At the start of a project, it is important to carefully examine your business and design project objectives to make sure you and the designer are on the same page throughout the creative process. Here are a few questions adapted from about.com to get you started:

Describe your company. What do  you do? What are your competitive advantages?

If storytelling is not your thing, demonstrate your product or service; bring a sample or anecdotes; give a compelling example of how it works. This will be a definite springboard for graphic inspiration.

Who is the target audience?

Find out who you are designing for. This will have a great impact on the style, content and message of the project. For example, a postcard aimed at new customers will be completely different from one aimed at existing customers. Some variables that can impact design include:

• Internal (i.e. employees of the company) or external customers
• Age
• Geographic location
• Gender
• Depending on the project, factors like economic status and religion may also come into play.

What is the message?

Consider what message you are trying to get across to the target audience. The overall message can be something as simple as thanking customers or announcing a new product. Once that is established, go beyond it to find out the “mood” of the piece. Is it excitement? Sadness? Compassion? Gather some keywords that will help with the overall style of the design.

If a group of people from your company will be involved in the design decision-making process, consider asking each person to come up with a few words that they think describe the mood of the message, and brainstorm from there.

What are the specs of the project?

You may already have an idea of specifications for a design, which is helpful for determining the time involved in the project, and therefore the cost. For example, a 12-page magazine will take much longer than a 4-page foldout. If you’re not sure what you are looking for, ask what the designer would recommend.

The amount of text content to use, the project’s budget, and the final use of the design may all affect these decisions. Before any design is started, determine:

• Dimensions
• Number of pages
• Black and white vs. 2-color vs. 4-color printing
• Paper stock
• Size of print run (the number of pieces to print)

What is the budget?

Maybe you don’t want to disclose this information to you designer up-front, or maybe you have no idea how much to set aside for the project you have in mind. That’s okay! Come in, ask as many questions and request as many quotes as you’d like, then go back to the drawing board to analyze your budget. This info will help to determine the scope of the project and helps you feel confident and focussed when discussing your vision with the designer.

Is there a specific deadline?

Does the job coincide with a product launch, or another important milestone?  Your creative team will often be juggling a variety of jobs from a variety of clients at one time, so if you know you will need a project completed by a certain date, it’s good practice to approach your designer well ahead of schedule to ensure they will have enough time to fit you in. If a spontanious project comes up, however, they will try their best to make it work and give you a realistic estimation of when it could be tackled.

As with budgets, timelines should be discussed prior to the start of the work so everyone involved is on the same page and there are no surprises.

Can you provide creative direction?

Whenever possible, it is helpful to give at least a little creative direction to your designer. Share your story and your enthusiasm. Your designer will be creating something new and unique for you, but some ideas will help them get started in the right direction. Are there are any designs, design elements or other cues you can provide, such as:

• Colors
• Fonts
• Works of art
• Other designs
• Websites

It is also important to let your designer know if there is an existing brand that you need to match. You may have a colour scheme, typefaces, logos or other elements that need to be incorporated into the design. This will help the working relationship and design process go smoothly.

Embrace these questions! They’re the point where your understanding of your business and your strategic plan reaches a creative team. Your answers become both a useful tool and inspiration for your designer.