The long and the short of it!

Having spent a number of years in the advertising and design industry as an Account Director, I can whole-heartedly confirm that most art directors and designers will not read your brief once you’ve finished talking through it (note: I’m excluding copywriters here as they do need the detail of a brief to be able to write accurately).

In the context of social etiquette, this might be perceived as being a little bit rude. However, in our industry this isn’t the case. Those who are fortunate enough to be creative tend not to rely on words – they live their lives through visual experiences and as such, it’s not that they’re not interested in what you’ve written; it’s just that they’ve already worked out the direction whilst listening to you (quick, aren’t they?).

So why even write a brief then? Well, it’s still a valuable document – it’s just more valuable to the account team. The brief provides an explanation from the client marketing team to ensure that the account handler has a firm grasp of what it is the brand is trying to achieve. It’s this platform that will form discussions with the creative team to decipher the strategy behind it and proves an invaluable sense-check against the creative output before a client is presented with a concept.

The importance of a good brief is to ensure that it doesn’t become diluted in translation. Often, creative needs re-visiting for the sole reason that the client has something very specific in mind that they’ve either struggled to communicate, or the account team has misinterpreted.

At Truth, 90% of briefings happen with the client, account handler, AND creative director. Interestingly, it’s quite astonishing at how people interpret briefs very differently, but our method ensures that we evoke lively debate – rather than being ‘off-brief’; something that can often be costly and frustrating (for both parties).

It’s the role of the account team to scribe the brief into succinct and manageable chunks, providing a synopsis of the problems and the ambitions of the brand. That way, when the brief is communicated to the design team, it’s done in an immediate and organised way – without sending them to sleep because you’re too bogged down in the detail.

Good design is best achieved by a short but encompassing brief – and like the output of design, the brief works well when you know what to leave out. Which leads me on to the most important aspect of a client brief. The problem.

Designers (and agencies) produce their best work when they know what the problem is. Designers are problem-solvers; so instructing them what something should look like on whatever you need producing is a bit of a waste of time. A problem isn’t that you’re unsure as to whether a brochure or an eDM would work best; it’s that you need to increase your brand reach – designers will work out the rest. And, you’ll get an end product that works as hard as it can for you. Money better spent then.

Finally, here are a few pointers to ensure you get the very best from your agency:

1. What’s the background?

Tell me (in a paragraph) what the brand is, how it’s performing and why you’ve been challenged to resolve something.

2. Where are you now?

If your brand were a person, what would you be? Tell me what you are.

3. Where do you want to be?
Tell me who you want to be – and make it tangible.

4. What do you want to achieve?

Be realistic. What’s the best outcome of the project to elevate the brand?

5. Who do you want to talk to?
Who’s your audience and why do you want to talk to them?

6. Why will they care?

This is important. What has your brand got to offer that others don’t? How will your brand change your audiences’ life?

7. Must’s and Must Not’s.

If there’s anything off limit (e.g. brand mark, photography use) state it. Otherwise, your concept will be great, but not necessarily something you can run with.

8. Budget.

Yes, we know clients hate sharing budgets – but sometimes it saves a lot of to-ing and fro-ing. It means that the brief can be shaped to your budget and without the embarrassing conversation along the lines of an approved concept that you want executing for half the price.

A leaving thought… keep it tight and to the point, tell us the problem and be open to suggestion.

Happy writing….

Jo Scott

Your brand mark (or logo if you prefer) is the face of your brand, the thing people relate to, they either like your face or not. Yeh, ultimately it’s what’s inside what counts, and that is where ‘Brand Experience’ comes in. But, as we all know, a good first impression is vital, so your face needs to fit.

As brands get older they pass through many stages of their life.

New Arrivals.
New brands have a baby face, cute, new, and refreshing. They are a novelty at first until the reality sets in. You take pleasure watching them learn to walk.
But what will they look like, as they grow older. The choices you make now will affect them forever.

The Rebellious Teenager.
A teenage brand has a changing face; it moves with the times, it may change its looks with fashion as the decades pass. It thinks it’s a rock star.
It has a snarl on its face, an attitude; it thinks it knows absolutely everything. But it still needs the steady hand of discipline or it will self destruct, and eventually leave the rails.

Mid-Life Crisis.
As your face gets older you start to panic, should I change. You don’t know whether to twist or stick, gamble or amble.
Do you do something drastic and become a 30 something rebellious teenager?
You could end up looking like your dad dancing at a disco. Or, do you learn to deal with the fact you are becoming a grandad.

The Weathered Look.
Some brands have a tired look; they may have let themselves go a bit. Or been out in the wilderness for some years. Usually this can be reversed without the need for plastic surgery.
Usually just a good scrub, a good shave and a sharp haircut will do the trick.

