Posts Tagged ‘working with a design agency’

Becoming a Graphic Designer #2: How to have an awesome interview

Monday, April 16th, 2012

This post continues from Becoming a Graphic Designer #1: How to get an interview.

So you’ve only gone and got yourself an interview at a creative agency. Congratulations! You’ve taken a huge step towards your first Graphic Design job, but don’t rest on your laurels now. Prepare yourself thoroughly and give the interviewers the best impression you can when you arrive with your portfolio in-hand, leaving them with no option but to employ you.

Here’s a quick guide to ease you through the process. Some of the pointers may be blatantly obvious but others may not have crossed your mind, so have a quick read through to make sure you’re as well prepared as possible:

(1.) Research the company. The most important thing you should do before going to your interview is find out as much as you can about the place. This knowledge will enable you to answer questions more effectively, tailor your portfolio accordingly and stop you from asking questions that they believe you should already know the answer to.

(2.) Call them beforehand. Ring to confirm your interview and ask a question or two about the agency – everyone loves talking about themselves, and you’ll be in the interviewers’ minds before you even arrive.

(3.) Dress smartly. Most of the time you won’t be told what to wear. In these cases, dress smartly. It’s better to be too smart than to be underdressed! Remember, these people probably don’t know you, so how you look in the interview is how you will be remembered.

(4.) Arrive early, but not too early. Arrive early enough to show that you’re punctual, but not so early that it inconveniences your interviewer. Arriving five minutes early is spot on.

(5.) Shake hands and don’t forget to smile. It’s just common courtesy. The interviewer will expect you to be nervous, but don’t forget to smile!

(6.) Tailor your portfolio. Edit your portfolio to fit the agency’s disciplines and it will do half the work for you. If the design company is a multidisciplinary agency, make sure you show a good mix of projects. If they specialise in branding, make sure at least 50% of your portfolio is branding. You should have five projects in your portfolio – place your best project last and your second best project first.

(7.) Present your work professionally. The format that you choose to exhibit your work in is almost as important as the work itself – paying to get your work printed on high-quality paper at a printers rather than on multipurpose paper from your A4 inkjet makes all the difference. Also, use a leather-bound portfolio or something similar to show off your work – this shows that you take pride in your work and gives the impression of quality before you’ve even opened it. Leather-bound portfolios can be expensive, but you should consider it a worthwhile investment, especially if you get the job!

(8.) Have confidence in your work. Your work is not rubbish, so don’t tell your interviewers that it is. If you don’t have confidence in your work, they won’t either.

(9.) Ask questions. At the end of your interview, you’ll be asked if you have any questions that you’d like to put to the interviewers. Have a couple lined up ready to ask, as this shows that you’re interested in the company. You can always write the questions down if you need to – the interview isn’t a memory test!

(10.) Leave a calling card. Offer your business card after the interview, or you could even leave a copy of your portfolio for them to keep. Having your work permanently in the studio’s library is a great way to be remembered. And the more imaginative the format, the better – for example, a portfolio book, calendar or a 3D object of some kind.

If you don’t get a call offering you the job straight away, don’t just give up. If you don’t hear anything for a week afterwards, give the design agency a follow-up call (and don’t be offended if they’ve forgotten you – agencies see a lot of people – it’s up to you to stay on their radar, without becoming a pest). Take on board people’s criticism of your work – remember this is not personal criticism. If you’re given negative criticism, try to ask why they don’t like it and how it could be improved. Make use of the invaluable industry opinion on your work, but don’t lose confidence in it. Go away and improve your portfolio as best you can, and you’ll be even better-prepared for your next interview.

Ultimately, you have to be happy with what you are touting around, and if someone likes your work, don’t let them slip through the net. Get back in touch to send or show them work updates. Aim high and try and get to see your dream design agencies, if only to get valuable portfolio input, but remember it’s a numbers game as with getting an interview, so be persistent and don’t give up!

We hope you have an awesome interview, and good luck!

