Last Wednesday, ASAE held a Lunch and Learn session titled “Design on a Dime.” We asked Richard Belle, President of Belle Communications to share his take-aways from the event.

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What a joy to be guest blogging for Jacki today! Recently I was able to take part in a marvelous discussion that explored some of the challenges currently facing associations and their designers.

This past Wednesday, ASAE’s Communication Section Council presented “Design on a Dime,” looking at the best ways to get the most out of a tight budget or limited time restraints, whether working with an in-house design team or an outside firm. Speakers included Wendy Bogart, Director of Graphic Design, Council for Advancement and Support of Education; Amy Miedema, Senior Director of Communications, American Academy of Audiology; and Rita Zimmerman, Communications Coordinator, American Inns of Court.  As a communications professional who is NOT a designer, I was struck by how much of the discussion was really about good management and effective planning, even if couched in the vocabulary of design. Put simply, no design, no matter how compelling or aesthetically innovative, can afford to be disconnected from strategy and budget.

The panel provided straightforward tips that should help you control time and money while still promoting effective design. These should help you whether you are the communications director trying to control your design costs or the designer trying to win and maintain business.

Developing a Cohesive and Proactive Strategy

• Consider all potential uses for a brand or logo. When you create pieces, constantly think of multiple and reinforcing applications. A riveting design is great; flexibility with that design is even better.
• Make sure that your annual budget is realistic in estimating costs. This means that you must consider artwork, design, printing, mailing, and postage for all the elements you hope to develop.
• Develop a design request form that each department must complete, including project name, budget, business objectives, target audience, schedule and deadlines, design medium, quantity, etc.
• Discuss and enforce timelines. By educating non-designers on how long they should plan for design, printing, blue-line, or other activities, you can manage their expectations up front.

Creating Great Artwork with a Shrinking Budget

• Collaborate with other organizations in your industry. You might be able to create photos that more than one organization can use, albeit in different contexts.
• Use typography as a design element.
• Develop cost-effective ways to photograph subjects for use in your publications and web site. With skillful planning, you may use a single event to develop materials that you will use in many different publications.
• Consider using a subscription service or micro stock. Used creatively, these photos or graphics do not have to look like stock elements. Don’t confuse stock with cliché.
• Create your own art.
• Set a budget for each publication and stick to it.

Managing Your Workflow

• Only go to a designer when you have planned out all contingencies and considered all potential applications of the artwork.
• Define what you mean by final copy. You must define in advance how many reviews and corrections may occur. Otherwise, multiple reviews and proofs will destroy your budget.
• Make sure your “final” decision-makers review and sign-off on design at the earliest possible time. If you wait until the final proof to get buy-in, you may end up re-doing the design and paying for it twice (or more!).

Most of these suggestions are basic and reflect common-sense management practices. Unfortunately, too often we are beguiled by sexy design and forget management 101.

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Richard Belle is President of Belle Communications, LLC, a communications consulting firm in Bethesda, MD. Services include communication audits, proposal coaching, technical writing, technical editing, and awards preparation. Please visit the web site at www.bellecomm.net or contact Richard at
Richard@bellecomm.net.

Filed under: client, events, tips by richard on March 10, 2010
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It’s hard to believe that we’re kicking off the third month of 2010. This year is our busiest yet and we’re eternally grateful to our clients for keeping us so busy! Since the beginning of the year we’ve welcomed two new clients to our roster — Ein Communications, one of the nation’s top boutique PR firms, as well as Saint Armand Ventures, an elite networking group based in New York City. We’re looking forward to an ongoing relationship with both of these clients. In addition to our new additions, we’ve continued to grow our relationship with GYMR PR, The Nature Conservancy, and athenahealth by taking on new projects in 2010.

In addition to keeping up with work from our clients, we have some updates we want to make our clients and fans aware of:

Things We’re Th!nking About

As you may have noticed over the past few weeks, we’ve launched a new series on our blog titled “Things We’re Th!nking About.” Through Twitter, Facebook, and our RSS feeds, we stumble upon quite a few interesting articles on a weekly basis. This series will aggregate the articles we think are the most relevant for our clients into one central location. Below each article, we post the general topics the articles touch upon so you don’t have to click through on every link — only the ones relevant to you. We’ll try and post the latest articles at least once a week on the blog, but you can always access our real time feed here.

Online Sketchbook

In addition to posting relevant articles to delicious, we’ve also launched an online sketchbook on Posterous. Here, we’ll post examples of beautiful design, typography, color palettes, and other things that make our design heart tick. Feel free to grab some inspiration here for your own projects.

