Caroline, the Flourish Studio Manager and I had a fabulously productive Friday afternoon brainstorming session with super-stylish social photographer Matt Pereira. Alongside large slices of homemade mocha cake, Matt’s trademark heart cookies and plenty of cups of tea we managed to make a lot of progress on the Matt Pereira Baby and Family brands.
There’s a lot of love for the work we’ve been doing on Matt’s Wedding photography brand but as resident photographer on Baby Surrey magazine it was time to pick up the pace with the family and baby brands (as well as working out just how they all fit together).
Step one was to define exactly what impression we wanted to create with each brand. We selected three keywords for each (baby: innocent, natural, uninhibited; family: fun, connection, energy) which guided us throughout the session.
We then got to work cutting. We’d all brought in inspirational books, magazines, paper and fabric swatches and ribbons. We also had our Pantone books in the office for colour planning. At this point we weren’t editing too heavily: just cutting images, objects and words that represented each brand best.
Step Three was the debate. Editing out choices down into a cohesive look and feel. Thankfully it didn’t get too heated! You can see the full cut on the left – baby to the foreground, family at the back. We pretty much took every image and discussed how it fitted with the brand keywords. Those that fitted got to stay, those that didn’t were binned.
What the finished result gave us was a really clear picture of how we’d like the finished collateral to look and feel. It’s not a template for design, more a spark for creativity and inspiration.
And here’s the finished baby board, complete with colour swatches. The colours most certainly took the longest as once we’ve found the right summer colours we then needed to make sure that they all worked together. I think Matt was a little surprised at quite how long we spend perfecting a particular hue of purple!
Our final step, once we’d completed each mood board, was to come up with a wish list of collateral, finishes, textures and ideas to promote each brand. Of course not all will be implemented straight away, but at least we have some clear direction for the year ahead.
And here’s the finished family mood board (complete with a family you right recognise bottom left!).
I know Caroline and I found the session invaluable in short-cutting and enriching the process of building a visual identity for Matt’s baby and family brands. Of course there’s a lot more work to do: we now need to start artworking the logos, brochure and websites. But importantly, both the Creative Directors and client are in agreement about the overall direction of the brand, and we both have an incredibly clear understanding of where we want to take the image.
in About us, Branding, Briefs, Case Studies, Graphic Design, In The Studio This Week, Logo Design, Mood Boards
I was talking to a potential client today who (not for the first time this week – I’ve had many similar conversations with other business owners) is tearing her hair out because she’s had a new website designed that she knows isn’t quite hitting the mark, but she can’t quite put her finger on why.
After a brief conversation we identified the issues: insipid stock photography, clunky use of fonts and a less than inspiring layout.
“To be fair to the designer” she said “I wasn’t really quite sure what I was looking for, so I probably haven’t given him a very good brief”
“That’s not your job!” I wanted to scream!
This poor, poor lady was beating herself up because she’d failed to choose the right stock photos, failed to tell her designer exactly what she wanted; and as a result, the design produced was less than impressive.
Your job as a client is to give your designer the answers to the questions he asks you. I sincerely believe it’s not your job to tell him what you want and where and just get him to “construct” your vision. If you do that you’ll get back, at best, what you wanted. You probably won’t get what your business needs.
So what do you really need?
When I meet with a client on any project we don’t discuss colours, fonts or layouts. I ask the client about her objectives, her business and her clients. We talk about her goals for this piece of marketing literature and we get to grips with the messages she wants to communicate. We might also talk about her brand identity (if she has one) and we’ll certainly talk about the impression she wants the piece to create.
At no point do I expect the client to tell me how she wants the piece of design to look. And I actively discourage any client from creating a mockup!
What’s the point? You work with a creative, insightful and intuitive designer to add value to your business. You shouldn’t be expected to provide a steer on the design – that’s what you’re paying us for! Sure you need to give a decent brief – but it’s down to the designer (or Account Manager in my company) to ask insightful questions and draw the right information out of you!
You know what results your business needs. And if you can relay that information to a graphic designer you trust, they will be able to provide you with the collateral you need to achieve that result.
Now I appreciate that this level of design doesn’t come cheap. But it’s worth investing in for peace of mind, the value it’ll add to your business and the fact that you can get on with doing what you do best and leave the design to the experts.
So next time you brief a designer, listen carefully to the questions they ask you. Do they reassure you that they really understand you? Really care about the result you’re looking for this piece? Or are they just trying to please you by giving you what you want?
in Briefs, Graphic Design
