Imagine sitting in a small swimming pool filled with ping-pong balls and being asked to hold all the balls under water at the same time. Inevitably, juggling all the ping-pong balls becomes too much and they start popping up to the water’s surface.

The life of an in-house marketing/communication team can sometimes seem like this when several projects are coming down the pike at once, and there simply aren’t enough hands on deck to complete the work.

Fortunately, an experienced outside design firm is a great resource for handling any overflow work that pops up.

Since in-house design teams are typically small, it can wreak havoc on scheduling when a staff member is on vacation, experiencing a health emergency or out on parental leave. Utilizing an experienced design firm is a great way to alleviate that stress. Even if your full team is present, having a major design project coming up on top of your regular work schedule can seem overwhelming.

A seasoned design firm can jump in and help with the following:

• Large projects (e.g., conferences)
• Evolving brands
• Annual Reports
• Special One-time Projects
• Exhibits
• Membership Campaigns
• Media Kit

In addition to providing relief, a design firm can serve as a consultative partner. An expert design team has experience from which to draw, so you can be confident in the work they perform and the advice they offer. They can anticipate potential issues (helping you keep all your ping-pong balls under control) and bring a depth of experience to everything from specialty reports to conference packages.

If there’s anything we can help you with, reach out to Dever Designs at 301-776-2812.

Usage rights and licensing can understandably be confusing for organizations to navigate. In our experience, many people simply are not aware that fonts, websites, illustrations, music and photos can all be subject to licensing and copyrights. Social media, with all of its content sharing, has helped foster a false impression that all media is up for grabs, which is just not the case—that’s where the right design firm comes in.

It’s no surprise that unanticipated situations can arise, catching the uninformed off guard.

Story 1: A client shared with us that they had purchased the rights to a photo, but only for one-time use. When their colleague mistakenly used the photo in another piece within the campaign, a major stock photography agency sued them for fraudulent use of an image.

An experienced design firm attuned to usage rights and the ownership of creative works can serve as a guide for their clients—asking them the right questions, providing them with a sense of awareness and simply anticipating potential problems before they arise. For example, if you’re providing artwork to your design firm, be sure your organization has secured the rights for the images and that you’ll be using them in a way that is consistent with your agreement. If you haven’t secured the rights, your firm can help you find similar, suitable artwork.

We know most firms do not intentionally set out to infringe on copyrights, but violations do occur.

Story 2: Another client experiencing functionality issues with their website decided to update it. When they requested a complete copy of the site from the company that had built it, the company refused. The client was stunned to learn that proprietary software coding was embedded throughout their website—effectively holding them hostage to that vendor or forcing them to rebuild it from scratch with someone else.

So how can your organization be proactive?

• Talk with your design firm about copyright issues
• Be aware enough to ask informed questions
• Choose a design firm that is transparent and will help protect your company
• Respect the usage rights of others’ work
• Spread the word—share what you learn within your organization

Have additional questions? We have the expertise to chart the right course for your organization. Visit us at deverdesigns.com or call 301-776-2812.

On our survey at the ASAE MM&C Conference this year, we asked what the biggest pet peeves are in working with designers. We thought the results were worth sharing. Let’s count down the top 5 most common concerns and how we aim to avoid them here at Dever Designs.

5. Lack of attention to detail

We make every effort to meet or exceed your expectations by listening, verifying, and reviewing at every stage. Our practice of anticipating next-steps and being proactive when managing vendors makes your life easier throughout each project. We even have a second designer review every job that goes out the door for quality control.

4. Prices are too expensive

Our goal is to make your investment go further by looking for ways to save you money throughout each project. For example, when designing an exhibit display, we’ll recommend hardware that could be rented or purchased and resold, depending on your needs. Our estimates reflect the time it takes to design and produce a project, based on past experiences. If the project goes more quickly than estimated, we’ll give you a credit for the unused time.

3. Lack of listening and understanding our organization

At the beginning of each project, we make it a point to gather all of the stakeholders together and establish clear goals for the job. This creates an environment in which we can fully understand your organization’s needs. With consensus achieved, we propose solutions that integrate the input of those involved.

