Choosing a Design Firm (part 1)

Many articles have been written about choosing a Design Firm, most of them focusing on things like; what questions to ask in the interview, what should be in an RFP, ect. All good things to know for sure, but perhaps not the angle that I believe is most important.

From a business standpoint, the strategic choice of partnering with another company is a very important one. It’s a choice that can make or break a small company, and greatly affect a large one. Choose correctly and each company get’s a profitable bit of business, as they are each able to work within the operational efficiencies that they have established. Choose wrong, and the problems that come with the decision can take years to make right.

So really what we’re talking about here is the distinction between a design firm being utilized as a vendor or as a strategic partner. I thought it would be interesting to discuss.

Some definitions:

vendor - A Vendor is a seller of products or services. Often in contracting with a business or the government, the supplier is called a vendor. The term vendor is often used interchangably with the terms independent contractor, freelancer, and consultant.

strategic partner – According to the Oxford Dictionary, the word strategic means: forming part of a long-term plan or aim to achieve a specific purpose.

Now while I understand the choice of the word vendor, as a design firm is definately selling a service, I have found that the suggestion of branding, design and web development as simply a “service” to be an oversimplification. Using the word “service” company suggests that the design firm is simply providing a set of skills to achieve a pre-defined task. Design firms are utilized usually because a company can’t or does not want to hire the designers/developers necessary to complete the projects in-house. The idea generation, brainstorming, goal setting, and other strategic efforts are usually completed (or not, as the case may be) by the company prior to looking for a design firm to fulfill the work. In this scenario, a vendor is the appropriate word to use.

Strategic partnerships, as a point of comparison, also involves the completion of the stated work, but with one big difference; a shift in the responsibility. The line separating the responsibility for determining how the specific plan meets the long-term goals of the organization from the creators of the actual materials is at best blurry. If all of the necessary assets to complete these tasks are in-house, then the problem is solved. This line of separation is not important, as the company can shift personnel around appropriately. If this company has an established relationship with a design firm that has a strong understanding of marketing and brand strategy, then the design firm takes on extra responsibility in the area of strategic planning. It is important to understand that I am not suggesting that corporate marketing completely shift to the design firm, but rather I am simply trying to highlight the flaws of bringing them in too late in the process.

Below are some example questions that may help when “interviewing” potential creative firms.  These questions are not meant to be exhaustive, but may provide some insight.  Please keep in mind that a design firms website should serve as a great tool for establishing things like design quality and general creative ability.

Questions to ask when looking over the portfolio of a creative firm:

“Talk to me about the original goals of this project”, “how were those goals met by this project?”

“How was this project integrated into the overall brand strategy of the company?”

Questions to ask if you are looking specifically for web work:

“What was the content strategy of this project?” and “Who handled the content creation?”

“How were the keywords chosen and integrated into the overall website?”

“How did you integrate this website with the overall business needs?”

So in choosing a design firm, I would recommend looking for a firm that has a broad understanding of Brand, Marketing and Design (in that order.)  Marketing and design, when performed outside of an good overall strategy, can be disastrous, or at best ineffective.  At FORGE, we have worked hard to understand the complete effect that marketing and design has on the business goals of the organization.  While we are certainly not the only firm to do so, I am constantly amazed by how design firms neglect the vital connection that design has with the business.

So as you search for a strategic relationship with a design firm, keep in mind that your results will be greatly increased if you find a company that you can trust.  By sharing all aspects of your marketing initiatives (budget, goals, etc.) you can benefit from the collective talent of some of the most creative people around.

In part 2 of this series, I will discuss the RFP process.

This entry was posted on October 25th, 2009 and is filed under business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or Trackback from your own site.