The Grandad.
The more mature brand is like your grandad. It has a distinguished face that commands respect, but is also equally loved. It has slowly matured as it has survived life’s challenges.
Older faces don’t need to be radically altered. If your grandad gets a haircut he is just a sharper version of your grandad, right?
He looks a bit fresher, maybe even younger. If he has a nose job, a facelift, or maybe even dyes his hair, people will laugh, and never look at him the same again. The damage is done and you undo all the years of building up your well respected reputation.

There are plenty of brands that are great successes and almighty failures in each of these stages. There is no good and bad stages here, just correct or incorrect brand positioning and execution.

Following on from previous years successful posters by Milton Glaser (4), Supermundane (3), Si Scott (2) and our own Darren Scott did the first one, we asked design legend and Dutch superhero Wim Crouwel to design a number 5 for our 5th in the series of Birthday Posters.

He kindly agreed to donate his time and produced a stunning number 5.

The posters are the usual limited edition of 200 and will be given to ‘Friends of Truth’ as a commemorative gift.

For those of you not familiar with the work of Wim Crouwel see the biography below:

Wim Crouwel Biography

Wim Crouwel is a Dutch graphic designer and typographer. Born in Groningen in the Netherlands in 1928. Between 1947 and 1949 he studied Fine Arts at Academie Minerva in Groningen. In addition to that, he studied typography at what is now the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. Crouwel’s graphic work is especially well known for the use of grid-based layouts and typography that is rooted in the International Typographic Style.

In 1963, he was one of the founders of the design studio Total Design. From 1964 onwards, Crouwel was responsible for the design of the posters, catalogues and exhibitions of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. In 1967 he designed the typeface New Alphabet, a version of which appears on the album sleeve of Substance by Manchester band Joy Division. Other typefaces from his hand are Fodor and Gridnik.

In 1970 he designed the Dutch pavilion for Expo ’70 (Osaka, Japan). A design of Crouwel that is well known in the Netherlands is that of the Number Postage Stamps for the Dutch PTT (in circulation from 1976–2002).In the years Crouwel was working for Total Design, he designed many geometric wordmarks, one of which is the wordmark for the Rabobank, designed in 1973.

In addition to his work as graphic designer, he was also active in the educational field. In the 1950s he worked as a teacher at the Royal Academy for Art and Design in ‘s-Hertogenbosch (currently called Akademie Voor Kunst en Vormgeving St. Joost or AKV|St. Joost) and at the predecessor of what is now the Gerrit Rietveld Academie. Between 1965 and 1985 he was connected to the department of industrial design of the Delft University of Technology. From 1987 to 1993 he was extraordinary professor in the fields of History, Arts and Culture Studies at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. In the years 1985–1993 he was director of the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam.

Honours

1958 and 1966 – De H.N. Werkmanprijs

1965 – The Frans Duwaerprijs

1991 – The Piet Zwart Prize

1991 – The Jan-Stankovsky-Preis (Germany)

2004 – The BKVB Funds Oeuvre Award (National Foundation for Art, Design, and Architecture)

2009 – The Gerrit Noordzij Prize

Soup Poster by Paula Scher - Pentagram NYC

To celebrate their tenth anniversary TEAM Impression in Leeds (one of Truth’s favourite printers) have embarked on an exciting year long project, ‘Ten’. For ten months TEAM’s
e-bulletins will feature articles and accompanying posters which are the result of collaborations between some of the world’s most prestigious names in graphic design; Domenic Lippa, Paula Scher, Hamish Muir, Vince Frost, Eric Spiekermann, Ken Garland, Bryan Edmondson, Adrian Shaughnessy and Truth’s very own Darren Scott.

What is Ten all about?

In her essay in Team’s book of last year, Process is Form, Caroline Roberts explored the designer’s relationship with print processes; the obsessive attention to detail and the ‘almost fetishistic’ appreciation of printed work, techniques and equipment.

For Team, it was the start of a fascinating dialogue, an opportunity to explore the true impact and meaning of the processes we use and a chance to explore our own craft origins and ethos. And, as 2011 will be Team’s tenth anniversary year, we have a further incentive to look back and reflect.

In this dialogue, the word ‘process’ itself merits some scrutiny, deriving as it does from the old French procesmeaning journey, which in turn was derived from the Latinprocessus (to advance, go forward). In looking back, we are looking at how we approach the future, in looking at the value of our processes we are looking at how we proceed.

The next step on this particular ‘journey’ for Team is the Ten project. The baton of this narrative is now in the hands of ten experts (and their expert collaborators) who, for the next ten months will provide an essay and an image to explore this topic and the vital elements of teamwork and collaboration. It could be argued that the reason that print processes hold so much appeal for designers is that they represent teamwork and collaboration at such a close, deep and intimate level. What is closer, more collaborative, than a printer and his or her press, ink on paper or foil and a dye? Roberts touched on the importance of this in her essay; ‘The word collaboration is bandied around with almost alarming regularity, but when it’s successful, the results can be stunning.’

Steve Fisher, Team Impression.

The Prince’s Trust ‘Team Programme’

For each of the ten articles commissioned, Team will be donating £500 to The Prince’s Trust ‘Team Programme’, helping young unemployed people.

