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Thursday 19 March 2020

3 Things to Do Before You Design Anything


3 Things to Do

 Before You Design Anything


I Lead-in. Think of the answers to the questions.
a)    What is the first step in your work process when you want to design something? Take 2 minutes to note down the three things you do when you get a new design project.
b)    What questions should a designer ask a client before the work on a project begins? Think of at least 3 questions you need to ask a client.
c)    What information should a designer know before the work on a design project begins?   

II Vocabulary focus. Match the words to the definitions

distil; kick-off meeting; objective; a needle in a haystack; break down; accomplish; competitive; define; narrow; pitch; motion design
1.    to finish something successfully
2.    someone or something that is very hard to find
3.    the first meeting with the project team and the client of the project
4.    to get or show only the most important part of something
5.    to explain the meaning of something
6.    to separate something into smaller parts
7.    to present or advertise
8.    something that you plan to do or achieve
9.    as good as or better than other prices, services
10.to make something less wide
11.discipline that applies graphic design principles to film-making and video production

III Watch the video and mark the statements as True or False. Correct the false statements.


1.    In the video the speaker gives advice on presenting ideas to clients, he speaks about pitching.
2.    There are four important things every designer should think about before presenting ideas to clients.
3.    Kick-off meeting with a client is not necessary.
4.    The goal of the first meeting with a client is to discuss the stages and techniques of the design project development.
5.    The speaker suggests the following order of steps every designer should take during the meeting with a client: 1) diagnose the problem; 2) narrow your design exploration; 3) define the goal.

  IV Pronunciation focus. Look at the phonetic symbols [ɪ], [aɪ]. How do you pronounce them? Put the words in the list in the correct column based on the way you pronounce the underlined letters. Listen or watch and check. Use 3 words in your sentences.

easiest; fine; information; distil; describe; interpretation; simple; clients; accomplish;  critical; diagnose;  driven; inherent; design; prioritize; hierarchy; provide; clarity; organize

[ɪ]
[aɪ]
fit
like







V Watch the video above and fill in the gaps with the words from the list. There are some words you don’t need to use.

Realise; client; information; project; message; announce; hopes; release; good; problem; thoughts; goal; tired; educate; value; prioritize; easiest;
thinks; audience; easy; hierarchy; meeting; trying; design
  
The number one: define the 1)______. In one sentence: “What is the project and what does it need to do?”  This is probably one of the 2)______ones to get out of your clients. Now, sometimes they like to go on and on all about their 3)______and dreams, and that's fine. Be present, listen, and then take that 4)______and distil that into one sentence. The tricky thing is if you use more than one sentence to describe the goal of a 5)______, the interpretation of it and the proposed solutions will get watered down. Just keep it simple and focused. Here are a few examples of what that can sound like. Example one: “This video will 6)______our new product X at CES”. Example 2: “This branded content video will 7)______consumers about Wi-Fi technology”. Example 3: “This teaser should build hype around the upcoming 8)______of our new sneakers”.  Now that you have the clients’ goal and what they're 9)______to accomplish, what's getting in the way of that. So let's move on to our next critical thing you'll need to do during the kick-off 10)______.
 Number 2: diagnose the 11)______: “What is the challenge you need to solve and what's getting in the way of the 12)______accomplishing their goals?” There are going to be a lot of challenges driven by a few things inherent with any good 13)______problem. Here’s what you need to know to diagnose the problem: ‘the who’, ‘the what’, and ‘the how’. So first ‘the who’. Who is the target 14)______, aka the user? Who's going to see this and why is it important to them? Why do they even care?  There’s going to be more than one user, so try and identify the top three and then 15)______the one that's the most important.
So the second thing ‘the what’. What does this project need to communicate? What's the key takeaway 16)______and how should the audience feel after? If they (the client) have too many things to say in a short amount of time, prioritize the message and define the 17)______with them. By doing that you'll begin to show your 18)______as a partner because you're using your core design skills to provide clarity and organize their 19)______.

VI Match the words to their definitions. There are some words you don’t need to use. Use four words in your sentences.

tiny; inherent; core; aka; target audience; watered down; delicious; educate; takeaway; challenge; explain; hype; goal
1.    a problem
2.    most important
3.    also known as: used when someone or something has another name
4.    existing as a basic part of something
5.    a particular group at which a product such as a film or advertisement is aimed
6.    a main message that you learn from something you hear or read
7.    made less extreme
8.    to provide with information
9.    a situation in which something is advertised and discussed a lot in order to attract everyone's interest
10.an aim or purpose

VII Match the words from two columns to make collocations and word combinations used in the text. Use four collocations in your sentences.
     

