The Graphic Design House

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Marketing Business Partner for local government. Our team works on promotion of events, festivals, theatres and sports centres etc. We serve a city of approximately 170,000 residents.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire The Graphic Design House?

To design and print two new publications - a 16pp A5 brochure to promote theatre shows and an 8pp A5 brochure to promote a county-wide festival of Science events and drive people to the website.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to raise awareness amongst our residents of the ESSEX 2020 campaign and drive tickets sales for individual events.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We wanted to use a new designer for these two publications so we could have original and fresh designs. We were also looking to use TGDH for a larger project down the line so it was great to build a good working relationship on a smaller project first.

Describe the project in detail.

We provided the designer with content and a very basic brief for both items. They came back to us with follow up questions and then some initial design ideas. We then went through a proofing . amending processing before reaching the final design. One of the designs went through a complete redesign midway through the project due to outside influences and TGDH were very patient throughout the process dealing with changes etc.

What was the team composition?

We were assigned an account executive to deal with both projects and a lead designer for each. I was able to communicate directly with the designers as well as the account executive. There were also other members of the team that were made aware of the projects and able to competently deal with enquiries if key contacts were unavailable.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We have had very positive feedback from staff and customers on the look and feel of both publications. Final ticket sales are not available yet there was a noticeable increase in sales after a mail out of the 16pp brochure.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Their communication was effective and excellent. We communicated via email or phone and use of the online proofing system really simplified that process. TGDH were very flexible when we were not able to provide final information in order to meet original deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

All staff were really lovely to deal with, communication and efficiency were very impressive. Amendments were often turned around the same day. We were also very impressed with the design concepts and how the original brief was interpreted.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I understand that there needs to be a limit placed on the number of rounds of amendments however this proved challenging with these projects as they were new. As a result we exceeded the original number of rounds and thus incurred additional costs. Our account executive however did communicate when we were reaching the end of our quoted hours and informed us when additional costs were likely to be incurred.