THE MAGIC IS IN THE
process.
Crafting brands with a strong story & making your audience fall in love your message.
Crystal balls?
Hocus-pocus?
Smoke and mirrors?
The design process might feel a tad magical, but it's just some good ole' fashioned research combined with a dose of thorough, careful attention to details. Add in a pinch of strong strategy to meet your goals, and you'll be able to attract the right people, transform your business, and convert your audience into life-long raving fans.
Smart business owners and entrepreneurs understand that design is a strategic tool. Using a goal-based process allows strong design to work for you:
giving the perfect first impression
making your business more profitable by sending clear messages
attracting the right audience
instantly lets you stand out from your competition
You haven't been bewitched... it's the transformative power of a compelling design process.
5-STEP PROCESS
(1) LISTEN + DISCOVER
Every project is different so I need to grasp a solid understanding of your business and its audience.
Yeah, I'm no David Blaine. So in order to design the strongest materials targeting your correct market and communicate the right message, I'll send you a detailed client questionnaire which has been designed to find out as much as possible about your business and target audience. This enables me to get a solid understanding of your exact project requirements.
Based on your responses, I'll create a Design Brief proposal outlining a concise set of goals and deliverables that need to be met. The Design Brief will be the foundation outlining our bag of tricks for the decisions made during the design phase and what you can expect working with me. We'll agree on this together before proceeding further. As soon as you confirm you'd like to work together, I'll send you a contract deposit invoice and we'll agree on a start date.
Agencies and design studios:
Have a creative brief ready with an established budget? Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Let's use that to add the sparkles to make the magic begin.
(2) RESEARCH + INSPIRE
Serious research and strategy is one of the most important parts of any design process. You might think I've conjured up messages through a crystal ball. However, this is truly where I take the time to think about your ideal customer to reveal what attracts them to your business, how we can establish a real connection with them through the design, and highlight what matters the most to them through the visuals and messaging.
Researching and studying your company, its history and competition, as well as the groups and individuals you aim to target ensures that I'm able to create a level of alchemy in the design that represents the uniqueness of your product or business.
During the research phase, we'll also collect visual information that aligns with the feeling we need the design to evoke and reveal potential ideas which could be used as inspiration during the ideas generation phase.
Abracadabra!
we've now got a solid foundation to start the design process.
(3) DESIGN + DEVELOP
My favorite part of the process... beginning the design!
At this part of the process my mojo starts flowing at supersonic speeds.
With a clear vision of the impact we need the design to have, I begin brainstorming concepts by quickly sketching designs on paper — sometimes those are detailed sketches other times it's just a loose thumbnail so that my brain is free to quickly move forward with the designs using software (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc.)
I will continue to explore and experiment with the design to ensure the idea produced is presented thoughtfully and authentically speaks to your goals. Revising and refining is the ace up my sleeve. I'll work to polish initial concepts and make sure the design is meeting all the goals we outlined in the first phase of our project.
(4) PRESENTATION
Once the designs are ready, it's then time to pull away the curtain and unveil the creative work!
You'll receive anything from a PDF to jpgs for initial review along with supporting notes and design rationale that explain the decisions made — from color usage to choice of motifs. Depending on the project, I may present the designs to you in real life situations, for example, a logo may be mocked up on a business card or an app UI design will be presented on device mockup.
I am confident in the designs I present and will humbly offer my opinion on which I believe will be most befitting for your brand and business goals.
NO ILLUSIONS HERE! You get the final choice of which design feels best, and if you feel it could be improved or modified to better suit your objectives, I will happily make changes where it's deemed most necessary.
(5) SUPPORT +
FINAL DELIVERY
Voila!
Once everything is finished and you've given final approval, I'll send you a final project invoice. Once payment clears, I'll prepare your final files to be used for print and or web. If at any point you need help with your files, I'll be available to support and help you.
Are you ready to take your creative business up a notch? Any questions about the process?
Whether you're interested
in working together or just want
to get in touch, I'd love to hear from you.