1.     
tricky
     a)     
content
2.     
keep it
     b)     
the problem
3.     
branded
     c)     
release
4.     
build
     d)     
the  goal
5.     
upcoming
     e)     
thing
6.     
get
     f)      
message
7.     
critical
     g)     
simple
8.     
kick-off
     h)     
clarity
9.     
accomplish
     i)       
audience
10. 
design
     j)      
thoughts
11. 
diagnose
     k)     
design skill
12. 
target
     l)       
hype
13. 
takeaway
     m)   
problem
14. 
core
     n)     
in the way
15. 
provide
      o)     
meeting
16. 
organize
      p)     
thing

















VIII Watch the part of the video and answer the questions.
1)    What is the first thing a designer should define during a meeting with a client?
2)    What strategy can a designer use if a client does not give a short answer and talks for a long time?
3)    How many sentences should the goal statement include? What are the examples of goals given in the video?
4)    What are ‘the who’, ‘the what’, and ‘the how’ that a designer need to know before the work on a project begins?
5)    Why is it important to think about a takeaway message? What question helps a designer to learn about the takeaway message?

 IX Watch the words and phrases to their synonyms. Use four words from the left-hand column in your sentences.

     1.     
to hook
     A.    
conference centre
     2.     
to skip 
    B.    
difficult
     3.     
convention hall
    C.    
space for experimentation
     4.     
to take your time
    D.    
to be important
     5.     
to be made aware of
    E.    
hard work
     6.     
solution
    F.    
to pay attention to
     7.     
sandbox
    G.   
to attract attention
     8.     
effort
    H.   
instructions
     9.     
valuable
    I.      
to remove
     10. 
to matter
    J.     
space
     11. 
to filter out 
    K.   
to avoid
     12. 
tricky 
    L.    
extremely good
     13. 
to look out for
    M.  
answer
     14. 
epic
    N.    
not to hurry
     15. 
room
    O.   
important
     16. 
guidelines
     P.    
to be informed

 X Watch the video and choose the correct option to complete the sentences.


Now that you have a clarity/clearer/clear message, where and how will this be shown, in what context/contextual/contextualize? What part of the sales cyclone/cycle/cyclic will the viewer were be in?  Well, depending on the context the viewer will have a different/differentiate/deter state of mind and a different attention span. Is this a pre-roll ad on YouTube? Well, then you’d better look/book/hook them in the next five seconds or they're going to skip this ad. Are they sitting in a convention hall or a theatre? Well, then maybe you could take your time. Depending on what stage/staged/age of the sales cycle the viewer’s in, they'll have different needs and intentions. If it's early in the sales cycle, they'll need to be made aware of the production/product/productive or service. If it's late, they're ready to buy.
 Now that you've identified what you need to say, who to say it to, and how you need to say it, you have identification/identity/identified the challenge. For most of you designers out there, I know, you're ready to go off and make something, right? Well, it's not time yet. Why? Well, because there are way too many possibly/possibilities/impossible that this solution could be. So, now comes in our third step: narrow your decision/design/designer exploration, establish the critter/crater/criteria and define your sandbox. Look, design thinking and problem-solving takes a lot of time and effort. But if you narrow down the possibilities/possible/impossibly upfront of what's valuable to explore, you're going to save a lot of time. You're going to focus your efforts on the things that matter and you'll stop guessing what the lenient/client/latent wants.
So how do you filter out possible solve/absolute/solutions? Well, there're a few key questions you can ask your client. Question 1: “What are the creation/creative/recreate parameters to work within? What can it look like and what can it sound like?” Things will get a little tricky here and you have to look out for what we like to call ‘coded language’. What is coded languid/language/linguist? Well, coded language is words like ‘epic’, and ‘elegant’, and ‘neurotic/energetic/energize’. These are words that have a lot of room for subjective interpretation. You need to get super specification/specify/specific with them and cite examples and use really simple language. Actually I wrote an article about this on ‘Medium’ a few weeks ago on how to translate/translator/transcribe coded language so you can walk away with clear actionable guidelines.  

 XI Watch the part of the video and mark the sentences as True (T) or False (F). Correct the false statements.

1)      The context is important for a design project because clients have different needs and interests at different stages of a sales cycle.
2)      In early stages of a sales cycle clients are ready to buy.
3)      At later stages of a sales cycle it’s important to hook the clients very quickly.
4)      Early in the sales cycle clients need to be made aware of the product or service.
5)      Designers need to narrow their design exploration not to waste time.
6)      Narrowing design exploration helps designers to focus efforts on the things that matter.
7)      Clients like to use ‘coded’ language when they describe their project.
8)      Designers need to learn French if they want to understand clients’ ‘coded language’.
9)      If designer asks quests and uses simple words he or she can understand what a client wants.
10)  Coded language is words like ‘faux pas, and ‘flabbergasted’, and ‘hors-oeuvre’.
11)  Coded language is difficult to understand because it is very subjective.

XII Vocabulary focus. Match the words to the definitions. Use three words in your sentences.
North Star; target; obvious; blueprint; to get along with; to shop for; cheating; rate; rapport; to recap

1.      a goal
2.    the number of times something happens
3.    a friendly relationship
4.    dishonest act that gives an advantage
5.    to repeat the main points
6.    easy to understand
7.    a model or guidance
8.    to like someone and be friendly with someone
9.    to look for
10.the most important component

XIII Watch the video above and fill in the gaps with the words.


