Project Expectations Handbook

We’re going to push the boundaries of your comfort zone

We understand that you’ve hired us to help you produce a great product. We also understand that design is a weird, touchy-feely kind of thing that can be tough to understand, and it is human nature to be uncomfortable in situations we don’t understand. This uncomfortability often leads to trying to control the situation.

By nature, designers don’t like to be controlled, and because of this they often get a reputation for not listening to their clients and plowing forward with their own agendas. At Strong Design, we try really, really hard to listen well to you and take your ideas and desires into consideration while working on your projects. However, if we take these ideas and feedback too literally we can quickly turn into order takers, which really does you a great disservice.

You see, as designers, our job exceeds merely making something look nice. A great designer not only makes something look nice but also wants to make it work well. It is our job to stay up-to-date on visual design and usability trends and best practices, and help you integrate these into your project so that it can be a pleasant, useful and forward-thinking interaction with your customers. Some of these ideas might feel new or weird to you, but as your designer, we know that they are the way of the future and they want to make sure your project doesn’t enter the world already a step behind. Since you probably don’t spend your mornings researching usability, logo systems, or interface design, you can see how taking your requests or ideas too literally and not taking the time or energy to try to push for other different ideas could end up short-changing your project.

So as hard as we try to be good listeners and respect you as a subject-matter expert on your product and your customers, we also push you to take a step outside of your comfort zone. This might take shape in the suggestion of an uncommon brand color (is a navy blue logo really going to set you apart in a world filled with navy blue logos?), a bold, minimal website layout, or any number of other design factors. We want to listen to your ideas, and we’re excited to integrate the very best ones. However, we’ll also push back with other ideas or point out when a different solution might be better because we want to produce the very best product for your needs.

You might be your own worst enemy

Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy during the design process. It turns out that our brains are hard-wired to second-guess our gut instincts, and often creative, out-of-the-box ideas. Once you understand how the brain works, it can help you be more comfortable with trusting your gut and silencing that Nervous Nellie inside who might just edit the magic right out of your project. Here’s how it works:

There are two parts of the brain: an older part of the brain called the Limbic brain and a newer part of our brain called the Neocortex. The Limbic Brain is responsible for our feelings, such as trust and loyalty, and is responsible for decision-making. It is responsible for our fight-or-flight instincts and is where our ‘gut decisions’ come from. The Neocortex is responsible for our rational and analytical thoughts. It is also responsible for language, whereas the Limbic Brain has no capacity for language.

As we take in information, it must first be processed by the Limbic Brain before it is processed by the Neocortex. The Limbic Brain has the ability to process many minute details of a situation extremely quickly. Often we don’t even consciously know we’ve digested all of these details. Then the information proceeds to the Neocortex, where it is analyzed. Although the Neocortex is just trying to do its job, it often ‘rationalizes away’ a lot of valuable information, which is why we so often realize (too late) that our gut reaction was more accurate than all of our rational thoughts put together. Since the Limbic Brain has no capacity for language, we often find it very hard to verbalize these emotional, gut feelings.

We find this often affects the design process, in that often our clients are initially smitten with an innovative design solution, but then they sit on the designs and pick each solution apart, rationalizing which option to move forward with. Through this rationalizing, they often end up choosing a much safer option, because it is much easier to analyze and explain why it is the ‘right’ choice. However, customers make many decisions every day with their guts. Businesses that appeal to their customers on the gut level are the ones that harbor extreme loyalty from their followers and are able to become leaders in their industry. So know that as we move through the design process, your mind will be at war with itself. We’ll be urging you to listen to your Limbic Brain, even though it has a hard time speaking up so that you don’t rationalize away the magic of your brand.

If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?

It’s really easy to do what everyone else is doing because it is expected. When you’re not totally sure about what to do with your marketing, it’s really tempting to just follow the crowd, but if the crowd’s choices don’t fit your business’ needs, it is just a waste of time and money. We don’t want to stand by and let you do something just because it is what everyone else is doing, so we’re going to challenge you to let go of stereotypes and trends that don’t match up with your needs. This could mean we challenge you to choose a brochure format more fitting for your discerning clientele than a standard trifold, or urge you to remove the social media feed that no one is reading (not even you!) from your website. We want to really evaluate whether that latest trend is really right for you, or whether something else might be a better fit.

How revisions work

We believe iteration is important to the design process. Although not every design requires revision, often it can produce a tighter, more unique design in the end. However, in order to provide you with an estimate, we do have to draw up revision parameters associated with the project cost. The number of revisions included with your project is outlined on the estimate for your project, and you can always add more revisions. A revision constitutes a request for a change or variation to an initially presented, or already revised design concept, and is typically a change of less than 1/4 of the design. It is simply a slight modification or course correction to progress toward the final design. A new design concept is not considered a revision. This means that a new design concept would be an addition to the project, and would need to be estimated separately, in addition to the current project estimate.

