Shifting Boxes – Design Without Formula?

January 29, 2012

“Does design have a formula?” This is a question that we are often asked, but usually with different words. This is a question, unfortunately, which does not have a straightforward answer, unless you are content with “yes and no”!

It would cause any creative great distress to call their design work ‘formulaic’, but usually the purveyors of such a question are really asking, “how much is this all going to cost me?”, which is perfectly reasonable.

However, it can be frustrating when people ask, “how much do you generally charge for branding?” It isn’t dissimilar from walking into a haberdashery shop and uttering the immortal phrase, “how much will a pair of curtains cost me?” The befuddled tailor replies that he cannot possibly know, without some idea of what fabric is required, the length and breadth of the curtains, the lining, the finish (tabbed, eyelets, gathered?) or indeed how many curtains you require for your window.

It seems that many people think that in the spirit of wild creative madness, a finger is placed in the air and a price accumulated by chance. Many would prefer it if we could work to a daily or hourly rate, as if fixing a car. In a sense, we do, but even with a car, there is a separate cost for the parts. You will find that a VW part costs more than a readily available Ford part. The labour might cost more, because it is more difficult to fit. You wouldn’t get away with stating that “a clutch is a clutch” when it comes to mechanics.

You can, of course, buy designs packaged/boxed, off the shelf, for a standardised price. If this is the approach that best suits you, then this is what you should do. However, this is not the approach that we offer and this is why…

Behind design practice is a complex set of rules. The art and science of the designer is to work out which rules should be kept and which should be broken. These ‘rules’ include:

The rules of consumer engagement and psychology
Colour psychology
Grid layouts
Proportions
Application (where will the graphic appear? Will it fit in every context?)
Kerning and good typographic practice
Line and letter spacing
‘Negative space’ between letters
Legibility
Graphic format
Colour matching (screen/print)
Complimentary colours
File formats for different applications
The perils of strap lines
Creating an identity not just a ‘logo’
How the brand may and may not be used
Which fonts may or may not be used with the brand
Balance between visual elements
Abbreviated Logo format
Graphic devices
Typographic hierarchy
Graphic style and medium (drawing, vector art, photography, etc?)
Brand extension (looking forward)

There are many more elements to be added to this list. This is the ‘process’ or semi-conscious ‘formula’ of design. This all relates to assembly and the creation of visuals and artwork. However, there is an area of design that cannot be contained within a box or a formula and that is the concept/idea.

This is the area that can be considered when the cat jumps on you and wakes you up at 3am, or whilst sitting in a coffee shop sketching on a napkin. This is the result of hours of research and reflection and cannot be bound by time or package, as it varies from client to client. It is, if you like, the car part which needs to be sourced before the ‘labour’ can take place.

Much like the car part, we charge a fee for the conceptual part of the process (to charge an hourly rate for the generation of an idea that has not yet been thought of is impossible!) followed by a daily/hourly rate. However, there are different levels of engagement, depending upon whether we have a junior, middleweight or senior designer working on the project, how many designers it will take, how many meetings and consultations occur, how many sets of amendments etc. This is a bit like going to a hair salon and asking for the junior, middlewieght or senior stylist – you will achieve different results and finishes for different prices based on skill level and experience. There are also more clearly defined costs for elements such as imagery (do photographs need to be sourced?) printing, mock-ups etc.

Design is a delicate balance of art and science. We hope that this helps answer a few questions!