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Posted by Ben in business, design, remedy | Add a response

Becoming a Graphic Designer #1: How to get that elusive interview

Wednesday, March 28th, 2012

When applying for junior graphic design roles, it can be hard to stand out from the crowd and win yourself an interview at a creative agency. If you’re seriously considering a career in Design, there are a few things that you should take into account before starting on your quest for a job. We have put together a few pointers below to help you win over potential employers and get that elusive interview.

So, now that you’re a good way through studying your Design degree and are ready to start the job hunt, here’s what you should be doing:

(1.) Internships. Probably the most common way to get a junior creative role is through interning. Apply for an internship and get your foot in the door.  Don’t stay in the same placement for more than three months unless you don’t have a new placement or a permanent position to move on to.

(2.) Portfolio website. If you’re a soon-to-be graduate and you don’t have a decent portfolio online to direct potential employers to, then you are seriously reducing your chances of being noticed. Include a downloadable PDF of your CV on your site and a link to your website on your CV.

(3.) Networking. The design industry is a lot smaller than you think. Take advantage of every guest lecture at uni or creative event nearby, and get networking. Getting a job interview through friends, family, university or industry contacts is how many people find their first graphic design job.

(4.) Jobsites. Check your collection of jobs websites on a daily basis for jobs and internships. They should include; general jobsites, such as totaljobs.com; creative industry jobsites like those on itsnicethat.com and formfiftyfive.com; university careers pages (not just your own uni’s); local jobsites like jobsinkent.com; and don’t forget to check the newspaper’s jobs sections, such as jobs.guardian.co.uk.

(5.) Professionalism. Get used to shaking hands with people when networking. Get yourself a business card – you can get small print runs of your own designs at moo.com. Use an email signature – make sure you have a professional-looking email signature on any email sent to potential employers.

(6.) Social media. Do you have Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn? Of course you do. And potential employers know you do too. Make sure you haven’t got anything on your online profiles that could put off potential employers. Used in the right way, social media can increase your chances rather than hurt them – tweeting about a new advert you love that you just saw on TV shows that you’re interested in your subject area, and getting recommendations on LinkedIn is an excellent way to improve your credibility.

Before you even start looking for Graphic Design roles, you need to be building yourself a strong and varied portfolio. Do this and your portfolio will do half the work for you. Never give up and the right job will be waiting just around the corner. Remember that Design is a very competitive career path to take, and that you may hit a brick wall along the way but your persistence will ultimately pay off.

We hope this guide has been useful, and good luck on the exciting career path that lies ahead of you. Graphic Design is a hugely rewarding and entertaining career, so don’t let this put you off, and ultimately, remember to never give up!

UPDATE: Becoming a Graphic Designer #2: How to have an awesome interview

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Posted by Ben in business, design, remedy | Add a response

Working with designers #3

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

You’ve chosen a design agency, now what?

Here’s part 3 of Remedy’s presentation delivered at the Not For Profit Technology Show last November. To get up to speed, see part 1, preparing a website design brief and part 2, choosing the right design agency

So, you’ve gone through the pitch process and chosen the ideal agency to design your website, but how do you make sure your project stays on track? Stick to these steps and you shouldn’t go too far wrong:

1) Agree a realistic project schedule
“As soon as possible”. That’s the answer we invariably get when asking the question, “When do you want your new site to go live?”. That’s all well and good, but bearing in mind you will have to be part of the process, you need to take into account your own workloads and timescales. How quickly can you collate draft copy? How quickly will you and your team be able to agree and sign-off the various design stages? A website schedule has to be workable both ways, so try to avoid setting unreasonable deadlines that will put unnecessary pressure on you or your agency.

2) Get the site architecture right
Get the site map and functional spec right and don’t proceed with the design process until you are 100% sure everyone has agreed what your new site is going to do, it’s overall structure and how the user is expected to navigate their way around. Although not always totally practical, one simple rule that will make your site user-friendly is if you are never more than two clicks away from where you want to be. Once the architecture is agreed, then you’re into the design concept stage.

