Attracting New Talent

Guest writer Shayla Perreault Newcomb: A letter to the editor, published in the April '08 of Progress magazine. While the focus is on Atlantic Canada, the issue is of an international nature.

I found your article "Here to Stay" in the December/January issue very relevant. It's encouraging to see that the Halifax group Fusion not only aims to address issues of city planning but also recognizes the sometimes forgotten role that arts and culture play in attracting new talent to the Atlantic region.

I've met many business people who are skeptical. Are the arts truly important in attracting bright minds to work in our cities? The Canadian Chamber of Commerce has stated: "Quality-of-life issues are enormously important to business throughout the provinces in order to attract and retain employees and their families to live and work in our communities. This factor is just as critical for a small mill town as it is for a big city competing for major head office reallocations. Families want to stay in communities that are rich and diverse with significant opportunities for personal development, including music, dance, drama, and visual arts."

Perhaps the arts are still seen as solely a "social responsibility." This is a mistake. As your article points out, attracting new talent "has moved beyond being simply the right thing to do." Economist Richard Florida said in his book The Rise of the Creative Class that paying attention to "quality of place" is not a form of charity. Businesses, corporations, suburbs, and cities "are doing so for hard-nosed economic reasons- to attract the talented people and thus the companies that power growth in today's economy."

Does this apply to the micro view of a business owner? Design has been shown to have a powerful impact on how employees view their company and what values they believe it stands for. Architecture, environment, original artwork, and excellent lighting help reduce the number of sick-leave days taken, increase efficiency, and sharpen problem-solving skills.

Scientist Dr. Arthur Carty, the president of the National Research Council of Canada, once said this: "The arts have a way of opening the mind. The stimulate the synapses and make one more receptive to creativity. As a scientist, I want my imagination rekindled. I want to be shown how to look at things in new ways. And I believe my capacity for innovation and creativity in my own discipline will grow as a result. At a time when Canada is racing to keep at the forefront of knowledge and innovation, I would say that this reason alone should make every policy-maker a champion of the arts." This shows that not only is the employee satisfied but the business owner is also amply rewarded.

"What am I paying you for?" part4: Proximity

The design principle of proximity is a rather fascinating one. The proximity principle states that elements in close proximity tend to be associated with one another.

Look at this list*. (Click the images for a larger view)

It has many problems plaguing it. If you were to give this list to someone and expect them to understand it you would be greatly disappointed. As it is, the list is a communication mess!







Let's fix it.
We should start by applying our previously discussed principles such as alignment.

It's an improvement but all the elements still sort of all look like a gray blur.
Let's add contrast and repetition.






This is better.
But everything is extremely cramped! Let's apply the proximity principle.









This is nice!
Do you see how everything naturally looks as if it belongs to a very clear group? A sort of information architecture.








Ignoring design principles can get you in all sorts of trouble. Look at this unfortunate design accident.






tsk tsk, someone should have hired a designer.

Those are arguably the four most basic design principles. Contrast Repetition Alignment Proximity, an unfortunate yet memorable acronym. Remember, design is not "just pretty pictures", but the science of making a business' relationship with its target market a pleasant, clear and memorable experience.


*list examples robbed from author Robin Williams.

"What am I paying you for?" part3: Alignment

Alignment is probably the most over-looked and misunderstood design principle. The principle of alignment states that nothing should be placed in the design arbitrarily. Every item should have a visual connection with another element.

When items are aligned the design appears cohesive, organized and professional. Alignment can give certain elements more prominence than others and guide the viewer by creating an information hierarchy.

Let's look at an example*.








The elements here were just sort of thrown on the card. Not one of the elements has any connection with anything else and your eye just bounces all over the place. It's not pleasant or professional.

Compare with this.








Moving all of the elements flush right instantly make the information more organized. All the elements have a common boundary and this boundary connects them visually. The principle of proximity is also involved here but we'll discuss that in the next post.

