The process of having your ad designed can be a glorious, creative, frustrating one. You have one idea, the designer has another, and somewhere in the middle is something you didn't really want but settle for anyway. What kind of ad is that? No ad at all! While the Design Team here at PMG does work for fundraisers and the goal is to help the kids in the end (and really, the point is to show community support), an advertisement is an advertisement. You should be able to have something on the poster that represents you and your business with clarity, right?
"But Ash," you might say, "those crazy designers are always running off with their own ideas! They never do what I want!"
Well never fear, proud sponsor. Whether your ad is completed, just needs tweaking, or needs to be designed from scratch, we have some useful hints for how to get that ad that you really wanted from that silly design team, and from any other designer you might work with.
1) Never say, "Just make it look good." Unless you really mean it, of course. If you tell a designer to use their discretion to make the ad, they will do so. You are giving them license to do what they feel is best. While a designer is a professional and has a good grasp of what works, they may not know enough about your business or your message to get it to come across. So unless you genuinely have no preferences for the outcome, try not to bring generalizations to the work table. Instead, provide the designer with a basic outline of information that you want to express in your ad and say "But I'm really not sure how to go about it, can you give me some ideas?" This opens a dialogue of options that the designer can give you, which gives you the chance to narrow down what would be best for your business. You might be surprised at how different your idea and a designer's can be!
2) Remember your space restrictions. Nobody wants to read a novel in a 2"x1" space, or even in a 6"x4" space. Trying to cram a lot of text or ideas into a small space will be stressful for you and the designer. Keeping your size requirements in mind will help you and the designer to develop a good plan for utilizing your space to it's maximum. This point goes hand in hand with...
3) Make sure that the images you provide are at the right size and resolution. There is nothing more frustrating than having to take a tiny, low-resolution image and make it look cohesive with better quality elements in an ad. If you can't find a higher resolution image, talk to the designer about it and see if there are alternatives. After all...
4) The designer wants to work with you, not against you. The Design Team here at PMG especially prides itself in doing their best to make the sponsor ads look good. It advertises your business, but every ad that the Design Team works on is also something they create. We take great pleasure out of having an array of spiffy-looking ads every season that we helped make! Even if your ideas are different than the designer's, remember that they are trying to make your ad look its best. After all, designers are people, too.
5) Always ask for a proof. Even if the ad is being changed a small amount, you need to see that it was adjusted the way that you want it to be. Don't be afraid to tell the designer that you need proofs of each change made so that you know what to expect when it's time to print. This will help your designer know that you are happy with the work.
6) If you know what you want to do with the ad, outline your instructions as clearly as possible. This includes the layout of the text, the color scheme, the exact verbiage, and any images you want to include. If you are using a logo with a font that you want to be carried through the ad, tell the designer which font and which style it is. Saying that you want the body text to be Times New Roman bold and the header to be Times New Roman Italicized is a good example.
7) Talk to your designer. Exchanging emails is fine, but calling to talk to the designer is always a good way to make sure that you got your ideas across. Remember to communicate frequently with your designer during the design process so that everyone is on the same page.
8) Lastly, remember that designers are people too! The Design Team have families and responsibilities and pets and Taco Tuesday. We always try our best, but sometimes we make mistakes too. Hard to believe, I know! If you are patient with our typos and errors then we will be patient with yours. After all, everyone has a bad day now and again, right?
Keep these things in mind and things will go smoothly both with the Design Team and with other designers you might work with. We're looking forward to working with you!
Happy art-ing!
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