CONSIDERING COST-EFFECTIVENESS:

THE RATIONALE FOR PROFESSIONAL DESIGN

Our business involves providing high-quality expert design services.  It is a venerable activity whose effectiveness can't be easily quantified and measured. 

Yet, in today's economy, every one of our clients must look for ways to economize.  We are often asked to re-examine our quality approach, and the traditional ways we address our clients' problems and opportunities.

So, we'd like to share a few thoughts with you:  what professional design can accomplish, and what its true value is.

COMMUNICATION:

Asked to define jazz, Louis Armstrong once said, "You'll know it when you hear it."  We feel the same way about good design.  What we can say, authoritatively, is this:  good design is not totally about sytle or fashion.  First and foremost, it is about communication.  And it should always have a direct, bottom-line effect on any organization's business or personal budget.  How much more value does a quickly-and easily-communicated visual message or design have over one that's neither?  Frankly, you can guess the answer.  We do know that there is a commercial imperative today for design quality and distinction.  Like it or not, we live in a world that is over-communicated, over cluttered or dated, and we must find the balance to make it the best it can be.  The only way to combat this condition is through, working together, to produce great design solutions that work.  

IMAGE:

We also know that good desgin is about image building.  No, not in the negative, Hollywood sense; in the practical, hard-nosed business sense.  Over time, all products and organizations develop personalities, ust as do individuals.  Positive personalities ("images") are often among the most important properties any organization possesses.  In today's visually-oriented world, not to try and reinforce a positive image, or strengthen a weak one, is to leave a positoning vacuum soon filled by competitors.  Being constatntly attentive to image building is one of the ways smaller organizations get to be a bigger one, and bigger ones to stay on top.  Creating strong, design and visual identities and images - is what we do.  It is the essence of our businessl  Our training and experience tells us that it is a business function that is so important today to not trust to chance, or to just anyone.  

COST EFFECTIVENESS:

As with any talented and trained professional, our work does not come cheap.  But don't confuse cost with value.  Perhaps it is a clich'e to say you get what you pay for, but that doesn't make it any less true.  When you contract for design, most of what you pay for is time.  And most design time is executional in nature - i.e., "working and planning things out."  This process does not vary greatly from individual to individual, or from firm to firm.  In a service business, there are few economies of scale or shortcuts.  The result is that the difference between inexpensive and expensive design is in the value of time expended.  And this is a direct function of how much talent, training and experience it encompasses.  Also consider this:  except for the very smallest of jobs, design fees are usualy a fraction of total job cost (printing, media, furnishings, etc., are the big costs).  Thus, the incremental difference of opting for outstanding design versus a mediocre equivalent typically only increases costs 5% to 7% on a small project, or less than 1% on an larger one.  Viewed from a bottom-line perspective, a small additional investment in design quality usually produces an ROI to warm the heart of the toughest comptroller.  

FLEXIBILITY:

Our business is changing rapidly, mostly because of computers and publishing software.  As great as the changes are, unfortunately they don't lower cost.  Time savings have been more than exceeded by the expenses of new technology.  Computers also don't make good design any easier.  Good design is, as it always has been, a business of problem-solving and creativity.  And computers alone don't solve problems.  (We're reminded of a saying ascribed to another jazzman, Duke Ellington:  "It is not the piano that makes great music, it is the person sitting at the piano.")  The primary benefit of technology to design is new and growing flexibility.  We can now provide even more options and ideas.  For some straight-forward, repetitive work, we can now also establish electronic formats or templates.  This may even allow some work to be done more productively in-house.  If so, we would be happy to consult on when and how.  For all of these reasons, we are excited about what experienced design can accomplish.  And we are particularly excited about making a happen for you.