3) Insist on choice
Unless your design agency has to stick rigidly to an existing page template or hard-and-fast design guidelines, you should insist on a choice of design routes (budgets permitting of course). For the initial concept stage, a Home page and one other page should be enough to base your decision on.

4) Allow room for creativity
You will most likely have seen websites that you admire. By all means, share these with your design agency, but try to avoid being so prescriptive that you stifle the designer’s own creativity. Try to remain open-minded at the concept stage and try not to force a design aesthetic on your agency that leaves no room for experimentation and means you end up with a website that looks like everyone else’s.

5) Judge creative work against the brief
You have gone to the trouble of agreeing a great creative brief (see part 1 for details), make sure it is at hand when judging the design concepts. It’s at this point that personal likes and dislikes can get in the way of rational thinking. If the design concept answers the brief, then it probably isn’t far wrong. Of course, you and other key stakeholders need to be happy with the design, but as soon as the decision process starts to get tricky (which it often does when there is more than one person involved), the brief will add clarity.

6) If you don’t like it, say so
You will have to live with your website for quite a while. All of your clients/supporters/service users/staff/volunteers/competitors will look at it and have an opinion. It will probably be one of the most important elements in your marketing mix, so you’ve got to be happy with it. If there’s something you don’t like, make sure you say so at the concept stage, but equally, you need to say why. Is it a personal dislike, is it inappropriate for your brand’s personality, is there a lack of visual focus…? Whatever your objections, talk them through with the design agency so that they can understand your issues and find a better solution.

7) Ask for other opinions
Even if you are very single-minded and are convinced the design concepts are spot-on, it doesn’t hurt to get other opinions. Whoever you wish to confer with, before they give you their ha’penny’s worth, make sure they understand the brief. The website design should be judged with a proper understanding of what you are trying to achieve and who you are talking to.

By this stage, you should have a website design that meets the basic criteria of the brief and that you are happy with. If you’re not completely there yet, it may be a case of tweaking one of the design concepts. But all of the preliminary work in getting the brief right and choosing the most suitable design agency should have made getting to this point as smooth as possible.

With a couple of pages designed to everyone’s satisfaction, your agency will now need to design other page templates that can be applied across the whole site. Oh, and by the way, have you supplied all of the copy and other content yet? If not, this is the point where the schedule can grind to a halt.

So, now we go from the design stage to the build. Definitely not the time to take your eye off the ball. There are some simple guidelines that you can follow, but that will have to wait for another blog post.

In the meantime, please let us know if you have found this series of posts useful and of course, if you have any tips to add that will help anyone through the website design and build process, we’d love to hear from you.

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Posted by Jonathan in design, online | Add a response

Working with designers #2

Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011

Here is part 2 of a talk that Remedy gave at the Not For Profit Technology Show in London, alongside James Higgott from The Royal Marsden Hospital.

The first part was about preparing a website design brief, this part is about choosing your design agency and the third part (blog post to follow) is about getting the design right.

Choosing a design agency

Choosing the right design agency

1) Who’s work do you like?
Boutique web design specialist? Integrated design agency? Award winning, West End hot shop? A freelancer that a friend recommends? Whoever you shortlist and however you come across them, the first filter you need to apply is “do I like their work?” If there is a design sensibility or aesthetic that you admire in their portfolio, then that’s a great start. Also, it’s good to keep an open mind – just because the agency doesn’t have experience in your specific sector, doesn’t mean they can’t create a fantastic website for you.

2) Understand who you’ll be working with
It’s all very well meeting the Creative Director, Managing Director and Head of Online Strategy, but will they actually be looking after your web project? If not, it certainly wouldn’t be unreasonable to know the calibre of the team that will be designing and writing your website and who you will be dealing with on a day-to-day basis.

3) Understand their processes
Every agency will have it’s own ways of working. Some will be a comfortable fit and some will drive you up the wall. One marketing director we recently met described working with his previous agency as being like “pulling teeth”. Websites don’t happen over night, so you will, by default, have to build a relationship with your design agency; so make sure it’s one that will work.

