The Print Design Process

From brain, to pen, to mouse, to paper.

Print design can vary from simple jobs such as a DL flyer design, right up to something complex as a 100 page booklet or billboard design. While print jobs can vary wildly in terms of complexity and processes, we follow a common practice outlined below that covers all aspects of a print design project.

Every print design job that Daydream undertakes is classed as a design project, which is broken down into several distinct stages. Each stage is made up of a set of specific tasks that are performed in order to reach a milestone, or deadline set at the end of each stage.

Below we describe the typical workflow for a print design project from the perspective of a client, to help you gain an understanding of the various stages and tasks involved in any website design project.

Consultation

We begin every design project with a face-to-face meeting, free of charge and with no commitment required. We will ask you a few questions on topics such as your business history, your client / customer base and what goals / outcomes you would like to achieve with your business. This enables us to gain a clearer picture of your business, so we can better assess your design needs. We will also ask you about the nature of the design project to be undertaken and what issues are to be solved. These discussions help to formulate a design brief, which is then formally presented to you for review, along with a quote.

Quote and Service Agreement

A detailed quote is then sent to you, outlining the time required to perform each stage of the project along with associated costs. If you are a first time client, a service agreement is also included with the quote – this document further outlines the working relationship between yourself and Daydream, so you are fully aware of our obligations to you and vice versa. Once you return written approval of the quote and agreement, the project is then considered to be live.

Research

We conduct extensive research into the design problem stated within the brief, and this involves reviewing the picture of your business along with your position in your industry’s landscape – this includes looking at where you are positioned amongst your clients, prospects, and your competition, and how you currently interact with these groups. We collate visual examples to help build this information, and then we compile our research findings together to help determine which design direction shall be most appropriate to solve the design problem. This is presented to you as a written document for your review prior to continuing with concept designs.

Concept Designs

Daydream will begin a series of brainstorming sessions and will generate an array of ideas out of these sessions; these ideas are then filtered to weed out the weaker concepts, and promote the stronger concepts. Concepts first take form of rough pen and paper sketches, out of which the stronger concepts evolve into more formal drafts.

The filtering process continues until the top 2 concepts remain; these are polished and then presented to the you for assessment and review. Each concept comes with a rationale which explains the concept’s origin, meaning and relevance to the design brief. Concepts are also considered to be close to, but not finished versions of the proposed identity and as such there may be further evolution of the idea during the Development stage.

You get to choose 1 concept out of the selection for further development, or you can opt to have new concepts created altogether if none are deemed suitable.

For more complex print jobs, eg. a multi-page document, we may design a set of pages based on the content you supply to us to seek approval on the general design approach before finishing off the layout for the remainder of the project.

Development

The chosen design is formally drafted using Adobe Illustrator or InDesign, and analysed for quality on a detailed scale. We check the artwork thoroughly for errors, and perform a series of preflight / prepress tasks to properly set the artwork up for print. We then provide you with a digital copy of the artwork for review and sign-off.

Liaison With Suppliers

In general, we deal directly with professional printers and we can arrange printing quotes for you, and we also assist in overseeing the print job through to completion.

Delivery

Eventually a series of digital files are created that contain your identity design, which are then distributed to you. You may also choose commission additional design projects, eg. stationery designs or website designs, to feature your new identity.

For full information on what is supplied to you when we commission a logo, take a look in our FAQ section.

FAQ’s

Who owns the copyright to a design produced by Daydream?

According to Australian Copyright law, the designer (or author) of an original commissioned work holds the full copyright title to the work. Therefore, the designer will own full copyright of the identity design produced, even after the work has been paid for and passed onto the client, unless there is an agreement to the contrary. The client is granted a “license” by the designer to use the work for the purposes that it was commissioned, however this does not extend to the right to manipulate or alter the work, or claim the work as their own original creation. Copyright is also automatically applied to anything created by an author, and no registration of copyright is required by law.

However, as stated earlier, there may be an agreement in place which negotiates or transfers one or all of these rights from the designer to the client. It is standard practice for designers to sell additional copyright entitlements to the client for an additional fee, and this fee varies depending on the nature of the rights to be transferred and the nature of the work.

Why won’t you create a design based on someone else’s artwork or design?

Creating a design layout based on someone else’s idea or design without their permission can land both the client and designer into legal trouble, as it may be an infringement of copyright law and the Trade Practices Act. It is for this reason that we insist on creating a truly original concept design and not a derivative of someone else’s creation, and the benefits of having a unique print designs are also elaborated below.