The graphic design process should never be formulaic and ever use a ‘off the shelf’ canned solution to a design problem, but if you’re struggling to get off the ground with a design brief, remember these set of 6 useful things to consider.

1. The brief
The first communication is between the client and the designer. Sometimes you’ll be fortunate enough to have a wonderfully articulate and eloquently written brief – other times you’ll just get aload of ambiguous waffle.
Ask your self do you fully understand the brief and what is being asked of you to deliver?

Even if you think you do, it may be an idea to rewrite the brief in your own words to show you understand that you do and ask the client to read your version so you’re both absolutely clear on what is to be expected.
Not only will you be comfortable and confident in your abilities as a professional designer, this reassures your confidence in your client and you could expose possible problems and opportunities early on in the project.

2. Research
Research is a crucial element in the design process. The keystone infact. Whole books, courses, seminars and theories are written about this infinite subject.For the sake of this blog post I’ll keep it succinct and relevant – Background research into the company’s profile is an absolute must, what are they about?what are they not about? What is their story? What is unique about them in comparison to the competition? If possible ask for marketing packs, mission statements and case studies.Get their business cards, get their competition’s business cards – if they’re a business be a customer (or at least pretend to be a potential one).

If the client is a new business or a start-up then they may not have much existing collateral, hence they’ve hired you for help this may require a different route to elicit but could be more exciting as there is nothing to compare with.You can never have too much research, but be mindful of time management. If deadlines are tight this may have to be a glance at the company’s website but no brief should solved without any new knowledge being discovered.

3. Target Audience
This could be considered as second part of the research process. Ask, who are the audience? Who specifically are you talking to? Things to know include Gender, Age, Race, Social Class, Income, Interests, Hopes and Fears. These are all critical factors in a successful design solution. You cannot speak to someone if you don’t know their language. It helps to formulate a customer profile, literally write down all the attributes on a typical customer from the type of job they do or (aspire to) to the newspaper they read.

4. The Message
What are you trying to say, what reaction do you want from the audience? Do you want people to simply be aware of the brand or do you want people to sign-up to a email newsletter? This should be made clear in the brief, if you don’t know what this is, it needs to be addressed with your client. You don’t want to be telling people the wrong message!

5. Tone of Voice
Fun, friendly, irreverent, warm, reassuring, witty – the tone of voice is the visual language and combination of target audience meeting brand values. This is what connects customer and client.
How does a brand that sells expensive, high quality hand made furniture to the upper middle classes ‘speak’ to it’s target audience? The tone of voice is how the brand would express them selves if they could talk. It’s a chance for a brand to show off and be clever, or serious or humorous etc…

6. Method of Communication
What is the appropriate choice/media mix to effectively deliver the message? Is it print, screen, ambient or viral? This is usually where budgets restrict the options but not always so. This where you can ‘add value’ by making an ad campaign go viral because of a clever ambient campaign. And if the idea has legs, it will work across media.

Hope this helps, comments? questions? email me with the form on the left.