Brochure Design Questions 1010 Responses

Last post: 1 year, 9 months ago | Thread started: Aug 3, 11, 9:05 p.m.

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• mydo

  About 10% of the work we do is brochure design, but about 30% of the problems we have is brochure design! Looking for some advise.

  How do you guys structure your creative brief?
  Do you insist on ALL content first?
  What payment structure works best?
  At what point do you charge hourly?
  If the brief is ambiguous (eg, make it elegant) What's a good way to work it step by step.

  We rarely have issues with Web and Vi, why are brochures such bastards.
  *production isn't a problem though. :)

  Aug 3, 11, 9:05 p.m. – Permalink

• formula

  Dude, just have a meeting with the client and ASK QUESTIONS. Simple as that.

  • who the shit does brochures anymore anyway? Start-up?– formula1/4

    only time i see brochures is in Walgreens and hotel lobbies.– formula2/4

    Brochures are still being done, but the quantities are less as they are being distributed in a much more closely targeted way.– Amicus3/4

    education, medicine, tourism, political and fashion seem to be the main clients– Amicus4/4

  

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  Dog-earAug 3, 11, 9:08 p.m. – Permalink

• mydo

  university prospectuses, financial institutions, Hertz frickin' car rental.

  • yeah, good point. institutions still love that shit. I dont know man, we always try to steer clients away from that. Sometimes its appropriate though. Carry on.– formula1/3

    appropriate though. Carry on.– formula2/3

    ha– mydo3/3

  

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  Dog-earAug 3, 11, 9:34 p.m. – Permalink

• d_rek

  It's really not that much different than designing any other piece of printed collateral.

  The creative brief should outline the communication/creative goals for the brochure and should at least have a loose idea of production considerations, budgets, and deadlines.

  Budgets for design and production should be set firmly in place before any creative work is to begin. I find this saves a ton of headache from clients who get 'suprised' by their 12-page brochure, 4CP with 2 bumps on a nice stock with fancy finishing.

  Also, you should be able to pull the 'budget card' if editing/revisions gets too extreme.

  Typically, I try to limit revisions to these things only 2 or 3 rounds and stress the importance of working with finalized copy/images/artwork before we begin reviewing anything. This can save you from them nitpicking details early on.

  If it's a case of "we're still writing" then just use lorem ipsum and let them know the specs for the job can and will change along with the amount invoiced.

  So to answer your questions:
  -Creative brief should be as detailed or vague as any other creative briefs you submit to a client/designer
  -Payment should be handled according to how your business conducts it's budgets and invoicing; if these brochure projects are headaches and are becoming problematic...well... charge more =P
  -I guess charge hourly if you're comfortable with that. Hourly makes more sense when content is still being generated (ie: copy) because the changes and revisions can be numerous and can quickly eat-up pre-defined budgets.
  -Again, the 'creative brief' sould be a summation of the communication/creative goals for the piece... if 'elegance' is one of the attributes that needs to be communicated then it should be stated up-front in the creative brief and understood by the client and the designer(s).

  anything else?

  

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  Dog-earAug 3, 11, 10:01 p.m. – Permalink

• registe

  you could always suggest a less common brochure format. I'm assuming you're angry at the tri-fold, i hate them too, i like gate, double gate, and french fold options. a little break from the norm while still a common (inexpensive) production method.

  

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  Dog-earAug 3, 11, 10:06 p.m. – Permalink

• mydo

  d_rek. Thanks for the input.
  out of interest do you normally work with a fixed budget for design, hourly, or a mixture?

  

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  Dog-earAug 3, 11, 10:07 p.m. – Permalink

• gramme

  You guys need to write the design brief, not the client. Get their approval on it, of course, but your team needs to write it.

  • <– utopian1/2

    exactly! they don't know it yet but they're dying for your guidance.– formula2/2

  

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  Dog-earAug 3, 11, 10:11 p.m. – Permalink

• mydo

  I think I'm just frustrated as the last 2 projects have been handled indirectly by lower management at the client side. We have a creative brief, but generally the best they can confirm is stuff like. "the same as our last one only better"
  "make it more elegant, my boss likes BMW"

  hmmm maybe it's just time to get different clients.

  

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  Dog-earAug 3, 11, 10:18 p.m. – Permalink

• formula

  Is this client vital to you? Its up to you as the professional to give advice. Steer them away from this, emphasize printing costs, and the cost of the folds, etc.

  BTW, payment advice: we do everything 50/50 with no spec work. At least no spec work submitted to the client. If anything, they will see only digital files on a company owned laptop. The 50/50 is 50% up front, 50% upon delivery of digital files only, no printing or fulfillment costs included in that.

  • and add 10–15% minimum on all print jobs to cover potential hassles.– Amicus

  

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  Dog-earAug 3, 11, 10:23 p.m. – Permalink

• Amicus

  Get better clients. ;)

  Also, push really hard to speak directly to people making decisions. If lower management is empowered to make decisions, then that's fine work through changes with them, but ideally you want to be presenting concepts higher up the chain.

  • welcome to my world!
    did you get my email earlier?– mydo1/2

    yeah, thanks Ben. Quantities will be minimum 6000, up to around 25,000.– Amicus2/2

  

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  Dog-earAug 3, 11, 10:27 p.m. – Permalink

• Amicus

  If you are still here Mydo, can you jump in here?

  http://stewd.io/chat/room/beerbo…

  

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  Dog-earAug 3, 11, 10:46 p.m. – Permalink