Depending on the project and its scope, the design process will be more or less involved, ranging from a large collaboration among a group of specialist, or a more intimate process involving a designer and the project coordinator. Regardless of the size and scope of the project, all design jobs should have the following components; a planning phase, the design phase, and the implementation phase.

Planning Phase.
During the planning phase, the reasons for producing marketing materials are addressed. The intended audience, intended market, and message strategy are analyzed. This analysis can be performed internally, by an outside firm, or a combination of both.

A typical planning phase may resemble the following:

• Organization determines new marketing material(s) needed to promote new program, raise self-awareness or promote existing programs.
• Designer/project coordinator meets with client/organization.
• Objectives and goals of marketing material(s) determined.
• Method of achieving those objects and goals discussed and determined. This may include an analysis of market share, competitors, and strengths and weaknesses.
• Look and feel of marketing material(s) discussed. This discussion will answer questions such as how much text? How many colors are needed?
• How much money budgeted for project?
• Is a Copywriter needed? If a copywriter is needed, they will arrange times to come and interview the appropriate staff.
• Are photography or illustrations needed? If so, how will these be acquired? Will stock art be used or a professional photo shoot?

Implementation Phase:
All designers and firms have a somewhat unique design process. And the design process is often tweaked depending on the particulars and scope of the job. But in general, all designers adhere to a similar methodology.

• Design concepts are presented. Often three concepts are presented, although the number presented will vary by designer and by the job.
• Design direction is determined.
• Art direction provided if copywriters or photographers needed.
• Designer provides client with a proof.
• Edits made.
• Designer incorporates changes and provides another proof. Depending on the scope of the job, two proofs may be adequate. Frequently, there are at least three proofs and often more.
• Proof is signed off on by organization.

Printing Phase:
The time frame for printing marketing materials depends on the printer and the complexity of the job. In general, you should budget a minimum of 7 business days for a simple job like a tri-fold brochure. An annual report may take 3-4 weeks, and a book which needs to go to a specialty binder, may take more than 6 weeks. Once at the printer, all jobs go to prepress. Paper is order and plates are made, and then the job goes “on press.” After drying, it goes to the bindery, after which it is ready for fulfillment, whether that be via mail or hand-delivery.

• Electronic file goes to the printer.
• Printer produces proof for client and/or designer.
• Proof signed off on by client.
• Job printed on printing press.
• Job dries and then goes to bindery to be cut.
• After cutting, job is ready for any stitching, binding or folding.
• Job delivers to mailhouse.
• Mailhouse addresses, stamps and mails collateral.

For information on how to save money during this process, read maximizing your budget and a creative team on a shoestring. For more details about working with a graphic designer, visit AIGA’s website at http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm?ContentAlias=workingwithadesigner.

Consult a printer in the conceptual stage.
It is very important to consult a printer when your design is in the conceptual stage. Use their knowledge to your benefit. Too often, designers hand the finished file to the printer. Often if the piece was a slightly different size, maybe even just 1/8 of an inch smaller, it would be cheaper to produce. Or, if the piece was laid out in a different orientation (horizontal vs. vertical or vice-versa) money would be saved. Consulting a printer in the conceptual stage will help you stretch your budget. If a printer is not willing to discuss paper and sizing options with you at length, find another printer to work with.

Build loyalty with your printers.
It doesn’t always pay to shop around. Yes, price is an important factor when determining what printer to use, especially if you are on a tight budget. But forsaken a printer over a nickel does not build loyalty, and in the long-run, does not pay dividends. If you are loyal to a printer, you will not only get better service, but when you need a price break, that printer usually will make it happen. Being loyal does not mean that you should not compare prices every so often to make sure your printer is still competitive financially. But you should not constantly jump from printer to printer to save a few bucks. In the long-run, it will cost you money.

Know your printer’s specialty.
Different printers have different specialties. There are small printers with small presses who specialize in black and white and 2-color work; there are mid-size printers whose specialty is small and mid-size 4-color runs; and then there are large printers who print in volumes, often on a web press. Two-color letterhead is not appropriate to run on a large, web press. A small-run of say 1000 brochures should not run on a large, web press. A magazine with a circulation of 20,000 plus belongs on a web press. A good printer will tell you when your job belongs with another printer, but not all will. There are enough good printers out there that you should find a printer you trust.

Don’t assume 2-color design is the least expensive option.
Consult your printer. Depending on the quantity being produced and the type of press being used, 2-color work is not always less expensive than 4-color.

• Materials should not be too flashy. I know this sounds self-evident, but green designers and marketing professionals make this mistake frequently, myself included. A brochure will come across your desk and eager to make a good impression, you ignore the audience and turn out a great “design-school” piece. But, it does not take the audience into consideration. No matter how well designed a brochure is, if it does not take the audience into consideration, it ultimately is not good as it is not conveying the right message to the intended audience.

• Personal Feel. Nonprofit materials usually require a more soft and warm feel than their for-profit counterparts. Using warm colors, elements of people and movements, positive associations and effective photographs of people help to achieve this personal feel. The font choice is also important in conveying this emotion. The font should be professional, but not too modern or cold.

