BRANDING ALLIANCE Bridging the gap between design and marketing in small business
ACADEMY OF ART UNIVERSITY Midpoint Proposal | 02594374 Kristin Riger
Like building a cathedral, building a brand is a collaborative project. — Marty Neumeier, The Brand Gap
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INDEX
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BACKGROUND PROJECT PROPOSAL DELIVERABLES & AUDIENCE TIMELINE PORTFOLIO WORK RESUME
BACKGROUND
As the Marketing Director of a small business, I was tasked to execute strategic campaigns and projects in which graphic design was a major component. With no formal design training, I needed to know more. Despite the fact that I held a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Business Administration from a prestigious university, I often felt handicapped in my position with this lack of knowledge. My writing skills were above average, but I knew nothing about typography. I was clueless on how to create and manage the development of marketing material. Communicating with printing companies seemed like a foreign language to me. I did not know what to look for when needing to hire a graphic designer, in the unlikely event that I could convince management that we needed one. And my search for reliable resources to help me with my continuous questions was frustrating and often unsuccessful.
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5% Estimated percentage of marketing professionals with a formal design education in 2010. —Bureau of Labor Statistics
PROJECT / CAMPAIGN
SELECTED DESIGN SKILLS REQUIRED
Client Presentations
Typography, Color, Layout, Print Management
Direct Mail Campaigns
Typography, Color, Layout, Print Management, Design Outsourcing
Website Redesign
Design Outsourcing, Brand Management
Identity
Brand Management, Typography, Color, Design Outsourcing
Marketing Trinkets
Packaging, Print Management, Design Outsourcing
Marketing Material
Typography, Color, Layout, Print Management, Design Outsourcing
E-mail Marketing
HTML, CSS, Typography, Layout
Webmaster
HTML, CSS, Typography, Layout
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BACKGROUND
My resources were not as extensive as those often found in larger corporations. In contrast to my situation, large businesses have an intricate network of professionals who are able to fill a variety of different marketing and design positions, from interactive design, to web development, to SEO strategy and content management. Because they have progressed further along in their business cycle, and often have larger budgets, these businesses are fully equipped to execute branding strategies with collaborative teams.
Controller Business Owner
Operations Manager Marketing Director
Brand Marketing Sales Manager
Product Manager User Experience
Content Strategist
Web Editor
Customer Service Public Relations
Marketing Assistant
SEO Specialist
Office Assistant
Information Architect
Technical Writer
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Project Manager
Web Designer
Visual Designer Web Developer
Account Manager
Controller Business Owner
Operations Manager
Account Manager
Marketing Director
Office Assistant
Sales Manager
Marketing Assistant
I started to see holes in the network I needed to execute an effective branding strategy. For small businesses such as the one I worked for, and even some medium-sized organizations, management, marketing and creative teams are much smaller or even nonexistent. In these cases, designrelated tasks are often delegated to professionals with no formal training due to budgetary reasons or lack of design knowledge. With limited resources available, successful branding strategies are much more difficult to develop for these smaller organizations.
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BACKGROUND
When proposing to take steps to improve the design strategies within my organization, I found that management did not feel graphic design was a necessary investment in our budget, nor a valuable use of my time. In addition to limited budgets and resources, a lack of knowledge in the value of design also hinders businesses from executing successful branding strategies. These views below create a sense of doubt, under funding and dismissal of graphic design’s true power.
It should be free or very inexpensive. Many organizations think using free downloads and programs are an ideal substitute for hiring knowledgeable design teams.
It can be passed off to anyone. Small businesses forego hiring in-house designers as a way to cut costs and task unqualified staff to design their materials.
It is dispensable when budgets are tight. Little response to poorly designed materials strengthens the belief that marketing is dispensable, and first to cut from the budget.
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HOW DO SOME PROFESSIONALS VIEW GRAPHIC DESIGN WITHIN SMALL BUSINESS?