Marketing is a living, breathing thing

One of our guiding missions is to create timeless designs for our clients. However, it is important to remember that doesn’t mean you’ll never need to update your marketing pieces. Marketing (especially online marketing) seems to move at the speed of light. Many websites from as little as 3 or 5 years ago are functioning on technology that is practically obsolete. Design changes often, so you need to be prepared to keep your image updated to keep up with these changes. To get the most out of your design, we often challenge design trends that don’t seem sensible and urge you to make choices that seem to have some longevity. As the old adage says, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so if we can act a little more conservatively it can help you invest less in the long run.

Your project is unique, with its own set of advantages and challenges

At Strong Design, we’ve built our business to be able to flex and bend so that we can produce work that is accessible to smaller businesses that might not usually be able to afford professional design. We craft each piece of the project, including the pricing, process, and solution for the specific needs of your business, and try to keep our process as brief and flexible as we can while still providing solid, thought-out design solutions. This means that what you see done for one of our past projects might not always be the exact same thing done for your project, but you can rest assured that we’re working to maximize your resources to make the biggest impact on your organization.

The basic process of a new project

Because we treat each client and each project as its own unique animal, the flow of each project is a little different. However, there is a general flow for most projects. Here are the basic phases: 

Phase 1: External research and discovery

Before we begin any work, we take time to research your industry and understand your business goals to make certain we’re going in a direction that’s unique and aligns with your needs. This phase may include a phone or Skype call, an in-person kick-off meeting, or an in-depth email questionnaire, plus follow-up questions. Depending on the project budget, this phase might also include a brief report to summarize our discussion and findings and provide a foundation for the work to be done.

Phase 2: Internal research and discovery

Once we better understand your business and the landscape of your industry, we start focusing on your project at hand and will start researching and brainstorming ideas for the actual execution of your project. This phase may include studying other logos, websites, apps, or print designs for inspiration, brainstorming, sketching, and creating or refining the visual strategy for your organization’s image.

Phase 3: Project work

At this point, we’ve researched your business, industry, and inspiration for your design, so we’re ready to start producing marketing materials to quickly add value to your business. This might include a website design, print piece or brochure, logo design, or and business system. This phase varies greatly, depending on the type of project, but we’ve created individual guides about what to expect from our most popular type of projects. You can read more about them at the following posts:

What to expect from your website design project »
What to expect from your logo design project »

A few final encouragements

These items are not so much specific views of our studio, but are good ideas to keep in mind as were work through your project.

Great brands are loved and hated

Through the course of the project, you’re probably going to think to yourself “Sally Client would love this!” This thought will quickly be followed by “John Client will hate this.” This is perfectly normal, and at this point, you’re probably going to think that a middle-of-the-road approach will be a great way to go. Before we water the solution down, it is important to remember that great brands are both loved at hated. Great brands don’t try to be all things to all people. This isn’t rude or arrogant on their part, they just know who they are and they boldly move their business forward, unswayed by the naysayers. Consider Apple, there are a host of people who would spend their last dime on their latest iPhone (despite they already have one that works just fine). There are also a bunch of people who actively hate Apple. Apple could easily water their products down to appease the haters, but at that point, they would have destroyed all of the things that their fans love so much and would become just another electronics company. Instead, Apple knows who they are and they don’t waver from their mission. You’re going to be tempted to water things down, but we’d urge you to stand strong, and be ok with a few people disliking you every now and again because chances are whatever the haters display is going to produce an even stronger love among your fans.

Take external feedback with a (big) grain of salt

At some point in the project, you’re probably also going to want to show your logo or website to your spouse or sibling. This is only natural, you’ve known them way longer than you’ve known us, and you trust their opinion. However, we’d advise you to take their opinions with a grain of salt. Although their motivations are pure, they haven’t been through the full design and discovery process that we’ve been through together. We’re not saying you should hide the project from them entirely, just to carefully weigh their ideas against all the research and work we’ve done together to check whether it is in line with everything we’ve decided before making changes based on their opinions.

You are not your target audience

This is a tough one. In most instances, it is important to remember that your customer probably has a different viewpoint from you and might be drawn in by different things than you. Because of this, you’ll want to try to keep your personal feelings out of the design process. You might hate black, but if you run a rock-n-roll nightclub, it might just be applicable to use black on your website despite your personal preferences.

With all that said, we’re super excited to get started on your project! If you have any questions or concerns about your project since reading this handbook, please don’t hesitate to contact us directly at 480-327-8804 or melissa@strongdesign.co.