• Use standard sizes. As much as I love designing something square or oversized, irregular sized pieces cost more to print, and more to mail. Even designing books in a horizontal layout as opposed to the normal vertical direction will increase costs.

• Two-color design. Nonprofit marketing materials are often designed in two-color, and you need to be well-versed in 2-color design. Nonprofit logos need to be two-color logos for this reason. Two-color design is fun to do, but can be challenging. Learn how to mix inks in your page layout program to maximize your color choices and use duotones and multi-channels properly.

• Do not assuming two-color design is the least expensive option. Although sometimes two-color design is the least expensive option (especially for letterhead and business card) it is a mistake to assume that it always is. Four-color work is often less expensive, especially when printing high-quantity brochures and mailers. If 4-color is less expesive, you can still design the marketing materials to look like two-color work, and it is often easier and less time consuming than two-color work.

• Avoid die-cuts and embossed graphics. Although there may be an occassion that warrants the price, overall, die-cuts and embossed graphics are expensive and do not yield a return on investment.

• Avoid using more than 4 colors (CMYK plus a Pantone color).

• Avoid glossy or glitzy papers and avoid metallic or flourescent inks. Once again, there will be a time and place to use these papers and inks. As a general rule, avoid them. Once you are experienced and can explain the benefit of a metallic ink or glossy paper for a particular job, an opportunity will arise where their presence is justified.

Adhering to the above guidelines will keep your designs cost-effective and yield responsible nonprofit design. At some point, you will probably do all of the above while working for a nonprofit. All rules are meant to be broken. The art is knowing when the break them.

Planning Process.
The more involved the organization is during this stage, the less time the designer will have to spend deciding the appropriate strategy. Although you do want the designers input at this stage, there is a lot of material you can gather that will save the designer time. You know your competition better than the designer. Gather their information and provide it to the designer. Look through examples of what you like and do not like about your competitors’ marketing materials and various corporate pieces. That will give the designer an idea of how you see your marketing materials visually translating your identity.

Design Process:
If your marketing materials need text and you have a communications director or gifted writer on staff, get them to either write, or help write, the marketing materials. You can hire someone to edit the in-house writing if you are not confident in your skills. But the initial writing will still save money.

Give the designer the text FULLY EDITED. I cannot stress this enough. Organizations with good intentions waste more money by editing and rewriting text once it is in the design, and later the printing phase. Edits are increasing expensive as the process moves forward, and not out of spite. But designers are not using word processing software. Text is often manually manipulated, and adding a word can create a domino effect, after which all the text must be manually manipulated again.

Printing.
Printing represents a large portion of money. Being knowledgeable about printing, or dealing with a knowledgable printer, will save you tons of money.

Get the printer involved in the beginning. If hiring a designer, make sure he/she gets the printer involved in the beginning.
Ask the printer for ways to save money. Frequently, changing the size of your design slightly (by 1/16 inch) will save money.
Also, avoiding diecuts and embossed graphics as well as oversize pieces will save money in the printing phase.

Fulfillment.
Obtaining a nonprofit indica from the post office will reduce your postage significantly. Avoid squares and oversized pieces as they cost more to mail (.63 first class as opposed to .39). If your printer offers fulfillment services, consider using them as the costs will frequently be less.

Photography
Stock-art:
There are numerous stock-art providers accessible over the internet. Corbis, Comstock, Veer and Getty Images are just a few. “Royalty Free” photography is available for as little as $250 image. Most of these stock art providers also offer a collection of images on a cd (usually around 50 images per cd) for around $500 a cd. Comstock now offers a subscription service where you can download up to 50 images a day for $499/month. Stock-art is an inexpensive option; however you need to be careful to choose images that are not too generic and not similar to images used by your competition.

These stock art providers also offer royalty images, and the price varies widely for the images. But special nonprofit pricing is available for these images. You have to call the stock art providers to acquire pricing, but it is worth a call.

There are also free sources of photography. Government websites often offer free photographs, provided you credit the photographers and/or source. Check out http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Graphics.shtml. North Carolina also offers free stock art of the state through the Department of Tourism. If you call their office, they will send you a cd of images for free. Once again, your images may not be unique and you should be vigilant about other organizations similar to yours using the same images.

Another inexpensive source of stock art is www.istockphoto.com. It contains member-driven stock art images. Downloads are as inexpensive as $1 a download, and do not exceed $15 an image.

Amateur Photographers:
Often amateur photographers provide a great value. They are less expensive and often very talented. Amateur photographers may not be appropriate for all situations, but you can inquire at a local, high-end camera store for possibilities.

Copywriting:
If you have an in-house communications director or communications staff, get someone on the staff to write your promotional material. Make sure it is edited thoroughly. If you are doing an ad campaign, it may be prudent to hire a copywriter for the taglines. But providing them with good copy for those ads will cut down on the costs.

Illustrations:
The same stock-art providers mentioned above also sell illustrations. They are a good source for reasonable illustratrations.

In addition, if you need something specific, you can always contact a local artist and see if they would consider donating a free illustration in exchange for free publicity (giving credit on the printed publications for their artwork.) This usually works best if you have a high circultion to a relatively affluent group, or if your nonprofit mission is congruent with the illustrators personal beliefs.