4) What do they expect from you?
From day one, right up until your new website is launched, you will have to be part of the process. Make sure from the outset just how involved your agency will expect you to be and what they will need from you, and when. Will they want to work with you to determine site architecture? Will they want draft copy at the outset? Will they want a face-to-face meeting every week? To help things to run smoothly, insist on a project schedule that is realistic for both you and the agency.

5) Ask for references
You’ve met the team. They’re charming, eloquent and have some great work in their portfolio. If they’re really as good as they say they are, they will have left a trail of very happy clients in their wake, so don’t be afraid to ask for a couple of references. It could well save a lot of heartache.

6) Choose people you get on with
Yes, it sounds obvious, but this is just as important as choosing a design agency who’s work you love. If they’re creative geniuses, they could also be prima donnas with egos the size of Ben Nevis. So, here’s a simple formula – a great portfolio + nice people = at least half way to choosing your design agency.

7) What does the estimate include?
Websites are complex, with lots of elements to consider, and all adding to the cost. Architecture, wire-framing, front-end design, content management system and CMS training, copywriting, Search Engine Optimisation, imagery, hosting… Make sure that you know what is included in the price. If there is a lack of clarity in the estimate, ask the agency to spell it out in black and white. Remember, a seemingly simple functionality change could have significant cost implications, so agree the functionality spec. at the start.

8) Licensed CMS?
Sometimes, a bespoke content management system is the best solution, often an open source system will work just as well. Think long and hard before you choose an agency that insists, come what may, on using their licensed, bespoke content management system. However, if your new website requires functionality that means a bespoke CMS is the most practical option, it is important to understand what happens if, at some point in the future, you want to move your site.

9) You get what you pay for
‘Websites from £500′ shouts the poster in the agency window. Now, let’s stop a moment before getting our cheque books out. Even if the agency only charges £50 an hour, can they really plan, design, build and optimise a website that will help move your business forward, in 10 hours?

A website is more often than not, an organisation’s most powerful marketing tool. If your website is going to be your shop window; a key way to communicate with members, clients or supporters; or the first port of call when anyone wants to find out about you, don’t make cost the most important factor when choosing your design agency.

If you are putting together a shortlist of agencies (three is the magic number), we recommend that you read our previous post on preparing a website design brief

You can download all of this presentation in PDF format including slides from James Higgott at www.ioftech.org.uk/resources

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Posted by Jonathan in design, online, remedy | Add a response

Working With Designers #1

Wednesday, October 19th, 2011

Remedy was recently invited to present at the Not For Profit Technology Show in London, alongside James Higgott from The Royal Marsden Hospital. We wanted to impart some insider knowledge to not for profit organisations on how to make the most of their relationships with external designers, specifically, when working on web projects.

Our presentation was split into three sections – preparing a brief, choosing an agency and getting the design right.

Here is an overview of the first section (with two more blog posts to follow):

Great work comes from a great brief

It’s very rare that great creative work comes out of a hastily put-together brief. Like the foundations of a building, get this bit right and the design and build won’t be in vain. So where do you start? What will a design agency need to be able to deliver a great website?

1) Background information

Assume the design agency knows nothing about your brand, or even your sector for that matter. Arm them with everything they need to get to grips with what you do and what you are all about: annual reports, brochures, flyers, web addresses, press clippings and any industry insights that may be of use.

2) Clear objectives

What is it you hope to achieve with your website? This could be a fairly lengthy list, but you should prioritise. Perhaps you want visitors to sign-up to a newsletter, download resources, make online purchases, recommend your organisation to colleagues, follow you on Twitter or request a quote.

3) Target audiences

Who are they? What makes them tick? Why might they want to do business with you?
Do you have any useful stats? If the majority of potential customers are 18-24 with a love of social media, or if they are chief execs who do a lot of their business at the 19th hole, the designer will need to know. The more an agency knows about your audiences, the more likely they are to come up with a design that resonates with them.