Additionally, all proceeds from the sale of the posters will be donated to The Prince’s Trust. In November, all ten articles and artwork will be available in a beautifully produced limited edition book, all proceeds again going to The Prince’s Trust.

How to purchase a poster

A strictly limited edition of 100 A2 posters of each of the ten collaborators artwork, beautifully printed by Team and individually numbered, will be available soon via the this website. The first 25 copies of Paula Scher’s ‘Soup’ poster can be reserved at a special reduced pre-order price of £25.00 plus free P&P (UK only) by emailing Steve Fisher.

info@team-impression.com

All proceeds will go to The Prince’s Trust ‘Team Programme’.

The typeface was custom drawn using a modular grid based approach to it’s overall construction, without becoming too geometric in it’s appearance. The cut away pieces or (ink traps) were something True North wanted to utilise to give it a more industrial rugged feel.

It is great to finally see it applied to the building, which was built by another Truth client Wates Construction. The large extruded metal exterior signage and interior vinyls look really impressive (see images).

The museum also has a great collection of industrial posters and banners featuring some really great historical typography from the last century.

Olivia is currently studying her GCSEs at Culcheth High School

At first, I had no idea what I wanted to do for work experience. Some of my friends were going to their parent’s workplace (not being bothered to find somewhere they were really interested in working). Some were going to local shops (a place close to home so they can get away easily) and some were going to primary schools (they knew the employer and thought not much actual work was involved).

But I didn’t want to experience any of those work places. What is the point in going to your parent’s work, when you probably have different aspirations and interests from your parents and they talk about their work at home all the time? What is the point in working at a local shop when you have the opportunity to do that and get paid whenever? What is the point in going to your primary school if you were educated there previously and know what happens in this workplace?

I wanted to go to a place where I’d possibly like to work when I leave school. Somewhere that would be beneficial to me.

So after thinking of all the jobs I wanted to do and what kind I’d be good at, I decided to opt for a design agency – me being creative and interested in graphic design, branding and packaging design.

I expected to be sat in an office, watching the employees work on design projects and maybe be assigned to do some photocopying or filing. However, this was not the case. I went to a brilliant design agency in Manchester called Truth Design Consultancy, where I was involved in explanations of briefs, given small projects to work on and was introduced to every job in the agency.

When seeing all the work of the agency and the different services they provide, I realised that I am not just interested in the designing, but I am attracted to the management side and the PR side of the company in particular. As I have always been a creative person, I presumed I would be more interested in the design aspect of the agency than any other aspect. But when I met with the Truth PR team and found out about what they are required to do, how they do it and the results of their work, I related it to myself and recognised that I am also a rather a social person as well as creative and could be good at a job in PR.

From experiencing the work in the agency, I have learnt that every employee has a job that contributes greatly to the end result of what the clients need, whether it is communicating with the client, making sure everybody is on task, designing or organising things – every job is important.

I believe that work experience is very important and beneficial to people at an early stage of when they are deciding what the may want to do as a job in the future, because:

-       It allows young people to experience the world of work and decide if that type of work is what they want to do.

-       It shows young people the skills that are required to be successful in a job they may want to do.

-       It may lead to meeting people who could be useful, for example, they can give career advice or alert you of any vacancies.

-       It may even give you the opportunity of having a permanent job if you show yourself in a good, professional way to the employer and they believe you will benefit the company in the future.

Overall, Truth Design has provided me with a very enjoyable and helpful experience throughout the week of work experience, giving me a truthful insight into the business and all the services they provide for their clients. The writer and poet, Oscar Wilde once said ‘Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes’ – many of my friends may agree that the place they chose to experience work was a mistake as they didn’t learn anything of interest to them, but I definitely don’t regret experiencing work at Truth.

Olivia Lacide.

The inaugural Manchester Design Symposium has ‘The Value of Design’ as its central theme. The event brings together leading thinkers and practitioners from the design world to explore the role and value of design across a range of mediums.

Speakers include:
Jonathan Barnbrook
Studio Dumbar
Si Scott
Music

- with more speakers to be confirmed.

The event will be chaired by Professor David Crow,
Dean of Manchester Metropolitan University’s Faculty of Design.

Design-led networking events will take place afterwards in Manchester’s Northern Quarter in association with Northern Digitals (Events TBC). The event is developed by Design Initiative in partnership with Independent Northern Creatives, Manchester City Council and Manchester Metropolitan University.

Manchester Design Symposium
1-6pm, 23rd March 2011
Manchester Metropolitan University, Geoffrey Manton Building,
Rosamund St West (off Oxford Road), Manchester M15 6LL

Tickets on sale week commencing Feb 14th 2011.

For more information contact: richard@designinit.org.uk

www.manchesterdesignsymposium.com

To mark 25 years in business, we designed and wrote this celebration book (view project). After seeing the normal sized version (just under A4) they decided to print a giant-sized A2 versions for reception.