folders. Master, output, and resources. Shout out to Chris Glass for keeping it simple with those three buckets.

Create any needed documents on Dropbox paper (like a project timeline or to do list).

Invoice client (via Harvest) for first payment.

Schedule kick-0ff meeting or messaging and strategy workshop. No more than six people in a meeting. There can be multiple meetings.

Discern what are the best workshop exercises for the client.

Schedule any subsequent meetings if possible.

Request content from client that will be audited or useful during the project.

Let the client know how/when you will communicate. E-mail or phone calls, Monday-Friday. Text is for emergencies or immediate needs (Can you let me in? I’m running late. Where’s your office?)

Begin the project!

*At least that’s what works best at the moment. It’s certainly not true for everyone. A colleague of mine only mostly gains leads through marketing via outstanding website SEO. They also have outstanding educational/sales materials once prospects visit their site.

Messaging

Get to know the client better by browsing their website, social media, and google search results. This is not a deep dive.

Create a workshop timeline (using Numbers template).

Print the workshop worksheets at Fedex Kinkos, and purchase workshop snacks/supplies at Kroger.

The most essential supply for a workshop is the yogurt covered raisins. Clients love these especially when they inevitably hit a way about 3/4s of the way through a workshop. Fizzy water is also a crowd favorite.

Pack everything into a tote bag.

Facilitate the workshop. This usually takes about 4 hours and you will be spent afterward. Make sure the afternoon is lite.

The workshop is a form of participatory design where the clients are asked to respond to several questions about their organization. The purpose of the facilitator is to mine for the group’s gold. It will be raw gold. That’s okay. There’s plenty of time after the workshop to refine and clean things up.

Once complete, photograph worksheets and transcribe them into the workshop results template.

As soon as possible, look at all of the responses from the workshop and try to find patterns and form hypotheses.

If you think you need more information, call the client. Ask more questions. Ask them if you can speak to their customers directly. Do whatever it takes to find authentic sources of information that will help you make better design decisions and uniquely position the client so that they are different than anything else out there.

Feeling good about the content? It’s time to start refining.

Hone in on the first worksheet from the workshop. That’s usually the “Whyare we here?” exercise. Write up several possible “Why are we here?” statements. These are shitty first drafts. Don’t aim for perfection.

Move on to the brand attributes. Write up several possible responses for each of them.

From there, clean up the persona results, add portraits, and continue to look for patterns.

Pause for a day or two and then go back and refine the copy for each exercise.

As you write, always use Onelook’s reverse thesaurus. There’s usually a better word out there.

Once you have completed copy for the three primary exercises, it’s time to brainstorm the Big Idea. Some may call this a positioning statement. It’s three to five words will drive decision making throughout the rest of the project and beyond.

Aim for three big ideas that you’re proud of. If you can only come up with one or two (that you’re proud of), that’s fine.

After you’ve written up the Big Ideas, it’s helpful to find visual examples for each. Some may call these mood boards. They’re simple examples of visual expressions that match the verbal Big Idea.

Now it’s time to create mandates for the project. These mandates are influenced by the Big Idea and any other key information gathered from the workshop. They can be simple like (make sure you create a flag that people can wave and celebrate their pride) or complex like (your target audience is mostly generation Z. Make sure you don’t bore them with too much information).

Present your findings to the client. There will be feedback. Make the changes and submit for final approval before beginning the Identity Phase.

Celebrate the completion of the messaging phase.

Send the second invoice.

Identity

Every project ends were it begins. We begin with standards and end with standards. Our standards for a successful identity are as follows:

Memorable – Is it easy to recall?
Perennial – Is it timeless?
Unique – Does it stand out?
Familiar – Will it speak to your audience?
Clear – Is what you do obvious and understandable?

Logo workshop

With the Big Idea in hand, we then go in search of historic design periods that were driven by a similar ethos. designhishistory.com is a great resource. So is Meggs’ History of Graphic Design.

Then we look at contemporary design to see what trends are current (to avoid) and hunt for timeless contemporary design that is also of a similar ethos.

From there we examine type. What typefaces where created to communicate a similar message as the big idea of the project? There will be multiples. Try to gather a large batch (50 or more to select from).

As you select typefaces, it’s also to consider the spelling of the organizations name. Is it all lower case? Can you abbreviate? What do you do with the numbers? How will it be spelled in text (like an email)?

Then we begin with the trademark. First see if there are any creative solutions within the name using the typefaces. Are there any shapes that appear (FedEx)? Are there equal number of characters for easy stacking? Can you do anything with positive/negative space?

Ideally you will create a logotype trademark where the name and mark are the same form. Again, FedEx is a good example. So are the logos of Paul Rand. It’s easier to share the logo if there are less parts to share and less needed associations. The opposite would be to create an abstract mark that sits near the name of the organization. There’s nothing wrong with this solution, but it’s not as ideal as the former. The benefits of this solution are especially noticable in social media. Abstract icons are often suitable for avatars on social sites like instagram or twitter. Often the name of the account, the name of the organization, is beside the abstract mark (forming an association).

Like the typeface selection, consider multiple solutions, itterations, of the logo. Aim for 50 iteration of at least 3 potential positions. Never present an option that you are not proud of. Always work toward one solution.

Can you form an patterns with the logo or elements in the logo? Are there further elements that could be created that form patterns that can be associated with the organization?

What about photography? Does the client have good photos to choose from? Do they have a photographer on staff or accessible? Do they want to purchase stock? How are the photos styled? This could be a simple setting in lightroom or it could mean massive photoshop editing. It’s important though to remember that every element of your communications should speak the big idea.

Consider icons as well. How do they associate with the big idea and the rest of the design elements?

What does it look like to bring these elements together (with the copy from the messaging process) in context? Mock up a few rough prototypes.

Now that you have the key elements in place, go back to the standards.

Memorable – Is it easy to recall?
Perennial – Is it timeless?
Unique – Does it stand out?
Familiar – Will it speak to your audience?
Clear – Is what you do obvious and understandable?

Don’t present solutions that don’t meet these standards.

Present a first pass (shitty first draft) of each element, including the inspirations. You’re after a temperature check. What does the client respond to? Are we accomplishing the rocks we set out to accomplish? What’s missing or still broken? Always ask the client to compare what they see to the design standards, mandates, and big idea.

Give the client 3 days to give you feedback.

Move forward on iterating toward an final solution based on their feedback.

This is the refinement phase. Time to perfect the prototypes and hone in on the reveal presentation.

Once again, go back to the standards, mandates, and big idea.

Present.

Make any final changes prior to packaging up the assets for delivery.

Build a standards sheet/guide and include all final prototypes and materials. This will be a bar for all future communications. Be sure to include messaging too.

Add to the output dropbox folder and share with client. Conclude phase with a meeting to walk through the assets and talk about next steps.

Celebrate the conclusion of this phase of the project.

Invoice client.