4) What you want users to think, feel and do?

When someone comes to your lovely new website, what should their first reaction be? What do you want them to think about your brand and more importantly, on an emotional level, how do you want your brand to make them feel? And tying in with point number 2, once they have made an emotional connection, what do you want them to do?

5) Tone of voice and brand guidelines

How do you want your brand to come across? Corporate brand leader, no-nonsense professional adviser, an old friend you can rely on…? Every brand has a tone of voice (or at least they should have) and this needs delivering consistently whether online or offline.

Many organisations have a set of brand guidelines. Unfortunately many of them are kept in bottom drawers and not referred to. Don’t let this be the case with you and your brand. If there are rules when it comes to using your logo, your design agency will need to know. Similarly, do you have corporate colours, typefaces, a library of up-to-date imagery? If so, your new website should follow your guidelines (unless of course, it’s time for a brand refresh).

6) Competitors

In the Not-for-Profit world, these are known as ‘other players’. Whatever you call them, unless your brand’s offering is totally unique, there will be other organisations out there that are vying for the attention of the same customers/members/donors. So who are they, which ones do you admire and why? What can we learn from them? What mistakes are they making that your design agency should avoid?

7) Other brands

There may be organisations that do things in a certain way that, although nothing to do with your sector, you admire. Looking at their websites in particular, they may have a visual style that you like, a certain way with language or a particular way of organising content. It may be more of a ‘brand values thing’. Which brands have an attitude or personality that you might aspire to be like – John Lewis, Volkswagen, Apple, Shake ‘n’ Vac…

8) Content and functionality

Content is, 99 times out of 100, the one thing that will delay the launch of a new website. Whether you are supplying draft copy; fully edited, perfectly formed, search engine optimised copy or a list of bullet points, your site is going nowhere without content. The real need for this may come further down the line in the design process, but nevertheless, it’s best not to leave this right until the 11th hour.

Functionality however, will need to be addressed right up front. A design agency will need to know what your new website has to do. Will it be collecting data? Will it integrate with existing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software? Will there be E-commerce functionality, members’ log-in areas, blogs, social media integration…? Without this information, the agency won’t be able to give you an accurate quote or get close to a design solution that makes sense.

9) Measuring success

Looking ahead; the new website has launched, the marketing department are proud to show it off to the world and the competition are green with envy. The question you need to ask yourself way before any of this has happened, is what will you consider to be a successful interaction? For many clients it will be orders or enquiries, but equally it could be Google rankings, the number of users who sign up to support a campaign or a Gold D&AD award. If you know what success will look like to you from the outset, this will definitely help to steer the design process.

10) Hosting

Who will be hosting your website and what kind of server will you need? This will be dictated largely by the amount of traffic you expect and how ‘mission critical’ your website will be.

11) Deadline

Websites take time. Well-planned, beautifully designed, carefully executed websites take longer. If you need to hit a certain date in your calendar, this should be in your brief, but schedules have to be realistic.

12) Budget

The $64,000 (wouldn’t that be nice) question. It would save a lot of time and effort for client and agency alike, if along with all the other nuts and bolts, a realistic budget was part of the brief. Whether you decide to share your budget or not, having a figure agreed internally is essential. At this juncture, it’s worth remembering that as with all things commercial, with website design you get what you pay for and invariably, a £500 website will look unsurprisingly like a £500 website.

If you don’t have the resources or expertise in-house to do some or all of the above, any design agency worth its salt will be able to help guide you through the process, but the more of the groundwork you can do, the better. Even if you are able to write a great brief yourself, the objectivity that a decent agency brings to the table means that you should be prepared for them to challenge, distil and even re-write parts of it.

Should you have a brief you want to discuss, or if you need help putting one together, we’d love to hear from you.

You can download the talk in PDF format including slides from James Higgott at www.ioftech.org.uk/resources

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Posted by Jonathan in design, online, remedy | Add a response