For starters: bring to the table what you need help with. Don’t worry too much about details. We’ll pick up the baton and run with it and direct traffic. Through listening, we will get the clarity we need to take the next steps. From this step, we can then move forward with a quote for your project. If the project is extensive, we will want to build you a roadmap so we’re all on the same page with what is needed. With a timeline.
Here is a rudimentary list of what is involved:
1. THE DISCOVERY SESSION
Define the problem. Clarify the need.
The design process begins with a meeting – online or in person – to discuss the specific parameters of the project. This initial meeting is known as the “Discovery” session. It’s labelled a discovery session because as we listen to your story, ideas begin to flow. This is why you hire us. We think outside-the-box to find solutions that you may not have thought of. By listening to your story, your “spark” that ignited and inspired you to start your business, ideas are often “sparked” which stimulate the designer’s creative process. It is our mandate to find clever workable solutions that are aligned to your brand – who you are with what you do. To extract solutions that define and differentiate your place in your market.
2. QUOTE • BUDGET • ROADMAP
The proposal is reviewed and we discuss a game plan. With client approval and an agreement made, the client issues a deposit for the project. With an agreed upon deposit – usually 50% up front, the work begins. For large projects, we will prepare a plan and timeline which acts as a time reference point for both the designer and the client.
3. MARKET RESEARCH
Digging for gold
This is the designer at work – researching the language and finding the key players in your market. Once this general landscape is understood through note-taking and idea-making, a design direction is established. The design process differs if your business is established or new. For established businesses, we look at what you’ve got to discuss/determine whether it’s working for you or whether an update to the brand is needed. For new businesses, we look at who you are with your vision for your business in order to start the design process.
4. REVIEW + REVISE
There are different approaches in the design process: the client either leaves the work with us to present for review OR the client wants to be involved in the design process. If the client wants to be involved, the designer will present ideas to the client and make alterations based on their feedback before the formal presentation.
5. THE PRESENTATION
It is important that the designer and client meet in person or online at the initial presentation as the designer learns much about the client’s feedback; though dialogue, adjustments are made. The designer goes back to the drawing board to refine the chosen concept. This concept is then presented to the client for review. A 2nd iteration of the design is worked out and once again presented for review.
6. THE FINAL
This is the last and vital stage to the design project. The work is refined to perfection. Details are accounted for the end result is a design that is fresh and elicits excitement to all who see it. With the client’s approval and sign off, the work is taken to full completion. All related files are gathered and provided to the client once the final invoice is paid. Both parties celebrate with a job well done before announcing “Next?”