Angela Jenkins asked:

‘A picture is worth a thousand words.’ goes the old adage, and no one can question either the truth or the pertinence of the remark. Anyone is naturally more attracted to an image than he or she is to a lot of written words. Keeping all this in mind, advertising for products and services using images and graphics makes a lot of sense.

Symbols have been a part and parcel of the story of human history. All the ancient civilisations and cultures had their own set of symbols and signs that defined their belief system and their way of life. In fact, the alphabets that form the basis of our spoken and written languages have evolved from the pictorial representation of objects around us.

Coming into modern civilised society, these symbols, while changing the role they played, did not lose their pre-eminence in shaping the society. Just think about the **** swastika and the Holy Cross. Symbols have evoked in us all the possible emotions; faith, hatred and love to name just a few.

Keeping the historical and psychological significance of symbols in mind, graphic designers try to create designs that can convey the major features or discerning characteristics of the product or service they are making the designs for.

mdsDESIGN, which was formed in 2002 by Marie deFontenay Coles, is a graphic designing firm providing innovative design solutions to customers all over Australia. The areas covered by mdsDESIGN include high-end graphic design, web design and advertising. Marie deFontenay Coles, the founder of the company also works as the (hold your breath) Director, Client Manager, Art Director, Designer, Print Production, Producer and Receptionist. This is someone who believes in multi-tasking. mdsDESIGN is also a member of the Australian Graphic Design Association (AGDA).

The business model adopted by mdsDESIGN is unique in the field of graphic designing. The boutique style business allows this personalised service, building client relationships and providing complete attention to detail from the initial concept to the final production. With a grand total of 25 years of experience behind her, Marie is sure to provide you with the exact solution for your designing needs. The company provides designs and solutions for: logos, brand or corporate identity, brand naming and identity, brand revitalisation, brochures, leaflets and catalogues, corporate literature, environments/signage, displays, website design, point of sale, packaging, print and press advertising. So for all your design and advertising needs, just visit www.mdsdesign.com.au. On the site you can know more about Marie and mdsDESIGN and also have a look at examples of various creative solutions provided by the company over the years.

graphic design Melbourne asked:

A thoroughly prepared client brief is half the success of a rebranding or design project. Attaining all the necessary and relevant information from the client and a comprehensive insight into the client’s brand provides you with a great foundation for the right brand identity and design solution.

As a designer or brand consultant, a properly prepared client brief gives multiple sources of ideas to work with. Unless you have a clear understanding of what the client wants and needs you waste your time trying to design something out of nothing and the client ends up spending more money than budgeted for as a result of the required modifications…which naturally makes both parties very happy….

Depending on the particular project you will need a specific design brief. That means if you are developing a website or creating a business card, the client design brief will be different. However, there is some general information about your company and what you want to achieve, which should give a good idea in any design situation. Here are some general questions that will help me and fellow designers and consultants:

1. Title 2. What is the nature of your business? What does your business do? 3. What is your target market? a. Age b. *** c. Income d. Occupation e. Location 4. What is unique about your business or product? 5. Who is your competition? 6. What is your aim? What are your goals? 7. How do you want your clients to feel about the brand? What is the message you want to communicate? 8. What is your budget? Range? a. Providing a rough guide enables the consultant/designer with an idea of the type of marketing and design solution that can be provided to you. 9. What is your deadline? 10. Provide the designer with current and past design and marketing materials.

To see how you can improve the image of your brand click here: graphic design Melbourne

Website Design Weston asked:

If you run a business and you have any form of corporate identity then you should care very much. How you present your company to your chosen market is fundamental to its success.

The graphic design process is crucial to any business, making it stand out head and shoulders from the competition. Whether it is the design of an entire corporate campaign or the creation of a simple company logo it still has to work effectively for you. There are four critical elements that should be seen in every logo design:

• It must be describable

• It must be memorable

• It must be effective without colour

• It must be scalable

Fairly obvious really but how does your logo stand up to these criteria? How does your company identity stand out from the competition?

Ask yourself why something is designed in a certain way. Consider why a particular colour is chosen instead of its opposite. Why use this font? Why include this particular graphic here? A good designer will think through every detail of a design and only include elements that will add to the design and re-enforce the brand.

Once your business is up and running you may think that any form of corporate identity will act to represent the company, visually creating a brand by default. Think again. If you look at the large corporations you will notice that their brand strategy stands the test of time for many years.

Many companies never change their logo design dramatically but only make the smallest of changes to keep the design looking modern and refreshed.

Benefits:

• Professional image

• Considered and long-lasting design strategy

• Make your company look bigger

• Stand out from your competition

• More effective

By Ben Smith

- Website design somerset- Professional Website Design Weston-Super-Mare

Gotham Graphic Design Sydney asked:


A design brief is something that is vital to any design project, as it will provide the designer(s) with all the information needed to create a great visual design solution.

There is no single, off-the-shelf format for a design brief but there are a number of key points the agency MUST understand. The project team should create the brief focusing on the results and the business objectives of the design project. All stakeholders should unanimously agree on the content prior to starting the design process. This ensures an effective design solution as well as keeps the expected changes to a minimum.

What are the specifications?

What is the finished size of the completed design?

How is it going to be printed or used?

What other information should the designer know in regards to finished specifications?

Company profile

• What your business does

• What is you USP (Unique Selling Proposition)

• How you fit into your industry sector

Project overview and background

• What are you trying to communicate and why?