A designer knows how to use alignment in a variety of ways to make your marketing tools appear very organized and professional.

Next, part 4: Proximity

*(Jordan Kelly is a fellow student at McKenzie. Jordan Kelly's Gourmet Jellies was the subject of his product packaging project. I loved that catchy name so much that I wanted to pay homage to it somehow.)

"What am I paying you for?" part2: Repetition

REPETITION is a deceptively simple design principle. This REPETITION principle is defined quite obviously as "some aspect of the design being repeated throughout the entire piece."

No doubt you already use REPETITION in your work, when, in a memo you make the headlines, margins and indents all the same size for instance. That is one application of the principle. REPETITION is useful for making things appear consistent, cohesive and to facilitate ease of use.

Let's look at an example. I stole this example from Robin Williams. No not that Robin Williams).

Take a look at this business card.





When you get to the end of the information, where does your eye go? Does it wander? Leave the card completely?




Now look at this one.





In this one, when you get to the end of the information notice what your eye does. Do you find that it bounces back and forth between the bold type elements? More than likely it does. The reason for this is that the designer used the principle of REPETITION to unify the whole piece.

I myself have used REPETITION in this blog post. If you were to just quickly scan this post, would it be easy to know what is it's theme? Yes, because I use the word REPETITION in a bold and repetitive way.

This is of course a very basic example of the use of this design principle. Your designer is trained to use the principle of REPETITION in tandem with others to create stunning and memorable designs for your brand.

next, part 3: Alignement

"What am I paying you for?" 4 part series on basic design principles

PART:1

Design is more than making things look pretty. There are very specific and concrete principles your designer applies in order to communicate your message in the most effective way. These principles or laws are many and often are very difficult to balance. In this 4 part series I'm going to describe the four most basic principles of design and how your designer uses them to help your business.

The first of these principles is CONTRAST:








Our mind understands many things by comparing.
If I say that the above pencil big or small, how small or big do I actually mean?


It's very small if you put it next to this hippo!





but very large next to this ant.
The contrast of the hippo/ant comparison helps us understand more precisely what I really mean when I say "the pencil is small" or "big".



Here is how it works in a more practical application.

In this sentence, which WORD stands out the most?

Is it "word"? Of course it is! The striking contrast makes you notice it and remember it. I'm sure you can easily see how contrast applies in advertising to emphasize features and benefits of a product or to draw attention to something in particular.

Unfortunately contrast is sometimes in an inefficient way. A designer, in his well stocked tool box, keeps CONTRAST handy and knows how to use this tool in conjunction with others to make your advertisements and other visual business elements operate at peak efficiency.

Next: part 2, repetition

What is branding?

One of the most important, and often overlooked aspect of business is branding. Branding means establishing your company image. Will it wear a tux or a jogging suit? What is it's mission, ideals, reason for being? Many aspects of your company can and should reflect this concern. Starting at the company name and how that name is visually expressed through a logo to the manner in which that name and logo extend throughout your organization's communications. The whole being commonly called corporate identity.

How can a solid corporate identity help your business? Firstly, it helps draw the right clientele to your business. By clearly communicating what makes you superior to the competition you are alleviating the potential client's task of choosing where to spend money. A strong brand attracts new people and inspires increased confidence and loyalty in existing customers and shareholders. Furthermore, it galvanizes employees and executives alike and allows them be motivated towards a more united goal.

To read another short but extremely helpful article on the subject click here.

Why hire designers? #12

RAPIDLY LEARNING AND "TACKING" BASED ON YOUR SUCCESSES AND FAILURES-The most effective teams are those who constantly learn. Strive. Improve. Designers can help take the team back through the journey, recounting the steps where good decisions were made and where the team could act differently next time.


And thus concludes our "why hire designers?" series. As you can clearly see designers do more than make things look pretty. They can be an integral part of a successful business strategy. If you would like to download the AIGA brochure on which this was based click here.

