How to pack your business profitably and cooperate productively with a designer?
Have you already built a business, have an income, or are you just starting out and want to win the attention of a buyer? The material will be equally useful to you regardless of the stage of development of the project, since the market is growing, you need to remind yourself, produce promotional materials with the help of a designer or on your own.
Work examples
Let’s look at the second option first.
Before working independently on the visual image of a product / service, you should fully understand your project.
Ask yourself these questions:
- why did you do it and for whom,
- How do you help and differentiate yourself from others?
- Who is the product/service intended for?
- what kind of people are they, why should they choose you, and not competitors.
It is useful to describe the values of the brand, to look at the project from the client’s point of view. This database will help you when interacting with the designer and, perhaps, open up unexpected ideas for business development, find new distinctive features of the product.
Based on the answers to the above questions, you will have an image that the company needs to broadcast in its visual packaging. Answers depend on:
- color,
- font,
- texture,
- accompanying materials,
- additional design elements.
Work examples
For example, if you have an online flower shop, why print catalogs or do outdoor advertising? It’s better to use web formats because your audience is on the internet. The color and design of banners, whether it is a bright combination, delicate or rich, noble shades, depends on the chosen audience for whom this message is. If an online flower shop for modern people is over 60, then noble shades, an elegant serif font are most likely to suit, if flowers are for rockers over 40, then this may be a more radical, black and white solution with a characteristic font.
I like to say, “The devil is in the details,” because it’s the little things that make up the overall picture of a company. The quality of photographs, products, paper – all this can play both for and against you.
Knowing this base, it will be easier for you to cooperate with the designer.
Packaging reflects the mood, brand features and preparatory analytical work will help to penetrate into the philosophy of the project, to formulate the characteristics and values that will be reflected in the corporate identity of the company.
Looking at the packaging, it is easier for the buyer to decide, to make a choice in favor of your company. When the client saw the elements that are characteristic of his life or those that he likes, that he wants to strive for, then your company will act as an intermediary, bringing his dream closer. A person makes a choice based on their experience, visual elements help to attract a potential buyer who speaks the same language with you.
Work examples
When working with a designer, take the time to discuss the tasks and the project.
The questions listed in the first part are asked by the specialist before starting cooperation, so feel free to share what you wrote. Next, you need to discuss the process and working conditions, conclude an agreement so that there are no nuances.
If the designer is not very talkative, then take the initiative in your own hands, tell more about the project. Although, if you have turned to an experienced designer, then discussion and questions are part of getting started. The approach “make me beautiful, you are a professional”, fortunately, is becoming less common. However, I warn you about the impossibility of working on this principle.
The designer needs to understand who the layout is aimed at, so that the product is easy to read, not only you, as a customer, but also your customers like it. The more nuances you discuss, the easier it will be for the designer to offer an optimal, working solution.
A deep understanding of your project will help to reflect the brand philosophy in the visual design. These are my principles, it is checked – it works.
Sofronova Olga
If the customer says: “I want it beautifully,” and the designer rushes to work, then the result may not live up to expectations, the number of edits will increase, deadlines will move, tension will increase, and no one needs it. Therefore, analytical work is very important.
In the process of work, discuss, talk about tastes, wishes. Any design is not only a solution to problems, but also a reflection of the essence of the brand.
A quality product needs decent packaging, fight for the buyer’s attention and win!
Author: Olga Sofronova, a certified graphic designer from St. Petersburg with over 5 years of experience, created SOVADESIGN.ORG. In the Instagram blog @os_sova talks about the practice and theory of graphic design, which can be immediately put into practice.