Communicating with your designer

2007-03-05T22:39:00Z

Last week a former colleague broached the topic of communicating with designers. She manages a staff of non-designers who participate in the design process, and was looking for the right design lexicon to use as part of a discussion. There are plenty of good online guides for dealing with design terminology for non-designers.

Here’s an overview of the basics (composition, layout, typography, proportion), to help with vocabulary and assessing a design:
http://www.rit.edu/~ntiditc/V1B.pdf

In addition, you can consider “The Non-Designer’s Design Book” by Robin Williams (not THAT Robin Williams) for more detail than the pdf listed above.

In addition to design terminology, many design clients need more substantial information about what and when to communicate. During the beginning of the process, anything goes. The more information a designer can get, the better, although there are a few design criteria that are always essential. Before beginning a design the designer needs to know:

the purpose of the piece,
the business goals that drive it,
the intended audience,
the most appropriate medium to be used, and
the anticipated longevity of the campaign.

This should be determined by the main client stakeholders (management and usually marketing), and is the reason that a needs analysis is so integral to a design project. If the goals and purposes of the finished product are pinpointed and agreed-upon, the success of the design is much easier to measure without being influenced by an individual's like (or dislike) of, say, the color yellow*.

Next comes the design concept, or storyboard. The most important thing to consider when assessing a storyboard is that ALL MAJOR STAKEHOLDERS should evaluate and discuss the design. This is the time to discover that the CEO absolutely cannot stand yellow, or wants illustration on the pages instead of photography. The whole client stakeholder team should evaluate the design. With all these heads put together, the strengths (and occasional drawbacks) of the design become apparent. Focus first on documenting the larger-scope items, the ones that will have more impact on the user.

Once those are clarified, it is fine to assess the individual opinions. This is where dialogue with the designer is important. An explanation of the design choices (particular colors, typography, etc), juxtaposed with the individual's issues connected to that color, can always resolve the situation. At the intersection of "Why I chose it" and "Why I dislike it" there is always a middle ground. A good designer is there to help make a product that works and will not let personal preferences (either their own, or the client's) trump good design or stall the progress of a project.

After the storyboard feedback has been collected, and the storyboards revised (if needed), it is time to gather the stakeholders one more time and sign off on the design. This is the design point of no return, and changes during the implementation of a design can be costly and time-consuming.

*color names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Design for online marketing

Communicating with your designer