Twelve things I like to know

When clients come to me, they often have an idea of what they want, but they need to help me so that I can provide the best service I can. I have a sheet that we fill in together at the beginning over a cup of tea. I really enjoy this bit because I get to find out all about the business, the person behind it and maybe find out other bits of information that could be useful during the design process. I’m really nosey,  ask loads of questions and make lots of notes, and then I type up a brief to be approved before we start. This is not an exhaustive list, these are the main things I like to know, but each project is different.

Here are twelve things I like to know about:

1. What the product or service is.
2. Why it’s great! What are the benefits?
3. Who are the customers? What do they like? Where will they access the work?
4. What the business values are.
5. What the business is doing already to get business.
6. Who the competitors are?
7. What are the needs? Is it a brand identity, some print work, a website or some illustration?
8. What are the objectives? Is it to gain more business? To communicate a message? To create awareness?
9. Likes and dislikes. Maybe you love a website that you saw the other day, or there’s a certain shade of green that makes your blood boil, or you’ve got a brochure you’ve kept for years because it’s beautiful.
10. What the budget is.
11. It’s also good to have a deadline. I love deadlines.
12. How the success of the work will be measured.

You can find out more about writing design briefs from the  Design Council

Young People’s Community Café

One of my clients- the West End Youth Enquiry Service (WEYES) part of Children North East – has been shortlisted for the Jubilee People’s Millions.

WEYES want to provide a community café where young people will provide afternoon tea for over 70s on their loneliest day of the week, a Sunday. Isn’t that a lovely idea? This will bring all ages together  to build a better community for the future.

If you would like to vote for this project to win, then you will need to call special number on Monday 27th June. You can register by emailing: jubilee.millions@children-ne.org.uk and Children North East will send you the number on the day, or by attending this event on facebook. It only costs 11p to vote, so it’ll be the cheapest afternoon tea you’ve ever bought!

Find out more here and here.

Photography and design

I’ve written a guest post for Mandy Charlton Photography about using good quality imagery in design work. You can read it here

Here are the two projects featured in the article, with design work by Whiteacres Design and beautiful, good quality, professional photography by Mandy Charlton Photography.