5 Steps to Great Graphic Design for Your Nonprofit
Nothing is as compelling as managing the design, of a
printed piece or web look for your organization, service or
campaign. It's easy to get swept away envisioning the impact
it will have on your target audiences. And the creative
adventure of bringing that piece, or web design, to life,
is usually a welcome change from strategic and
administrative work.
However, the excitement often fades when you dive into the
process of finding, hiring, and managing a designer or
design team. Let's be honest. It's challenging to manage a
designer's creativity into a design take that meets your
organization's needs can be challenging. You definitely
want to give the designer the opportunity to channel her
creative genius into something powerful. On the other hand,
you want to ensure that she translates your marketing
concept into something that speaks to your audiences and
motivates advocacy, donations, registration, inquiries,
or whatever call to action you need.
I've run up against this challenge time and again, first
as an in-house marketing director in several publishing
houses, and at the Foundation Center, and most recently
as the marketing firm point person for nonprofit and
foundation clients. Over the years, I've devised a few
strategies that ensure that the design process goes
smoothly. And they really work.
I advise you to take these five steps. When you do, you'll
generate the design results that make the greatest impact
for your organization:
- Step One: Take your time to find the RIGHT designer.
NOTE: Take this step immediately, not when you're in
desperate need of a designer.
I have, over the years, developed a stable of about
seven good designers. They are all the RIGHT designer,
but not one of them is the right designer for every
single design project.
The question is how do you find your stable of RIGHT
designers? You're likely to need relationships with three
or four designers. The number depends on the volume of
design work, the range of looks you're trying to achieve,
and the diversity of materials and online projects to be
designed. My situation is unique. Because I work with
many clients with diverse needs, I require more of a
range of design skills and price points than would any
single nonprofit or foundation.
Here's how to find your designers:
- Step Two: Gather favorite design samples
Keep a folder of favorites, printed materials you
identify as good design in the same range as your
organization's image or the image you want to establish.
Bookmark website designs in the same way.
Make sure that some of your picks are produced by
nonprofits and foundations.
- Step Three: Compile your list of prospective designers
Contact communications colleagues (make sure you like
their design sensibility first, judging by their
products) and ask for designer recommendations. Get
basic information on pricing, work style, and client
base.
Contact the communications director at those
organizations who produced the print materials or
websites you've tagged. Start by contacting the folks
at organizations closest to yours in focus and/or
budget. It's most likely, but not a definite, that
their designers are the best fit.
- Step Four: Hone your list to the top three or four
by interviewing ten to twelve designers
Contact the top ten to twelve before you have a design
project ready to go. At that point, you won't want to
waste a minute in getting design estimates in.
Here are some of the questions I ask prospective
designers:
- How long have you been designing? With this
firm/working freelance?
- Have you worked with nonprofit organizations? If so,
who are some of your clients? How did you get into
design work for nonprofits?
- Do you design for print and online media?
- Could you show me a few samples of what you consider
to be your strongest design projects? What is the
average size (dollar-wise) of your design projects?
- Take me through the design process for a brochure?
How about an annual report?
- Do you have references I can call?
- Will you personally be designing our work, and be my
point person? (for non-solo designers)
- These are the quirks you'll face in designing for our
nonprofit (explain any, from the Executive Director
thinking she's a designer--and putting her stamp on
every piece--to a boss who always changes his mind
completely on what a piece should feature when he
sees a design concept)
While reviewing past work is a very important
consideration, be sure you also spend some time
talking to their clients to find out more about
their design process, working styles, and the
results of the project.
- Step Five: Write a creative brief the moment you get a
whiff of a pending design job
A creative brief is the most effective way to get
everyone (your colleagues and the design team) started
with a common understanding of what needs to be
accomplished. An effective creative brief gives the
designer direction and provides your team with
benchmarks against which to evaluate design concepts.
Spending the time to complete a thorough creative brief
will save you a lot of time up front, and ensure that you
get the design product you envisioned.
In two pages at most, your brief should:
- Define the project and its objectives
- List, characterize and prioritize audiences
- Present Unique Selling Proposition(USP), one sentence
about what makes the organization, program or
service unique
- List top features and/or facts about the program,
service or organization, and its value to audiences
- Detail tone or image
- Specify budget and time frame
- Outline internal review and approval process
These five steps will lead you to strong relationships with
the right designers. As a result, I guarantee that your
print and online design work will be more effective than
ever in engaging and spurring recognition from your target
audiences.
Start right now by diving into the stacks in your office.
It's likely that, when you do, you'll find some great
design samples that will lead you to more effective (and
maybe even less expensive) graphic design for your
organization.
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© 2002 - Nancy E. Schwartz. All rights reserved.
About the Author
Nancy E. Schwartz helps nonprofits succeed through effective marketing and communications. As President of Nancy Schwartz & Company (www.nancyschwartz.com), Nancy and her team provide marketing planning and implementation services to organizations as varied as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Center for Asian American Media, and Wake County (NC) Health Services.
Subscribe to her free Getting Attention e-update (http://www.nancyschwartz.com/getting_attention.html) and read her blog at http://www.gettingattention.org for more insights, ideas and great tips on attracting the attention your organization deserves.
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