Facebook

As if keeping up with us on Twitter, our Website, blog, delicious, and Posterous wasn’t enough, Think Tank Creative is also on Facebook. In addition to linking to our blog posts, we also post fun things on our Facebook page (we recently told you how to get free pancakes!). Join our 120-plus fans to stay up-to-date with the latest!

*NEW* Thanks for Th!nking of Us

New this month, Think Tank Creative is launching its “Thanks for Th!nking of Us” program. Our clients — past and present — have always been our best form of advertising, and we think it’s important to say “thank you.” So, beginning March 1, we’re launching our referral program. For every referral that results in a new project, we’ll say thank you with a discount on your next project or a little gift to say thanks! Contact us for full details.

*NEW* Designing for our Most Difficult Client

Our final announcement for today, is that we’re about to embark on a redesign of our Website. Sigh. The redesign is bittersweet — it we last redesigned our site about five years ago, so we’re anxious to rip it apart and come up with something new and exciting. But it has been our site for five years. We definitely know what our clients go through at the prospect of a redesign. Plus, designing for me. UGH! There isn’t a client in the world that’s as big a pain as I am. Maybe I should hire a designer to torment with the redesign (I mean to handle the redesign…). But really, it is going to be a great project. And we’re going to look to you — our clients, fans and readers — to help us. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be asking for your opinion on the site as it exists today, what you’d like to see, and what you think about our competitors sites. The best part is, we’ll be blogging the whole entire (good, bad and ugly) process. Stay tuned!

Filed under: online, think tank by jacki on March 1, 2010
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Once again, we’ve asked Mike Harper, account executive and promotional product genius, at Summit Marketing to provide some unique ideas for promotional products that are sure to get noticed and that will keep your brand in front of your customers long after they’ve left the floor.

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Aircube Laptop Case 14.1”
No more hassling through safety check-points! Traveling with your computer should make life easier, not more inconvenient. The Aircube Notebook Sleeve that features Patent Pending Air Cell Technology for protection makes check-point friendly design for fast security clearance in airports and buildings. Aircube is available in pink, blue and black.

Cardboard Speakers
Size: 3.5″ x 3.5″ x 3.5″
These Speakers are amazing! They come neatly packed in a decorated box and unfold into 2 speakers ready to plug into your computer, iPod or portable music device. Their size makes them easy to pack and go.

Reusable Beverage Sleeve
Get others talking by making a boring bottle or can more festive. These great nylon “tattooed” sleeves can be used anywhere such as picnics, concerts, fundraisers, or even at the office. Customize with your own logo.

Pedometer Media Case
Getting ready to take that run or walk and ask yourself where you put your keys, phone, money, etc.? Counting your steps could not be easier with this Velcro closure case that is ideal for holding those small items.

Laminate 100% Recycled Shopper
Recycled tote bags have become very popular. They are commonly seen around town as grocery totes, but are rapidly expanding into mall stores. It has become a trend for consumers to “be seen” using re-usable grocery totes, not only to carry their groceries, but to carry around everything from library books to beach gear and they are easy to store. People like to show their eco-responsibility, and these fun colorful bags are a way to say it. They are lightweight and made from 100% recycled material.

Highlighter Strips
Small and compact, perfect for the person on the go! You will not need to carry another highlighter! The small translucent strips are self adhesive, removable and reusable. Also make for great page markers.

Compact Digital Scale
Personal, portable weight scale made of ABS plastic and tempered safety glass. Easily fits into your travel bag. Measures up to 330 lbs. and features a sliding LCD read-out.

Filed under: tradeshows by mike on February 24, 2010
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With decreasing budgets, increasing print costs, and the growth of digital readers, the days of print publications are numbered. Last year we watched one of our favorite magazines, Gourmet, close its doors and watched a publication we helped launch, Security Executive, stop publication. With digital readers such as the Kindle, Nook and now Apple’s recently announced iPad, closing the door is no longer the only option for magazines. Wired magazine recently announced its interactive magazine in response to increased readership online, on mobile devices and the iPad.

Wired focused on three key areas when developing their digital version:

1. Design: Rather than looking to the web development team for the design of the digital version, Wired used its print designers. They approach the design as a storytelling and move the design beyond ink on paper.

2. Advertising: As Wired’s creative director points out, people think of Wired as an authority and the editorial is an important part of the publication. An interactive publication provides opportunity to incorporate additional features in the advertising. The video below showcases some of the opportunities.

3. Brand: Wired readers have a relationship with the brands in the publication, and as Scott Dadich, Wired’s creative director, points out, ”we have a great website, we have a great print magazine, and this is just adding one more avenue of communicating and connecting with the brand of Wired.”

Filed under: online, publications by jacki on February 22, 2010
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