Design to Engage

I hope you have finished with your definition phase by the time you are reading this article. With the definition phase completed it’s now time to engage a designer… But how does on do that?

A question frequently put to me is “How do I find a designer?” There’s plenty of listings available, so the ‘how’ is pretty simple. The real important question is ‘How do I engage with and select a designer?’

First you’ll need to determine if your organization requires bids or has a Request For Proposals process. If you are seeking a seasoned publication professional, the RFP process can act as a barrier. Many may not be willing to respond to a lengthy RFP process, especially when the bid price is a large determining factor.

When seeking a designer, there are a lot of cons to the traditional RFP system. You may be judging the designer on their ability to write a proposal, and not their design skills. What appears to be a good fit on a written page may be a terrible match in reality.

If you are constrained by the RFP process, and it’s possible, I suggest you ‘seek the fit’ when it’s comes to hiring a designer. Getting estimates will still be a part of the process, but it will place more emphasis on the fit of the designers’ personality, communication style, design skills, and ability to integrate with your existing workflow.

In this scenario you meet with candidates and review their work and talk with them before there is any start on the formal RFP process. Meeting the designers will help you narrow the field that you ask to respond with a proposal – basically you are interviewing them for the job of writing a proposal. During this pre-RFP stage it’s also good to openly discuss fees and budget. This discussion at the beginning will also act as a filter, and in some cases, may be enlightening as to the actual cost of quality design work.

These portfolio reviews and open discussions have a number of benefits including fostering a good, open working relationship from the outset and also can significantly reduce the amount of time invested, on both sides, as part of the RFP process.

Once the RFP process is concluded and a design team is selected, be sure to have what you need to build a (re)design process with the necessary checks and balances. This will give the entire project team the tools they need to do their job properly.

Assuming your project is a redesign or the launch of a new magazine, I suggest you ask for three design concepts to initially choose from. Each concept should include enough pages designs to clearly define the overall identity. A fully formed concept will illustrate the voice, navigational elements and rhythm from section to section.

A short list of pages that would illustrate the look of the magazine are: the cover, table of contents, two department types, a feature and a supplemental or news page. With these key elements clearly developed an overall impression of the magazine is easy to gather.

Once all the deliverables have been agreed upon, it’s time for the design kickoff meeting. The meeting should be structured as a workshop for open collaboration and information gathering. Be sure that everyone has the mission statement, issue map, background information, production specs as well as samples of competitors’ publications and other publications for review and discussion.

The meeting discussions should start as a broad look at the process and work towards the details of schedule, responsibilities and goals for the project.

Use this meeting as the opportunity to be clear and honest with the design team about your vision of the perfect magazine. Of course, this vision needs to reflect your mission, content strategy and audience. As part of the discussion it’s important to be open about what you feel isn’t working from the current design, if there is one, and disclose any taboo items. Taboos can be as simple as: ‘The boss hates green, so avoid it as much as possible’, to more complex cultural issues when selecting images – big or small, that need to be brought to light.

Share your favorite magazines with the team, and discuss why you like them. Look at the structure, typography, design and flow. Beyond these general design items, cover strategy including art sourcing should be discussed in this phase as well. What is it in that magazine that is working for you? What isn’t? This is your opportunity to speak on a visual level with the design team. It’s cliché but in this discussion a picture’s worth at least 1000 words.

Armed with this information and strategy the design team is ready to being their design concepts. When the concept presentation does comes be sure to provide clear feed back with reasoning behind it. ‘I don’t like that image.’ is a valid comment, but the design concept can only progress when you can deliver a reason why. Without a reason the design team is left to guess at your desires. Be sure to evaluate the concepts based on the readers’ perspective, and not just personal tastes. And last, be honest with the design team. Constructive criticism, be it positive or negative, is a key part of the development of a design. As long as the criticisms are constructive, you won’t hurt anyone’s feelings.

Once the design concept has been finalized, you are ready for implementation. The 4th article of the series will focus on final design handoff, and the ongoing design and production post handoff.

Read more posts by Debra Bates-Schrott