Priorities – Design Strategy

prioritiesThis year happens to mark my 30th year as a professional graphic designer. 30 years!!! Things have really changed in this industry, I can tell you that! What if I had not adjusted my course and adapted? I would not even be using a computer! I would be hand-lettering and using markers to color. And of course I would not have kept up with the pace of today’s market. I remember when the billboard company I was working for got its first fax machine.

FAX machine, people.

The sales manager in our Shoals office would call me to tell me he was going to fax me an art request, then tell me what was on it. When I received the actual fax (which he had just read to me), the instructions ended with “Call me when you get this”. No one trusted this new technology – lol!!

2017 is off to a roaring start for MY Designs with a brand new website. This comes as a result of deliberation and planning.  2016 was full of some enormous challenges – some that had begun the year before (family health). Some that just came out of nowhere (tornado on Nov 30). Needless to say, I had the opportunities to study priorities during December, which happens to be the time I set aside time to plan for my business. According to Merriam Webster, the definition of design is:

  1.  to create, fashion, execute, or construct according to plan:  devise, contrive
  2.  a: to conceive and plan out in the mind  b:  to have as a purpose:  intend  c:  to devise for a specific function or end

The goal of this yearly planning is to decide where I want to end up at the end of the coming year. What goals do I want to set and achieve? Then I have to decide what I want my journey to look like. What route will I take? And very importantly, does it align with the long term goals I already have in place? In fact this is just an adjustment – course correction if needed – in the big picture.

Priorities

My business has several areas that need attention all of the time. These are:

  • Creative graphic solutions
  • Clear communications with my clients and for my clients
  • Classes and tools to help my clients make the most of their brand

But I have to continue to grow and adapt with the world so I can continue to serve my clients. So here are some new things I will be focusing on in 2017:

  • SEO
  • Safety and Security
  • Social Media

My monthly posts will delve into these topics to share with you how you can make the most of them. In addition, I am going to be changing the way I schedule workshops. Stay tuned for a special announcement about that coming in a couple of weeks!

Setting priorities is great, but keeping them in the picture does not happen by accident, it happens by design. That is an important part of design strategy. If you are not already on my mailing list, please consider signing up.