Page 40 - Graphic Design and Print Production Fundamentals

28 Chapter 2. Design Process
do they advertise or make information available?)

• Estimates and technical advice from subcontractors (e.g., printers)

Some things to consider:

• Is a full design audit required? Much like a SWOT analysis, which assesses strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, a design audit applies the same stringent methodology
to analyzing your competitors’ visual presence in the marketplace.

A graphic design audit is a fantastic and relatively easy way to get a clear picture of how your competitors
are perceived, what key messages they are communicating and how you look when placed alongside them. It’s
also a valuable exercise that informs you about the type of communication your customers are receiving on a
regular basis from your key competitors. (Clare, 2006)

• What are the implications of the audience profile in relationship to the project goals?

• What is the most appropriate means to communicate with this audience (i.e., what media and
marketing tools should you use)?
• How do the goals of this project fit into your client’s long-term goals?

• Is your client’s message what actually needs to be communicated in order to further the
client’s business goals?

Research takes time and can cost money, but in the larger picture will save time and money by helping
to focus the direction of the design process. It also helps you provide justification for your proposed
communication solutions to your client. Remember that all research must be carefully documented and
raw sources saved and made available for future reference.

Now that you have gathered all the information, it’s time to craft the design problem into a well-defined,
succinct statement.

A Problem Well-stated is Half-solved

The writer Mark Levy, in his article A Problem Well-stated is Half-solved, developed six steps you can
take to state a design problem so its solutions become clearer:

1. State the problem in a sentence. A single sentence forces you to extract the main problem from a
potentially complex situation. An example of a problem statement: “We need to increase revenue by
25%.”
2. Make the problem statement into a question. Turning the problem statement into a question opens
the mind to possibilities: “How do we increase revenue by 25%?”
3. Restate the question in five ways. If you spin the question from a variety of perspectives, you’ll
construct new questions that may provide intriguing answers.
For instance, try asking: “How could we increase revenue by 25% in a month?” “How could we
increase it by 25% in an hour?” “How could we increase it by 25% in a minute?” “What could we
stop doing that might cause a 25% revenue increase?” “What ways can we use our existing customer
base to affect the increase?”
4. Give yourself thinking quotas. An arbitrary production quota gives you a better shot at coming up