Lisa Hall has been adding a fresh new flavour to designs for many years now, first from Andorra and currently from The Hague. Her zest for design, and eye for detail have meant a lot to her clients and she takes this opportunity to share with us what design means to her, and how you can make the most of working with a designer to find your businesses look, and flavour.
Design for Lisa is about creating something genuine. It is a form of communication that we are all familiar with yet become aware of it the moment we discuss it – bring it into our own language. In her words design is also “… about letting down our biases and opening our minds to new ideas, about being able to take a vision and bring it into focus.” Ultimately the design chosen to represent a business, an activity, an endeavour is that which glues all the elements together: the concept, the message and the product.
When starting a new business or revamping an existing logo, one of the more challenging processes to go through is choosing a brand design. Whether you have a strong idea of how you want your concept to work or not Lisa recommends considering more than ‘how it looks’ before making a final decision. For WBII members she shares the following tips, or guiding questions, to consider in the process.
Starting with what is the purpose of the goal/design? Too often the emphasis in on how the design should look rather than what is its message. If the goal of the business can be simplified to one sentence, then this is the target to focus on. Once the focus is found, the following checklist will make not only your life easier, but that of your designer as well. Ultimately it means achieving what you want in the most efficient manner.
The questions to consider are:
- What kind of document are you creating?
- What is the budget?
- Where? Where will your message be read from? A bill-board? Flyer? Website?
- Why are the audience reading it? Because they want to, or have to? Is it something they want/need or do you have to sell it?
- Where will the design be used?
- When? How much time is there? Projects are often last minute, but this doesn’t mean you can’t have creativity.
- How? How will the project be produced? To be printed on a home printer? Or commercial printing press? Or on screen?
So next time you have a new design to commission, if you first consider these few points, your starting point will be a long way towards getting a winning result.
Lisa Hall
lemonberry.com