Speaking the Design-ese
Its always hard when a client and designer first interact and use completely different terminology. The designer is stuck in this force-field-like textbook design terms that they’ve learned over the years, throwing things out like, “bleed, trim size, and process color vs. PMS,” to which a client ponders how a woman’s time-of-the-month correlates to their project.
That sucks.
So here is my solution, I stop using the terminology (whenever possible) and use words and ideas that my client will understand. If the client is a big corporate giant, I will use much different conversation and email grammar than with a start-up wedding consultant business. I try my best to adapt to the environment and the client, and save all the technical jargon for conversations with other designers, printers, and my bosses at the design agency I do contract work for.
So what does this mean for you, as a potential client?
- It means you can use your words (“Can we move that black thing over and under, but not on top?”) and your slang, (“I like a cursivy font, but not too formal, but not handwritten either, and soft, not too bold…”).
- You can focus on what you do best, run your business. And I’ll do my best to help you let the world know who you are, what you’re all about, and why they should pick your business over anyone else.
- Hours aren’t wasted away trying to figure out how to get that “designer of yours” to do what you want
Also, for those curious –
Bleed refers to the width of a piece (like a brochure) that is printed and then trimmed so that all graphics can “bleed” off the edge. Trim size is the size of the piece after the bleed has been cut off. Process color is what your desktop printer uses to produce any graphics, it is also what you use most of the time to print anything with pictures on it. Any printing company will be able to do process color, but each printing press is slightly different and colors will not be the same every single time. PMS color stands for the Pantone Matching System, which, for all the ladies out there, is like nail polish. Each PMS color has a specific number – so every piece you print with that color comes out exactly the same. This is impossible for different process color printers. That means you can print something one year, and then decide to print more across the globe another year later, and still end up with the same exact color. This is great for logos, or if you brochure or stationary has a large block of color that needs to stay consistent.
