As I navigate this lovely world of design, I have found a few things that seem to make my life easier and my clients happier. Hiring a designer and building a new brand is understandably a huge decision and a significant investment for any business owner.  While us designers tend to think the design process is pretty straight forward { as we throw around our design lingo and talk about our turn times and such } it’s not always as easy for our clients to follow.  Most of them do not live in our world and for some, the branding process is new territory.  And even if this isn’t their first experience with a designer, all of us do things a little differently.

I strive to be as transparent and thorough as possible with my clients through my interviews, questionnaires, and proposals. And while I thought I ran a pretty tight ship with my branding process through email updates, phone calls, etc., I really wanted a detailed roadmap to give to them as we started our process together.  I decided to design a one-sheeter pdf detailing my branding process to send to clients after their initial inquiry.  I have found that keeping my clients informed of my process, explaining what each step entails, and showing them how we get to our final deliverable helps my clients feel at ease with their decision to hire me and leads to a smooth branding process.  As my branding process grows and changes, as I’m sure it will, so to will my trusty little branding guide.

Designer side note:  Not only does this make for a happier client, it also reigns in your focus.  Establishing your own brand guide helps you zero-in on your own process, develop your own milestones, and most importantly forces you to stick to them yourself.  We all know we could use a little more structure in our day to day lives and who better to establish that than you.  And sure, not every client is the same nor every brand design, but this sets the stage for a beautiful end product.

The guide below is a screenshot of my process and the full pdf is available to view on my website.  I hope this helps inform my lovely clients and inspire my fellow designers!  { website design process pdf is in progress…stay tuned }