• What is the ‘call to action’ or business objective

• Who are your competitors and how do you differ from them?

• Does it need to match existing material, conform to Brand guidelines or is it a new direction for your company?

Benchmark

It is just as important to provide us with what you DON’T want to see along with what you DO want to see in the designs. Provide us with some examples of what you consider to be effective or relevant design even if it is from your main competitors. This will set a benchmark for your project.

This will give the designer an idea of what to steer clear of and will avoid disappointment on your behalf.

Target audience

Provide demographic figures about your audience (in order of importance) that may be useful to the designer. These may include: age, gender, income, tastes, views, attitudes, employment, lifestyle.

Business objectives and strategy

• Generate sales?

• Encourage enquiries?

• Gain newsletter subscribers?

• Obtain information from your audience?

• Encourage them to tell a friend?

What is the time scale / deadline?

Provide a ball-park figure, a budget expectation will give the designer a good idea of the type of solution they will realistically be able to provide. Providing a budget prevents designers wasting valuable time and resources when trying to maximise your budget.

Give the designer a detailed schedule of the project and agree on a realistic deadline for the completion of the work. You should take into account the various stages of the design project such as brief, concept approvals, development, production and delivery.

What copy (text) and pictures are needed?

Tip: The copy and pictures used in a design are as crucial as the design itself and you should clearly state who is going to be providing the copy and pictures if needed. You may need to look into getting a professional copywriter / photographer – ask your designer for some recommendations.

• What copy needs to be included in the design? Who is providing the copy?

• What pictures / photographs / diagrams etc need to be used?

• Who is providing these?

Andy Lomax asked:


Effective graphic design is the applied art of arranging text and images in a way that effectively communicates a message. Effective graphic designers can enhance the image of advertising your company and products through media such as direct mail, flyers, newsletter design, brochure design, annual reports, business cards, letterheads and of course web site design. Graphic design agencies can assist you with all the above stationary to be designed to a good standard and would give you ideas of how to implement brand development.

Effective graphic designers attract people to read the content of your message. People often get their first impression of your company through some communication such as a brochure or flier or even a business card. And the quality of the graphic design influences their reaction. Effective graphic designers build trust and confidence in your company and products and helps in brand development.

At its best, graphic design agencies welds artistic concepts such as colour and shape to the essence of your products or services and takes into account the characteristics of the consumer and their trends.

Effective graphic design is also a key component of brand development. Consumers respond to graphic images such as logos, and skillful graphic design companies helps make your product stand out in a crowded marketplace.

So though you may be tempted to give your brochure design job to Sid in accounting who’s a dab hand with watercolours, you should realise that the image of your organisation is something that needs a professional’s touch. Graphic design agencies offer a specialised service so outsourcing is your best option. For one thing, pro designers work in many fields and are in touch with the trends of the day.

So how do you go about finding effective graphic design agencies, graphic design companies or graphic design studios? Look for a company with a strong portfolio of memorable designs. Check if you recognise any of the clients the design firm has done work for. And don’t forget that graphic design is an applied art. Designs that are beautiful for their own sakes don’t guarantee commercially viability. Look for designs that indicate the designer has a strong grasp of marketing too.

When you find graphic design agencies, you need to ask them about brand development, advertising etc like, how many revisions the firm will do until you’re satisfied. Clarify such factors as what you’ll get at the end of the project. For example, is printing included? In what format would the graphic design agencies delivery any graphics? There are a host of details like this that you need to consider.

If you want convenience, it’s an advantage to hire effective graphic designers that offers a complete range of services in web development, brand development, advertising and other promotional tasks, along with portfolio management and printing. This means you can leave the whole project to one company which streamlines the whole procedure.

Akhila Choudhary asked:


Brand identity and brand awareness have been two highly discussed and crucial segments while it comes to the success of any corporate house. If Nike is recognized by its swoosh the world over, Adidas does the same with its three stripes. In order to create a corporate theme, all business initiatives are now plunging into the cauldron of graphic designing looking for the best graphic design firms which can do magic for them. As a result, more and more professional graphic designing companies have also been established. And interestingly, professional graphic design has turned into a fulltime career objective for many globally.

For any business house, it’s imperative to promote its products and services relying on a number of advertising means. Advertisements through words, punchlines, media have long been in the scenario. Adding more value onto these, graphic designers are now creating sensational logos, pictures, graphic motifs etc. thus pulling better responses from the onlookers’ side. Billboards, hoarding, glow sings – all are now enjoying creative inputs from corporate graphic design professionals. The proverbial saying ‘A Picture is Worth Thousand Words’ has been further embossed in our creatively thirsty souls – thanks to the field of graphic designing.

Corporate identity matters a lot for a company now. Corporate identity of a firm involves the corporate logo plus design strategy for the purpose of corporate marketing collateral. The firm needs to keep evolving with time, failing doing so, it may seriously affect its brand identity. Hence, extreme care from a professional front must be taken.

Professional graphic designing is a painstaking process. While preparing for a design, the graphic designer needs to focus on a number of factors such as aim of the message, target audience and the medium. And once these are made clear, the designer proceeds further creating the desired graphic/logo organizing texts, fonts, color, size and so on. If you search online, you will see hundreds of graphic design agencies which offer complete graphic designing solutions for all missions. But you need to research a bit to find out the best graphic design agency that can do wonder for you, your business!