2. Lack of creativity and quality design

Using the information that we gather by listening to all of the stakeholders, we consider what unique approach would best serve your audience. With our experienced team of designers, we propose multiple concepts in order to create a quality solution that’s right for your organization.

And now for your top pet peeve…

1. Slow responses and missed deadlines

Each of our designers is also a project manager, which means that clients get to work directly with those producing their project—no account executives acting as middle-men to slow things down. At the start of each project, the designers will lay out a realistic schedule that works backwards from your deadline.

Interested in talking with us about how we can solve your design pet peeves? Just get in touch and start the conversation.

My wife, Kay Rosburg, and I are going on vacation this summer, and from the moment we started planning, we knew she would handle the logistics. After 30 years of being married, there is a level of communication and trust you develop where you just know what works. Kay and I can agree and that booking flights and making hotel reservations are best left to her.

Kay’s management and organizational skills also extend to her work as a principal at Dever Designs. She truly complements my efforts as the creative director, and our level of trust and communication make us a great team. Much like in marriage, communication and trust also play a role in our relationships with clients.

To serve a client well, we feel it’s important to take into consideration these five factors:

1. Good communication/Trust. They say there’s a reason we have two ears and one mouth. It’s because we’re meant to listen twice as much as we speak. One of the things we do right from the get-go is to listen carefully and deeply to clients to help them collaboratively reach their goals. Communicating honestly and accurately helps build a trust-based relationship.
2. Proactive Project Management. On our end and yours, it’s important to be proactive. Come to us as early as possible with a project. Make sure your key stakeholders are involved in the planning process so everyone is on the same page from the start. On our end, we have an excellent project management team in place to guide you through the process. By proactively managing the project, things can run smoothly and there will be fewer changes along the way.
3. Valuing the Process. We have come up with specific steps to ensure a project’s success. This is based on decades of experience in the design field, working with hundreds of clients. It’s important that clients believe in and respect our process and see us as a partner working toward the same goal. If we don’t go through the proper steps, the project can break down and we can’t deliver the quality of work you deserve.
4. Organization. We help keep clients on task, reminding them of important deadlines and milestones in their schedule. It also helps us to work with a client who is equally responsive and organized.
5. A good fit. For any of these pieces to work, it’s important that from the very inception, we are a good fit with the client. Is our expertise, our skill set, a fit for what you’re trying to achieve and the scope of your project and your budget? We want our clients to feel we are invested in their success and to create that level of trust with them.

Interested in working with us on your next project? Visit us at deverdesigns.com or call 301-776-2812.

What do the International Association of the Chiefs of Police and the National Aeronautics and Space Museum have in common? How about Psychotherapy Networker and the Library of Congress?

As it turns out, all of these organizations have been served by Dever Designs. One might wonder, how can you go from working with one client that operates a museum to another who is a resource for therapists, counselors and social workers? On the surface, that might seem difficult. For us, though, the answer is simple—it’s about the process.

At Dever Designs, we go through an intake process that raises the right questions with clients to help define the project, no matter who the client may be. Our goal is to be the creative that illuminates their brand. To do that, we facilitate a discussion with a specific set of questions that will provide us with the right information to successfully move forward.

Some of the questions we ask might be:
• Who is your audience?
• What are your goals?
• What are the project components—will your project entail print, digital or a hybrid of both?
• What are your existing brand guidelines?

One of the most important things we do during this intake process is listen. By really listening to our client’s responses and dialoguing, we are able to bring our expertise and passion for design to an array of clients and their project’s specific needs.

It is important to note that while our design team is invigorated by working with a variety of clients, we are not what you would consider a “one-stop shop” with services appropriate for any and all clients. We feel some design firms today can be too narrowly focused, unable to meet clients’ evolving needs or, conversely, too broad, without any focus or degree of expertise in any one area.

Diversity keeps us challenged, and new clients present a unique set of problems that we thrive on helping them to solve. At Dever Designs, our portfolio features a variety of projects for a diverse range of clients. But, we specialize in non-profits and organizations with a service-oriented take on the world.

Take a look at our portfolio to see the types of clients we have helped. Have a project you need help with? We’re ready to lend our expertise! Visit deverdesigns.com or call 301-776-2812.