We are all constrained by some form of budget. Should it be the most common financial cost, or be it just getting tasks completed in the most efficient way. Design is a collaborative process where the production of great work in this form, generally requires at least some back and forth with concepts or revisions to supplied work.
In most cases, designers (at least this is how we quote projects anyway) will include some form of initial concepts at the start of a project and at least 1 round of revisions at the end of the project to fine tune and correct any minor issues. For larger projects in particular (such as websites, large brochures or annual report documents) the more additional rounds of revisions both in concept stage and at project finalisation can really add to the cost, both in everyone’s time and also extra design fees.
To help maximise everyone's time and keep your next design project on budget, we have compiled our top 6 suggestions for both project preparation and revisions.
1. Take 10 minutes to write a brief... Brief
In the rush rush rush world we live in the full briefing process can often be bypassed in favor of a quick email noting the project requirements, which generally does the trick for simple projects such as a business card, but for more complex projects taking some time to think through the required outcomes and who the piece of communication is targeted at, will always benefit at all stages of the project.
For the uninitiated, a brief doesn't need to be a massive undertaking which requires sourcing of focus groups and whiteboard brainstorming sessions, it can be as simple as answering the following questions to provide all parties an additional level of clarity:
- Who is the piece of marketing targeted at?
- What is the message we are trying to tell them?
- What information supports this message?
- What should they do next? What is the action you would like them to take?
Just by answering these quick questions, all parties have a better understanding of the project requirements.
2. Create a design mood board… AKA provide some examples of what you like.
Providing examples of what you have in mind for the design project is massively important. The nature of people is that we all think differently, which is a good thing most of the time, except when I have a totally different idea of what an ‘innovative’ looking design is than what you might think it is.
Mood or inspiration boards help define the style of a project that might require a bit more design thinking, such as a new design for a website or logo. Generally these types of projects should always include presentation of 2 or 3 different concept ideas anyway, but to streamline this process, providing examples is a great assistance.
Here are some places anyone can source design inspiration from:
- Google Image Search
- Pinterest
- Design inspiration websites, here are some to start with:
- Behance
- Abduzeedo
- From up North
3. Supplying correct content in the beginning
This may be a no brainer, but supplying accurate content up front saves a bunch of time in revising artwork or web pages at the end of the project.
The designers role is to make your content look great visually. Having a designer make spelling or grammatical corrections is a waste time and generally they are not known for being at the top of their english class.
For the larger publications such as annual reports, hiring the services of a professional copy editor initially will always benefit the project by reducing back and forth changes related to grammatical correctness and consistency.
Accurate content also covers ensuring the information, such as pricing, service offering, etc is correct and the key decision makers are happy with it before being presented to the designer.
4. Source stock image if you have specific needs
If you do have very specific requirements when it comes to stock images, it may be easier for you to select stock images directly from the providers, even to give a better idea of what is required in the subject of the imagery.
There are a number of popular stock image websites available for anyone to search and purchase images from, some of these include:
- iStock
- Shutterstock
- Getty Images
You can generally download watermarked placement images to provide to your designer as either suggestions or to see these placed in the layout.
5. Have all parties check the project draft or proof
When it comes time to review the project before printing or making live on the web, designers will most likely include some form of revisions allowing for any minor tweaks needed to the project before finalisation.
These may be provided from the design in the form of a PDF for printed documents, or a link to an offline website or web page for anything online.
When reviewing a proof, ask all involved in the project and any key decision makers within your organisation to review and provide any updates or corrections via a single point of contact to collate and provide back to the designer. This always works better and saves on unnecessary rounds of separate revisions.
A classic example of this is when a project has been checked off, revisions made and is ready for finalisation to print when the boss is shown and comes back with a further series of changes required at the last minute. Including ALL parties from the first proof will always avoid the stress of situations like this.
6. Supply revisions in a easy to understand format
How to best provide proof changes depends on the type of project, and there are a number of different methods available. The most important consideration is making the changes super clear for someone outside your organisation to understand and complete correctly.
Here are some of the most popular and easy to understand methods of updates:
PDF with comments
If the proof was supplied as a PDF document, you can open the file and use Acrobat in commenting mode, which allows you to place tags on any text or graphics with your required alterations.
Marking up printed proofs
Printing out your provided proofs and physically marking any required changes is another great method and is easy to scan back in and email or if meeting with the designer, going through it in person. For ease of understanding, make these changes in a red pen (or another colour that stands out) and ensure your writing is legible.
Emailing a list of changes
A list of points that require changing is also acceptable in addition to the above, or on its own, again the common thing is making sure the changes are clear. Here are some examples of great instructions for changes:
- Page 3, paragraph 1, line 5: remove the word ‘SPECIAL’
- Page 5: change the price $200 to $250
- Page 6: make the heading ‘special price’ bold and in all capitals
In any of the above methods, if there is a large amount of content to be updated, it is almost always easier to update it in a block, rather than tweaking individual changes.
1st March 2017 
Thomas Marsden Team 
