In just a few short months working at Ueno, I’ve learned so much about design and why it is one of the most important pieces of the marketing puzzle.

Prior to joining Ueno, I fell into the trap that many marketers do —I assumed design generally came after my work as a marketer was mostly complete. “Now,” I thought, “I have everything ready… I just need designers to make it pretty!”  (Designers everywhere roll their eyes.)

Now I see this thought process underestimates design’s real potential value. Design is a core part of the solution to any challenge marketers need to solve. Good design does so much more than look good; it communicates your brand, raises visibility, and drives conversions.

With a few projects under my belt and this new way of thinking, I uncovered some takeaways marketers can apply to set up any design-related project for success. Here they are:

• At the beginning of the project, marketers and designers should define “What is the key problem we’re trying to solve?” As the process moves forward, keep returning to this question and answer to stay on track.
• Trust is essential to a successful marketer/designer relationship. Work with people you respect and trust. If you don’t know each other well, spend time together and work side-by-side in person as much as possible.
• For a project to be successful, all stakeholders should be involved from the beginning. If everyone agrees on the challenge and proposed solution from day 1, there will be fewer roadblocks later.
• Most importantly, recognize that design is a collaborative process. Especially for big projects like a marketing website, it’s not enough for a marketer to say “Here’s what I need, come back with your design in a few weeks!” Design teams work with you, not for you, so your input at every step along the way is crucial to success.

I’m learning more every day, so I’ll share updates in a few months. In the meantime, what advice do you have for marketers on approaching design & working with design teams? Please share in the comments!

Thanks for reading. 🙂  

 

-Posted by Elizabeth Donovan-