FREE
“For small businesses that are on a budget, I would not recommend taking on the expenses for a graphic designer. I would instead suggest utilizing the many free tools out there to design on your own.” — Dan Bowers, Bank of America Small Business Community
EASY
“We have our administrative staff put material together for our meetings with clients. As long as I tell them what information needs to be included, it’s usually a simple task that anyone on the team can handle.” — Jessica, Sales, Gage Investments
FAST
“I can’t imagine why it would take any more than a few days, a week tops, to put together a brochure. Most of the content you can borrow from other websites anyway, so there’s not even much writing involved.” — Tim Pruban, Owner, ISIS Services
EXPENDABLE
“It was always a struggle convincing my manager that we needed a website redesign. He never wanted to spend the money to invest in design projects and felt that our budget was better spent on networking rather than branding.” — Brooke Maynard, Marketing Manager, Sage Software
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This has been the worst economic period since the great depression. Now designers need proof of the value of their work so they can demonstrate it to their clients. — Paula Scher, Unjustified, April 6, 2012
PROJECT PROPOSAL
DURING THESE TIMES, AN OPPORTUNITY EXISTS TO BRING GOOD DESIGN TO SMALL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENTS. It is clear that while compelling graphic design surrounds our daily lives, design standards are often lower in small business environments. This occurs because of a general lack of knowledge in the overall value of graphic design, lower resources due to smaller budgets in a still struggling economy, and the idea that good design can only be afforded with large marketing budgets. It is through better communciation and the realization of design’s value that will continue to increase branding standards in small business. To achieve this, designers must educate marketing teams on design’s value if it is to survive as a viable industry. Drawing upon my own experience in marketing management, I see a unique opportunity to make quality design more accessible and to increase communication between marketing teams and design teams in small business environments.
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By showcasing the theory of design practices, clarifying our choices with reliable resources, and educating branding professionals on design principles, I want to create a product that helps teams in small businesses make better design decisions.
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PROJECT PROPOSAL
DEMYSTIFY
PROJECT GOALS COMMUNICATE
ELEVATE
DEMYSTIFY graphic design in the small business world. Provide a resource that better familiarizes marketing professionals with the principles of design and how to make good design decisions for their organization.
COMMUNICATE with design and marketing teams. Break the barriers of communication between design and marketing teams by helping marketers understand the theory of graphic design and how to more effectively communicate with designers.
ELEVATE the brand of graphic design. Improve the brand of the graphic design industry by elevating standards for businesses whose employees have minimal knowledge of design or for those with lower marketing budgets, ultimately increasing the value of our practice.
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PROJECT PROPOSAL
There are currently countless resources that provide design principles and tools for a wider audience, however, none are all encompassing in educating small businesses with sound design principles. 1. When conducting an Internet search for graphic design and
branding resources, many of the results reveal poorly designed blogs, lists of resources with no guidance on where to start, or graphic design firms marketing their own services or expertise. 2. With the plethora of online resources available, it is hard to determine what is viable and what is not, especially for professionals without prior design experience. 3. Despite the amount of both online and print resources, viable or not, most are not specifically targeted towards small businesses, as well as marketing teams that have limited formal education in graphic design. 4. Most available resources do not specifically address the need to unify the marketing, branding and graphic design related functions within a business or provide a portal to help these parties communicate more effectively.
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70% Percentage of irrelevant or selfpromoting links that appear on page one of Google when searching for “graphic design resource”. The remaining 30% were not targeted towards small business branding.
RESOURCE
WHAT IT DOES DO WELL
WHAT IT DOESN’T DO WELL
AIGA
Go-to resource for all things design
Targeted for designers, weak how-to’s
Small Business Branding
Targeted towards marketers, small business
Poor design, weak resources
Jessica Hische
Well-designed, easy to understand resources
Does not encompass all needs
HOW
Great resources, good usability
Not targeted towards small business
JUST™ Creative
Plethora of advice and design-related links
Too many choices
Graphics
Search capability for tutorials
Too technique focused, poor usability
Design Observer
Excellent design insight and inspiration
No targeted educational resource
Design Mgmt Institute
Great networking and insight resource
Targets mostly management teams
Smashing Magazine
Rich with tutorials, insight and inspiration
Does not connect design to marketing
Lynda.com
Excellent tutorials on design-related subjects
Does not provide online community
Graphic Design Forum
Good resource for asking questions
Poor design, weak guidance articles
All Graphic Design
Very well optimized on Google searches
Poor design, confusing resources
Creative Fan
Diverse articles on design-related topics
Low quality tutorials and advice
Design Shack
Good inspiration and tutorial resource
Caters more towards web design
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DELIVERABLES & AUDIENCE
DELIVERABLES & AUDIENCE Equipped with my experience in marketing management, as well as my graduate education in graphic design, I aim to create an in-depth resource that educates professionals on design principles in order to make better decisions for their business. I envision this to be delivered in two components: 1. Online Resource: An integrated set of information on how to
communicate with designers and how to approach problems where design is involved. 2. Toolkit: This toolkit, which would be available online and in
print, would address design management practices, how graphic design comes into play in effective branding and demystifying techniques in design. My target market for this integrated resource has been divided into three potential tiers of business size, professional and reach, as noted in the infographic (right). As the project progresses, I would narrow this audience as I determine needs based on my research.