Why hire designers? #11

SELLING THE SOLUTION-In most cases an exchange of money or time will be involved-between seller and buyer, creator and beneficiary. That process is greatly helped by design, so that people know "what they are buying," and what it's worth.

Why hire designers? #10

MAKING SURE PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT YOUR SOLUTION-Once a solution is chosen,the task becomes to ensure that people-customers, constituents, employees-know about it. In a traditional sense this is about marketing the idea. In a deeper sense, it's about enabling people to support the solution-be it a product, ballot initiative or service.

Why hire designers? #9

Generating value:
CHOOSING THE BEST SOLUTION, THEN ACTIVATING IT-This is the culmination of many steps of hard work. If we do our jobs right, we can often be the pivotal voice in this step, helping argue for the best overall solution-we can visualize the case, see different sides of the problem and lay out a path for making a commitment to a given solution.

Why hire designers? #8

ENABLING THE TEAM TO WORK AS A TEAM-And,when integral to the project, designers can help the team work as a team. Helping them make choices. Envisioning different outcomes. Seeing the "whitespace" that connects divergent views and approaches.

Why hire designers? #7

DELINEATING THE TOUGH CHOICES-A good prototype (or prototypes) unearths all sorts of unexpected data and insight. And from that, tough choices emerge. Should we include this feature, or that? What if the solution costs more than people can afford? What if there are downsides? Designers can make the choices evident.

for a simple example of how prototyping can help in the overall strategy see the previous post. In that project I designed a miniature which not only makes it apparent that some of my text was very much too small but it also serves as an aid for envisioning how the final product might work. This, of course, is a simplification of the subject matter but demonstrates it nonetheless.

Why hire designers? #6

PROTOTYPING POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS-Then comes prototyping a solution. That might mean physically prototyping it: building it in miniature, or as a one off, to see if it will work. Or, it might mean prototyping a new customer experience-a collection of moments that make up an experience. In either case, designers play a critical role.

Why hire designers? #5

Innovating: SEEKING INSIGHT TO INFORM THE PROTOTYPING OF THE SOLUTION

Once a band of gypsies, so to speak, is assembled, the next task is to look at the work ahead and be smart about it. Often it pays to take pause and seek insight that will enable the team to prototype a solution. That means research. Designers can help structure that research.

Why hire designers? #4

INCITE SUPPORT-AND THEN ACTION
In some cases, not everyone will want to make the journey. They'll need to be inspired. Convinced. Cajoled. Educated. As designers, we call on our skills as communicators to help them see why they should come along.

Why hire designers? #3

DEFINING THE APPROACH BY WHICH VICTORY CAN BE ACHIEVED.
Once you know where you want to go (as defined in #2), you need to create a map to get there. That map must imprinted on the mind of every participant along the way. Designers can literally make the map real.

Why hire designers? #2

KNOWING WHAT VICTORY LOOKS LIKE
(if you've ever been part of a team that seems lost, it's likely they skipped this step.) Knowing what victory is becomes vital when embarking on the journey of solving the problem. As designers we can help prototype the end state (through scenarios, models, journey maps, mind mapping et cetera).

Why hire designers? #1

The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) published a booklet entitled Why Design? The booklet outlines the role of design in business strategy. It seeks a common framework for why design adds value to clients’ interests. It defines the power of Designing, a larger concept that includes strategy as well as artifacts across a variety of disciplines. In the interest of disseminating this invaluable knowledge and also as a personal learning goal, I have decided to publish excerpts from the booklet. Namely, the pattern that successful organizations and individuals tend to adhere to when confronted with a problem and how design fits into this framework.

The pattern is broken up in three categories- Defining the problem, Innovation, and Generating value- of 4 steps each. For the next twelve days I invite to you to follow along with me in learning this pattern of success step by step.






DEFINING THE PROBLEM -Successful teams first define the problem they are trying to solve- they articulate it and give it boundaries (what's part of our problem. What's beyond our control). They call upon designers to help cull, visualize, express that problem in human terms- looking at it from many different views.