What Does a Graphic Design Agency Do?
I realise this might sound like a really stupid question – but it isn’t. The question is deceptively simple, after all, we provide graphic design services, right? Right, but you may think that designing logos, brochures, annual reports – all that stuff – is all we do. But we do so much more.
When I say so much more, what we do would make a very long article, too long for a blog entry like this. So in this article, I’ll give three examples of services a (good) graphic design agency delivers to their (our) clients.
Exhibition design an installation
We of course design exhibitions, from smaller vinyl installations to custom-build and everything in between. Our clients tend to come to us for the design, but we look after the whole kit and caboodle. Below is the whole process (excluding the design stage) we take.
The first step is a site visit and a comprehensive measure of the space. We identify all the viable areas we can utilise in the design. We take videos and photographs and identify entrances, exits and pathways. The final plan needs to be highly detailed: down to skirting board height, visual obstructions (for instance pillars), power sources, etc. This isn’t necessary if we are designing for a ‘shell scheme’ or a floorplan in an exhibition hall. In that case, we liaise with the exhibition organisers and get the plans.
The next stage is the design stage, as I say, we’ll leave that for another article.
Assuming we do not need to remove any existing installation, we liaise with the facilities manager or the exhibition organisers to set an installation date. This involves parking, access and contacts for the day.
We also need to provide a RAMS (Risk Assessment Method Statement) to the venue before we install it.
On the day of installation, one of our team will attend to review and perform any snagging.
At the end of the exhibition, we will arrive for a removal and knockdown, leaving the site as we found it and recycling the material or even storing/reuse for future shows.
There is a bit more to it than that, but I wouldn’t want to bore you. The point being – which is the point of this whole article – is that a graphic design agency like ours does a lot more than deliver design services.
Annual Report Stakeholder Comms
Navig8 are experts in delivering world-class annual reports for global organisations. All good. Our clients expect that from us. But like everything, there is a whole lot more to delivering the complete annual report stakeholder Comms.
I’m going to leave out any digital, online, interactive report. I’ve covered that in other posts. So despite the movement to more digital solutions, many organisations still need to pursue a combined digital and print-based solution.
Again, let’s set aside the design process and focus on the other aspects of delivering a wider corporate reporting project.
Most stakeholder Comms include a range of ‘additional’ Comms that need to be delivered.
To be brief then, these are the additional services we provide.
The package includes (and not exclusively) these additional services:
An AGM notice
Letter to the stakeholder
A proxy vote form
A Companies House ‘ready PDF’
Most organisations host their stakeholder data with organisations that specialise in managing stakeholder data. We liaise with them to ensure the mailing data is secure, clean and in good order for mailsort.
We print the material, specify an appropriate carrier (usually a broad envelope) and arrange for all of the stakeholder Comms to be correlated, inserted and ready for mailing. This is called fulfilment and the service delivers an end-to-end service to our clients – we take care of everything.
Brand Compliance
Lastly, let’s look at brand compliance. Every graphic design agency expects to deliver designs within a brand – it is a given. We will of course make sure the logo position is consistent, the colour palette adhered to.
In addition to basic brand compliance, when necessary, we go much deeper.
Brand compliance can mean many things, so setting aside getting the logo in the right place and using the right colours, what else do we do to ensure brand compliance?
We review any accessibility standards and aim to surpass them. These include:
Use of colour and type
Alt tagging images
Screen reader-enabled content
Navigable content
There are various levels of accessibility, from RNIB guidelines to W3C. Adobe (amongst others) provides tools to assess accessibility.
Accessibility and brand compliance reach way above and beyond the ‘standard’ brand compliance. So what more do we do?
Most organisations subscribe to the ‘Plain English’ ethos. That may seem straightforward, but when you have authors from different countries or authors whose first language may not be English, it is hard for them to adhere to standards.
Our job is to review and edit content to be on brand, which means not only tone of voice, use of language but also reviewing the use of anacronism.
At a deeper level, content could be reviewed to ensure the data stacks up and the top-level messaging comes to the forefront. This involves a consultation with the CEO and the FCO. It should also underpin the annual report messaging.
So whilst a graphic design agency’s job is to ‘make things look pretty’, the real delivery of a graphic design agency, certainly Navig8, based in London, is to deliver a much wider range of services to our clients, much more than graphic design.
Tone of voice, accepted terms, plain English