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POTENTIAL TARGET BUSINESS
Middle Market Businesses (51-200 employees)
Small Businesses (15-50 employees)
Start-Ups
POTENTIAL TARGET PROFESSIONAL
Marketing Staff Technical Writers
Marketing Management Teams Brand Managers
Business Owners
POTENTIAL TARGET REACH
Nationwide
Regional
Local
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In-House Design Firms Printers Budgeting
DELIVERABLE BREAKDOWN
Hiring
Vendor Interaction
Design Management Color
Presenting Ideas
Effective Branding Web
TOOLKIT
Materials
Print Identity
Technical Guidance
Typography
Programs HTML
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Design Mgmt Branding
Technical Guidance
Instructional Guidance
Inspiration
Grain Edit
AIGA
ONLINE RESOURCE
Industry Links
Insight Design Observer Tools
Noun Project
Kuler
Community
Network Case Studies
Experts
Forum Social Media
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TIMELINE
FALL 2012
TIMELINE FALL 2012 GR 604 / Nature of Identity GR 801 / Thesis Refinement
SPRING 2013 GR 800 / Directed Study WNM 249 / Web Design (Directed Study)
SUMMER 2013 GR 800 / Directed Study
FALL 2013 GR 800 / Directed Study GR 650 / Portfolio Design Seminar GLA 676 / Professional Practices
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FALL 2012 Create a detailed timeline and reach out to marketing and branding teams for feedback on their needs.
SPRING 2013
SPRING 2013 Develop framework for materials and web design and development skills.
SUMMER 2013 Continue to consult with marketing teams and design professionals as project implementation begins and visual style is being established.
FALL 2013
SUMMER 2013
FALL 2013 Finalize deliverables and implmentation of both print and online materials.
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PORTFOLIO WORK
GR600 Visual Communications Lab
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GR601 Type Systems
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PORTFOLIO WORK
GR612 Integrated Communications
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GR613 Type Experiments
FOUR TET
RIBBONS
RINGER
The melodic music of Four Tet is an abstract approach to sound and melodies, incorporating elements of electronic dance, jazz and techno combined with live instrumentation. His ambient sympthony, Ribbons, originally exudes a mysterious, minimalist tone by juxtaposing a high pitched note with slightly heavy bass undertones. High notes are punched into the seething percussion at various speeds and durations, sometimes slow, and others quick and ringing; then distinctly separated, followed up overlapping. The song then gives way to a
feeling of melodic self-discovery and revelation over and over with beats that are equally soothing and energizing. Ribbons is a portal for remembering and reveling in the past, but gives a hopeful sense for what the future holds. It takes you on a journey in a mysterious world, with unfamiliar surroundings, allowing you to become more comfortable, giving way to a sense of belonging. Whether it makes you want to sit back and reflect or get up and dance, the song will make you feel like you are swimming in a wave of genuine emotion.
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RESUME
PROGRAMS
SKILLS
AFFILIATIONS
Adobe CS Lightroom MS Office
Vector Illustration Typography Photography
AIGA American Marketing Association
RESUME EDUCATION Academy of Art University / 2009-present MASTER OF FINE ARTS, Graphic Design University of Illinoisat Urbana-Champaign / 1999-2003 BACHELOR OF SCIENCE, Marketing & Business Administration
WORK EXPERIENCE Focus Management Group / 2004-2012 MARKETING DIRECTOR Managed the marketing team of a B2B financial consulting business in the design and development of strategic marketing plans and branded marketing materials, both online and in print. Freelance / 2005-present GRAPHIC DESIGNER Create designs for a wide variety of clients in applications such as web, print and identity.
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ACADEMY OF ART UNIVERSITY Midpoint Proposal written and designed by Kristin Riger. Copyright Š Kristin Riger 2012 All Rights Reserved.