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Creative Requirements Gathering Process for Phoenix website development and Phoenix web enabled software projects

Something every Phoenix web site company should know: Even a good designer is flying blind without a creative brief that nails down key objectives. Make sure they have what they need to do their job!

How do we make the bridge from the objective realm of systems and software to the subjective realm of design? The "look and feel" of your website must support key strategic objectives. From emotive objectives to influencing user behavior, the Creative Worksheet helps you nail it down.

By the time you even think of determining creative requirements you should have established your project scope and strategic requirements. Not only do they serve as an "objective guide" for our creative requirements, they also serve to inform our designer of our overall objectives. A good designer knows how to assemble all of that objective information and translate it into a visual product that hopefully influences user behavior in ways we want. A good designer also knows that he or she will have to please the client or key stakeholder as well as the audience for which the web project is intended.

Because of the competing factors just described, a certain "chemical" or "intuitive" reading is often necessary for the designer and an in-person meeting with the stakeholder, designer and project manager is often necessary to produce work that satisfies all demands. Because inputs must be guided in this exercise and because it requires stakeholders to "do their homework" this sheet is normally filled out with our Project Manager who acts as coach and reality-check for the dataSpheric Arizona web development process. Since it may be circulated in advance of being filled out to get project participants in the right frame of mind (or keep them from getting off track), it contains some basic but highly misunderstood terminology.

A couple of important pointers for the project manager at this stage:

  • You'll notice that it's pretty verbal. This might seem strange for a visual design worksheet but it's intentional. Our experience shows that visually inclined people will produce drawings without being asked. It also shows that non-visually inclined people should not be asked to draw.
  • The client is most likely to disregard the requests for competitor examples. Don't let this happen. You need concrete examples of what they consider "good design".

dataSpheric Brand/Identity and Web Creative Development Worksheet

©2000-2004 dataSpheric

This Creative Worksheet is a one-size-fits-all guide for all things visual. We customize it for use on web projects, pure design projects, pamphlets, brochures, whatever. We generally send this along with a trimmed-down Strategic Worksheet and Project Specification to the designer so that they are aware of strategic objectives as well as the overall intent of the project.

Overview:

In this worksheet we address the 'look and feel' of the website (in other words, those aspects of the site that have to do with the user experience), and we do so in objective as well as subjective terms.

Again, we don't have to worry about marketing lingo or even proper grammar, just make the points you want to make. Don't worry about brevity this time either. Ramble on as you like. Just be aware that the actual language we see in the final product will be developed in the copywriting phase. We're focused on conceptual content at this stage.

Terms you may find helpful:

  • Logo Short for "logotype", this term usually refers to a symbol. Extreme efforts are made to make such symbols "ubiquitous" in company media and in the minds of consumers. The ultimate objective of such symbols is to make them visually associated with the company's marketing message in the minds of consumers. Thus, in a glance, the visual image ideally conjures up slogans, jingles and emotions. Common requirements for logos are that they look good from very very small to very very large, that they reproduce well across media (print, web, TV, etc.) and that they satisfy requirements for trademark protection.
  • Branding treatment A branding treatment usually involves designing a stylized and unique font for words or phrases, frequently the company name. Sometimes this is integrated into the logotype but often we see both. A branding treatment seeks to satisfy requirements for trademark protection.
  • Taglines, mottos and slogans Commonly used to form the basic marketing message. A common requirement for taglines is that they pass scrutiny of the marketing department, the legal team, the PR team and the strategic people. Other requirements are that they be quick, "catchy", easy to remember (or impossible to forget), make a positive emotional impact on the consumer, that they "blend" well with other marketing initiatives and again, satisfy requirements for trademark protection.
  • Brand Identity describes what sticks in the customer's mind and forms their awareness of who you are, what you do, why you are unique and necessary. Building brand identity (or brand awareness) involves melding all arts of marketing, psychology, strategy and business planning. It builds over time and involves consistent investment. As intangible as this can seem, consider what occurs in your mind when we hear the words "let your fingers do the walking". "It's a snap" is the ingrained response. We see an image of a hand which is imitating human locomotion. The words "Yellow Pages" are simultaneously present. We see the frayed pages, the endless black print in our minds. Any one of these stimuli are capable of triggering recall of every other marketing property we've seen in association over the years.

One last thing, many of the points here probably seem redundant to you as we've discussed them before and similar points have been addressed on other worksheets. Understand that this document is almost exclusively for the Designer who hasn't been privy to our discussions and may not ever receive a full copy of the final specification. Assume they know nothing about your objectives. And have fun!

Give a short description of the image you want to create for your company in your customers'/competitors' minds.

What is your company's "personality"?

Identify your unique attractors, your unique selling proposition.

What is your market differentiation? How could the Brand/Identity communicate this?

Who are your customers?

What do they respond to, how old are they and what do they do?

Where do they live and where will they be accessing your site from - i.e. home, office, etc.

Why will they be coming to you? What will they be looking for?

What existing Brands/Identities do you like and why?

Provide three logos/URL's of any company (preferably at least one of a competitor/equivalent company), and a brief explanation of what you like about each.

What are the objectives of this logo?

Describe the emotional response we're looking to produce in the user. Here's your chance to Throw in the adjectives. Explain the 'mood', 'temperature', 'feel', 'character', etc.

What effect do you want to inspire in people who view this work:

  • in the first 5 seconds?
  • in the next 10 seconds?
  • after that?

What will be the logo's life span?

Should it evolve with the company?

Should it be unchanging in order to build brand equity?

Can the work vary or appear in different versions for different media?

How important is color consistency or uniformity across media?

Where is the logo going to appear?

Where will work appear? Website? Stationary system? An annual report or shareholder literature? Broadcast commercials?

Visual guidelines?

Are there any color preferences?

Are there any font preferences?

Are there any images/icons/photos that you would like to use in your logo?

Do you have any existing work?

Do you have a media/marketing plan pending? If so, what does it consist of (i.e. print ads, website, television, radio ads, etc.)?

How do you want your new development to relate to the existing media plan/campaign?

If you have an existing website/work, how would you like this development to relate to it?

What happens now? Please return this worksheet to me and we'll take some time to go over it. In this, I'll be looking for three main things:

Anything I think you may have left out

Anything that could be better stated or rephrased

Anything I know you should leave out

Any glaring contradictions

I then package the worksheet content into a Draft Creative Brief which also contains summary descriptions of your company and it's overall objectives along with any technical requirements that have been identified in previous worksheets. I may here inject some of my own content or rephrase yours. The draft is sent for your approval upon which it becomes the actual Creative Brief and is sent to the design people.

dataSpheric has the experience to objectify the creative and artistic process of website design to get you measurable results! Contact us to get started today!