Branding Alliance Thesis Proposal

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.