User-centred Graphic Design is an approach to designing creative projects that focus on delivering information relevant to the end user that views the design. In its essence, it puts the needs and perceptions of the end user at the centre of the creative process.

Whilst this concept may seem apparent and be common sense, it is an often over-looked or under-valued component of the creative process. And the reasons why are usually the same regardless of the type of project – such as a website or a corporate brand.

Taking a user-centred approach to design requires the understanding of the customers needs. When a creative design agency is engaged to create visuals to a brief, the customer (of the agency) is the client. As such, many creative agencies may focus primarily on satisfying the needs of their clients – and fair enough too. At the end of the day, the client is the business that will pay the invoice to the agency. However, the designs that are being created are in fact NOT for the client – they are for the client’s customers. As such, the creative process needs to meet the needs of this target audience AS WELL AS the needs of the client commissioning the work.

For example, ABC Business engages a creative agency to provide them with a series of brochures. They detail to the agency what they want to see in these brochures and provide a rough idea of the look they would like. The agency delivers these options with other variations, and between the agency and ABC Business, the brochures are completed and printed. What this process failed to uncover was whether ABC Business had a complete understanding of the needs of the customers of their business. If this understanding was inaccurate or lacking in any way, then there is a greater risk that the finished product does not communicate as effectively with the customer.

The above example uses brochures, but the essence here is to ensure that the understanding of the customer is as comprehensive as possible. This does not need to be a complex or involved process to find out. It is a simple matter of periodically surveying or questioning your customers (if you are a business such as ABC Business) to stay up-to-date with their needs. This should be done as a matter of good business practice anyway, or else how would a business know if it is delivering a product or service that is relevant to its customer?

If you are a creative agency, it is your responsibility to educate your client in this way and to be the voice of your clients’ customers. You are being engaged to provide graphic design services to match a brief, and good practice would dictate that you factor in the needs of the end customer. This ensures you are delivering the best possible service for your client.

The above approach to creative development applies even more to web site design. Understanding how a business’ customers would use a website and navigate through the site content is imperative to ensuring the site structure delivers an effective and user-friendly design. The other issues that also come from this is for the content that is presented to be relevant to the needs of the customer. So, it is not just an issue of how it looks, but what is read.

As a business you have a few options here. You can choose to survey your customer to ascertain their needs BEFORE you prepare a creative brief for an agency. This information can then be compiled and delivered to the agency you select to produce the work for you. You can choose to have the agency assist with surveying your customers, with a tight focus on the project at hand – so the results are directly related to what is being worked on. You can also engage a 3rd party (consultant) to assist with the research, and this business can work in with you and the creative agency on the project.

Depending on your budget, this may influence what option you decide to go with. It is important to understand here that by investing time and money in this stage, regardless of what you can invest, it will only help the creative process and goes to ensuring the end product is as successful as possible.

That being said, dates like June 30th, December 31st or March 31st (depending on where you are) can prompt as a reminder to take stock of your business and re-align where it’s going.

Firstly, check to see if you are happy with how the business has performed the past 12 months. Are you pleased with the results? If not, what are you not happy with that you could have done better, given different resources? If your business has grown and you are happy with its performance (taking into account the issues below), then it’s a matter of keep doing what you’re doing.

If you are not 100% happy with the results thus far (lets face it, most people think that something could have been done better or differently), find out how you have been perceived by your customer. This means asking for feedback. You may think that things weren’t great, but what did your customer think? The information you can get from your customers can help with your next 12 months.

Did you set a budget for the past 12 months? If so, did you perform well against your expectations? Where did you fall short? Were your expectations too high? Were there unforseen factors that impacted on the results? Did you set the bar too low? Checking your dollars is not the only measure of success in a business (see the first point), but it goes to checking the financial viability of the business now and in the future.

What do you want to achieve in the next 12 months? What types of business, customers and opportunities do you want to experience? If it’s as simple as “I want to grow my business”, you’re got to know by how much or have a rough idea of the target you’re aiming for. Otherwise, how will you know if you have reached it? Your targets may be financial, cultural, or ideological – it’s important that you know what you want to achieve before you work hard at getting there.

Lastly, how are you going to do it? Employ more staff, sub-contract, buy another business, create new business, or conduct a joint venture? There are so many different ways you can create the outcome you want. It’s a matter of picking a way that you believe will work.

Two important final points:

1. This process is fun. It takes the impossible and crazy ideas you dream of and helps you figure out a way to make it a reality for you
2. You can change the plan! If the ideas you set for yourself now are not working for you in 3-4 months, change it. Go through this process again.

If you have any ideas you want to share, please feel free to list them below.

1. Get New Business From Old.   Ask existing clients for more business before you try warming up a stone cold lead.  Ask the happy clients for referrals to people they know that you don’t – and be sure to keep track of who referred whom. Your client’s needs change, so stay up to date with how you can best serve them.
2. Pitch a Stranger. It’s like bad advertising when you blow hot air when pitching to a new prospect.  In face-to-face mediating you’ve got to know what to say, and say it with conviction. Start with friends and work from there. See next point too!
3. Give It To Me Straight.  No one has time for the “warm-up”. Prepare well-honed phrases and practice them in front of a mirror.  People like it when you can get to the point rapidly and intelligently.  If it’s by email, make sure they don’t have to scroll down to read it all. Answer the ever-present question that your prospect has in their minds – What’s In It For Me?
4. Talk About Your Failures.  Sounds crazy, but it builds credibility.  Everyone can’t be perfect all the time, and when you can tell a prospect why you lost a client and what you’ve learned it’s a welcome change.
5. Offer a “Loss-Leader”. People are less and less apt to buy impulsively from a person if they don’t have a good feeling about them.  Offering a loss-leader allows the relationship to mature over time.  This is very important in B2B clients. (Loss-leader is the practice of offering a product or service at a considerable discount and loss of profit to attract future business.). Look at your product or service offering and see if there is something you can provide that is of low cost to you but high value to your customer.
6. Get Sold Yourself.  Pick the most successful competitors in your area and let them sell you.  Play customer and be aware of how you feel during each step, and see why their approach works so well.
7. Start an E-mail Newsletter.  This is much like #5.  Give your clients and prospects useful information on a periodic basis.  Make them happy to see your name in the “from” field.  If they only hear from you when you want something, they’ll turn you off when they hear from you.
8. Offer Testimonials.  Satisfied clients or customers can say things about you that you can never believably say about yourself.  Use the person’s full name if possible when doing this.
9. Ask Questions.  This cannot be over-emphasised about how important this is in business.  Simply allowing people to verbalise their needs makes them happy and tells them you listen.  It also allows you to hone in on the points to make when it’s your turn to talk.

Do you have any tips you can add to this list? If so, please share them by filling out your comments below.

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