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Print media
Print media is the bread and butter of my design work. From flyers, brochures, trading cards, education booklets, rule books and more, over the years I’ve been able to have a hand at all sorts of different final pieces.
Regardless of the shape, complexity, or audience of the final piece, I was involved in every step of the process for these pieces. My design process is usually broken down into four steps:
- Establish details & requirements
- Communicate with print-house
- Design & review
- At print & pickup
Establish Details & Requirements
Step one is to always figure out the nitty gritty details. This can be something as simple as “I need a quick poster for a cafe special” or as detailed “Build a campaign with this exact language and theme, conveying this exact tone”. Things like quantity, target audience, and timelines all also come into play at this step.
Depending on the scope of the project, some can be printed in house. The majority however require me to communicate with external print-houses for production.
Communicate With Print-House
The print-house is both a step two and an ongoing process. I am constantly communicating with the printer during the entire process, as to ensure that by the time we are ready to send to print all questions have been answered and wrinkles smoothed out.
The starting point is usually the initial quote after getting the theme & requirements. This step includes sorting out details like paper weight & finish, price breaks, inquiring about nonprofit discounts, and any final files formatting requirements.
Once that quote has been approved from a budgetary standpoint, I will jump to the design & review. Depending on how much variation there is from the initial pitch, I may reach out later on in the process for a revised quote.
Design & Review
I begin to design in earnest once the theme & requirements have been established. Starting with simple pencil to paper designs and ending with a small flight of different options, the design process usually aims to have a maximum of three rounds of revisions. By that point, I aim to have a semi-finalized design, barring small tweaks or palette swaps.
Depending on the scale of the project and number of interdepartmental parties involved, the review portion can be the lengthiest part of the process. To mitigate this, I make sure to communicate clear feedback deadlines to related parties, and follow up where needed.
At Print & Pickup
Once the design is approved by all related parties, I finally pass along the design to print. This usually means including specifics like crop and bleed, safety margins, and a final export in the desired file type for the print-house. This is usually passed along via Dropbox, email, or an ftp site on the printer’s end.
Once the final product has cleared production and is ready, I pick them up. From there they are either passed off to the interdepartmental party that requested them, or I handle the implementation for intradepartmental projects.