After you have clear parameters made up of simple actionable 1)_______, move on to the most important question: “How will you make your decision on who to 2)_______with?” And when I say ‘you’ I mean ‘the client’. This sounds super obvious, but for years I didn't bother to ask this question. And I wasted so much time guessing on my pitches what they wanted to 3)_______. But if you ask this question, you'll have the answer to the test. I feel like it's almost like 4)_______. The client, if you ask this, will tell you exactly what is the most 5)_______thing that they need to see or hear to make their decision. Is it money: are they shopping for the lowest price? Is that the 6)_______: are they looking for the best quality? Or is it rapport: are they trying to find the 7)_______they get along with best? When you have the answer to this, you must make sure that this is a 8)_______to address during the pitch phase. Now you have all the key ingredients you need to go off and synthesize an effective 9)_______during the pitch phase.
Let’s recap those three things you need to do before any 10)_______one more time:
1) Define the goal. What is it? What does it need to do? Remember: one sentence. Keep it 11)_______.
     2) Diagnose the problems. What is the challenge you need to solve?
     3) Narrow your design exploration. Define what it can and can't be, so you don't waste your time guessing what the client 12)_______.
 With these three things established you now have a 13)_______and very narrow target to hit when you pitch. This should be your North Star and your blueprint for everything you and your 14)_______create. All of it should be driven by the goal and filtered through these criteria you've established. With this your pitch will deliver real value to your 15)_______and hopefully you'll increase your win rate. 

XIV Match the words from two columns to make collocations and word combinations used in the text. Use two collocations in your sentences.
  
     1.     
clear
     A.    
the best quality
     2.     
simple
     B.    
actionable language
     3.     
shop
     C.    
sure
     4.     
look for
     D.    
an effective solution
     5.     
get along
     E.    
for the lowest price
     6.     
make
     F.    
the goal
     7.     
synthesize
     G.   
with
     8.     
define
     H.   
parameters

XV Watch the part of the video and answer the questions.

1)    What is the next question every designer should ask?
2)    What does it mean for a designer if a client says that the price is important for him?
3)    What does rapport mean for a client? What designer does such a client want to work with?
4)    What does it mean if a client says that quality is important?
5)    What are the three things a designer  needs to do before any pitch?
6)    How long should a goal sentence be?
7)    What does diagnosing a problem mean for a designer?
8)    Why should a designer narrow his design exploration?

XVI Fill in the gaps with the correct prepositions from the list. Watch all parts of the video to check your answers.

about; up; for; on; of; in; in; on; along; around; at; of; on; for; on; for; with

1.  Some clients look _____ the best quality.
2.  After the meeting with a client a designer will have a list of parameters made _____of simple actionable language.
3.  Designers need to understand where the ad will be shown, _____what context.
4.  _____the beginning of every competitive pitch designers have a kick-off meeting with the new potential client.
5.  In this episode the speaker talks _____pitching.
6.  Sometimes clients like to go _____and _____all about their hopes and dreams.
7.  After the kick-off meeting a designer should move _____to the most important question: “How will you make your decision on who to work with?”
8.  Designers need to understand what's getting in the way _____the client accomplishing their goals.
9.  For example a teaser should build hype _____the upcoming release of our new sneakers.
10.          For designers pitching can feel like finding a needle _____a haystack.
11.          Designers need to focus _____the three things they have to do before any pitch.
12.          Some clients shop _____the lowest price.
13.          Some clients are they trying to find the people they get _____  _____best.
14.          These are words that have a lot _____room _____subjective interpretation.
  


XVIII OVER TO YOU. 
A) Think about a motion design project you have (it can be an assignment in your design course), a design project you had (a project you worked in in the past) or a task would like to work on in future (your dream project). If you have no experience in motion design, you can choose one of the sample tasks below:
1)    your client (an online clothes shop) needs an animated logo and motion graphics for social networks.
2)    your client (a local TV company) needs an animated bumper and title that will accompany its shows on TV and on YouTube.
3)    Your client (a small café that makes healthy desserts) wants an advertisement it will use on its website and on Instagram to attract new clients.
4)    Your client (a local company that organises birthdays and celebrations) wants a video that will inform clients about its new service (fireworks, fire show and flower installations at celebrations).
5)    Your client (a local company that produces sports clothes) wants a video that will advertise its new t-shirts.
B) Follow the guidelines in the video and answer the questions (write down your answers) that will be designer guidelines before you start working on the project:
a) Define the goal of your project. Write down the answers to the questions: What is it? What does it need to do? Remember to answer every question in one sentence and keep it simple.
b) Diagnose the problems. What is the challenge you need to solve? Remember the tree steps you need to take: ‘the who’, ‘the what’, and ‘the how’. Write down the answers to the questions: Who is the target audience or the user? Who's going to see this and why is it important to them? Why do they even care? What does this project need to communicate? What's the key takeaway message and how should the audience feel after? Where and how will your design project be shown, in what context? What part of the sales cycle will the viewer were be in?  Is this a pre-roll ad on YouTube? Are your clients sitting in a convention hall or a theatre?
c)  Narrow your design exploration. Define what it can and can't be. Write down the answer to the questions: What are the creative parameters to work within? What can it look like and what can it sound like?

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