Toast

Effective Marketing Communications

Posted by Simon on March 4, 2009

Does getting there define where you go?

Some design agencies are so clever they have an idea of where a project will go, even before the brief – the job becomes more about them and their agency style and far less about you and what you want to communicate. Toast believe in design done differently – the correct process ensures the best results and that if you cut corners you cut effectiveness.

The correct process, as defined by Toast Design, is: Talk, Plan, Create, Discuss, Develop and Deliver

This process is not unique to Toast, as most agencies will follow this (or something very similar) in the production of their designs. The difference between agencies is the way in which they complete this process. Some agencies will abbreviate or ‘tip their hat’ to one element or another almost always with the same objective in mind: to complete job as quickly as possible.

Completing jobs on time is every designer’s goal but not when it’s at the expense of the client and the job. Too many times the job will go from initial discussion/brief straight to 3 worked up potential ideas; which are presented to clients with the expectation that they can only choose ONE. This completely takes the clients involvement out of the design process ensuring all their insight and knowledge is not reflected in the end result. The finished design work can look reasonably smart and appear to answer the brief but the rush to create finished visuals may mean the work is not as effective as it could have been.

More time and effort should be applied to ensuring that the concepts are right and that the brief has been investigated and developed. This cannot be achieved if visuals are created straight from the brief and instantly worked up on computer. The rush to use the capabilities of computers and their ever more sophisticated software means that technology is replacing skill and judgment. If you get the concepts right then the finished artwork will always be considerably more effective. Getting the concepts right involves something more powerful & effective than computers and software: Pen and Paper.

Pen and Paper have been used for centuries to convey thoughts and notions, long before keyboards and screens. Leonardo da Vinci sketched magnificent machines like helicopters and submarines and he did this with pen and paper. If you cut corners and lose the beginning of the process then you undermine and weaken the end result.

"At Toast, the start of the creative process is the most important. With many design agency portfolios looking similar, it's important for clients to know what differentiates design agencies - the reason many of our clients chose Toast is down to our ideas. We're not in the business of creating slick visuals that account managers then 'sell' into clients, we're about working with our clients, with pens and paper to explore and define creative directions. The results are successful, with one project generating many ideas, both for the project in-hand and for future development"
Chris Tymon, Creative Director, Toast Design.

Toast work with their clients (ideally) face to face, discussing the brief and formulating rough conceptual scamps that capture the initial requirements of the brief showing several different avenues and multiple possibilities; all the while sharing them with their clients. It is from these initial workings that the correct direction or approach can be formulated and used to work up visuals. In working with clients this process ensures that the visuals shown are exactly what the client requires and not the first time the client has seen something.

Rough scamps take minutes to complete and due to their nature can investigate layouts, formats and concepts that could take hours to generate on computer, and if you are picking up the bill its nice to know what you are paying for. A pad full of ideas may show how a job works with other channels and materials opening opportunities for greater integration and effectiveness.

When choosing an agency, how they create and develop their ideas for your marketing requirements should be as important (if not more important) that their hourly rate or work they have done for over clients. Next time you talk to your designer about a job ask them for their BEST ideas not their easiest ideas.

If you want to talk to designers that always put ideas first then call Toast today (01295 266644) and make the most of your marketing budget.

If you want to read more about Toast design process you can read more here.

Tags: big ideas, communications, marketing

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