Everyone wants their project to go smoothly and be successful at grabbing their audience’s attention. Here are some basic questions to ask yourself before contacting a designer to start your next branding project:
1. What do I need this project for?
Is this something that you need for a one-time event or something that you need to be multi-functional? Will it be needed for both print uses and online posting? Knowing this information at the beginning of a project can ensure that your project is properly built and designed for your specific needs.
2. What is my budget?
Being aware of your financial limits can help a designer to work with you to come up with creative solutions within your budget. Maybe it’s a slight change in size to save on printing costs or customizing a pre-existing template to save on development fees.
3. Do you have a look or feel in mind for the project?
You definitely don’t want your project to look exactly like someone else’s, but having a general look in mind will help give a good direction to a designer. Plus, it helps to speed up the project by having a defined direction to head in. Don’t misunderstand, you don’t need to have it exactly figured out (after all, that’s what the designer is suppose to do!) but basic descriptive words like modern, clean, brightly colored, etc. will go a long way in helping to explain your vision for the project.
4. What am I hoping this project will do?
Do you want it to draw attention to your product or services? Does it need to direct people to your amazing new website or storefront? Focusing on what your project needs to ultimately highlight from the very beginning will help to ensure that the focus doesn’t get lost in the design and development phases.
5. Who is your target audience?
Knowing your target audience can help to further determine the look and feel of your project. Items it can affect are the font size used, the colors and their contrast, and the overall tone of the project.
6. Do you have current branding that you need to match?
You want people to instantly be able to connect your marketing materials to your company. Using consistent colors, fonts and other design elements will help give you a consistent brand that your audience will easily recognize.
7. When do I need this to be completed?
Knowing when you need your materials in-hand or launched online will help a designer to give you a realistic implementation plan for your project. It can determine which printer is best to use, if a more standard-sized piece might be needed or how complex your site will be upon initial launch.
8. Am I going to write the copy for this or hire a copywriter?
If you have a talent for writing attention grabbing copy, good for you! If not, then spending some money to make sure your copy is attention grabbing and professional is well worth the cost.
These are my suggestions for basic questions to ask yourself before starting a branding project that I believe will help give you the best results. I’d love to hear if you have any other questions to add to the list!
