Do you want to communicate your design entries to customers as effectively as possible? It's time to be strategic about how you frame your ideas to give you the best chance of winning a contest.
As you're competing against other designers, your entry will need to stand out. Whilst quality design will always speak for itself in any marketplace, you can't take anything for granted. So much is also about the visual presentation you are putting forward to the client. Applying your design in brand collateral can help give that edge and x-factor against your competitor plus, the client will love seeing their logo on 'real' merchandise.
What is brand collateral?
In a nutshell brand collateral is presenting your design in the context to the client's brand.
Having the appropriate collateral depends on the client's brief and has to represent the key elements of the brand. For example, a corporate business wouldn't necessarily have a logo placed on a water bottle, it would be more appropriate to be showcased on business cards or letterheads.
Why is brand collateral important?
Clients will love you
A client will not have your mindset. Most clients will not be trained to visually understand how a design is applied in the real world. It's up to you (the professional graphic designer that you are) to showcase your vision.
Being a crowdsourcing graphic designer, there's no face-to-face contact with your client. So, in order to sell your design, you have to sell your visuals.
Hint! Place your designs on the appropriate mock up - this will make the client appreciate that you understand their brand.
Your designs will look richer
What should always be on your mind is you're in competition with other designers, and you must want (need) to stand out.
In order to increase your chances of winning it helps to give your entry personality. Providing that collateral gives a sense of richness and quality against other entries.
How to best present your design on collateral
It's important to create a presentation story with your design entry. There are no rules on how your design should be placed, yet always keep in mind that you are presenting to a client who will be inundated with ideas. Your presentation should effectively showcase your design, capture the client's attention, and communicate your vision in a compelling way.. Think about what element will entice the client to choose your entry. Is it the design collateral or the design?
It's often best to also submit a flat version of the design alongside any mock-up as this is the format the client will actually receive at the end of the contest. It means you can make it clear what your design idea is and then include a variation that features a 3D sample in context.
And similar to when creating your design, there are key components when it comes to that layout presentation which you need to consider. It's all about visual hierarchy. Here are some ways to create a clear visual hierarchy.
Play with scale to improve your entry
Scaling your collateral in proportion to your design can be the most effective way to give visual importance.
Take this design for instance:
This designer showcases a close up and embossed letterhead of the logo. This image is enlarged but still balanced with the logo, allowing the entry to be clear and effective.
Think about contrast
Again, it's just like the creation of your design. Viewers are visually drawn to color when such elements are contrasted with monochrome elements. If you do want to play with color, even in your collateral, use the main 'brand' colors from your actual design, making your entry more relevant and identifiable.
Try not to drench your entry with vast amounts of color, this will make your actual design have less impact.
Give your layout structure
Structure gives you the opportunity to visually guide the client through your entry. There are many techniques in creating a layout. Many designers apply alignment, position, and focal points to have a strong layout structure. However, also take into consideration that white space is one of the strongest approaches to make your design have ease and calmness.
Here, Designoid successfully uses white space to create a strong layout story. Also notice the playful, overlapped collateral, allowing Designoid to have that slight edge to win against other designers.
You can easily go overboard with visual hierarchy. Remember it's all about balance. To achieve this, only some elements need to be emphasized, while others recede.
Is it presentation worth it?
Put simply - yes. Although you will often be working to a specific time frame for each project, placing your ideas on certain mock ups shouldn't take as long as your actual designs. Here are some ways that will make your design collateral time efficient.
Photoshop
There are numerous Photoshop templates online that you can use for free (or paid) to create your brand collateral. Being PSD format makes it easier to edit and re-size as per your requirements.
Stock images
If you haven't already start collecting stock images that are brand collateral worthy, then now's the time to start. Stock images are great. They look more realistic and have a higher resolution than most other images. You can go to sites like Shutterstock or iStock, although you will need to pay to use the images for your work.
There are also sites that cater to free stock images. Check out our 'Top 10 Free Stock Image Sites' article for more info.
Take photos
Why not create your own templates? This way your designs will really stand out from your competitors.
It's simple, just take photos of collateral like cups, notepads, T-shirts etc. This way your choice is not limiting. For example, if you want to have a logo on a letterhead but with a timbered textured background then take a photo of a blank piece of paper on a timber floor. You can then include your designs on the plain sheet.
More examples...
Here are some past DesignCrowd winners who have successfully incorporated the appropriate design collateral.
Logo Designs
Business Card Designs
Stationery Designs
Poster Designs
Book Cover Designs
T-Shirt Designs
Packaging Designs
Conclusion
Now you have some techniques and tools to create your collateral, go put them to good use. Remember to always provide a flat version of the final logo for the client to inspect. But putting that little bit more in to your design entry will sure make you stand out from the rest.
Want More?
Starting out in the design industry can be challenging, but here are some of our top articles you may find useful:
The 3 ways to find design jobs on DesignCrowd
How to promote your design services and make it rain
Ten Inspiring Work Spaces for Freelancers
Written by Divya Abe on Thursday, November 24, 2016
Divya Abe is an expert graphic designer ready to share her knowledge with the crowd. Besides spending quality time on the internet she enjoys anything to do with cats. Get in touch via Google+.
