Design 101

Design 101

Understanding the Environment

This example demonstrates why it's essential to provide designers with eRetailer documentation and/or visual reference regarding the environment a marketing asset lives within. 

If you remember anything from section it should be...

Not knowing your destination may result in...

Showing up in the Bahamas
wearing a snow suit

Similarly, knowing where assets live,
ensures they are designed in harmony with their environment.

Specs/context provided:

Dimensions of assets: 
Rockstar creative team, the specs are 642x745 PNG with transparent background, and 30px padding around the perimeter 

Creative direction: 
Imagery to match Rockstar's current PDP

Location of final deliverable: 
Included a link to the location for handing off final assets vs. a link to the site/online location users would be encountering these assets

The result:

As the request DID NOT include:

Information regarding the black background these assets would ultimately live over. Or a link to help designers see where these assets would ultimately live in the wild. A designers may assume the assets lives over a more common white background and not refine the silhouettes of a transparent assets/pngs to work over a black background.

This omission in context could have resulted in time-consuming updates to 40+ assets.

While this transparent asset looks ok over white,

It looks poorly over black,
as the black background reveals its unrefined silhouetting.

Best practices for providing context

Know your assets

Become as educated as possible regarding the placement of all assets.

Indicate desktop, tablet and/or mobile
Per each asset, always indicate which devise types it will be viewed on.

For example:
3200x400 desktop banner
3200x800 mobile banner
3000x600 desktop and mobile header

Provide eRetailer asset documentation

Seek out and provide eRetailer asset/placement documentation. This information is essential to helping designers avoid time-consuming revisions, assets that are rejected by eRetailers and/or under-perform.

Provide eRetailer asset PSD templates

Seek out and provide eRetailer asset/placement documentation. This information is essential to helping designers avoid time-consuming revisions, assets that are rejected by eRetailers and/or under-perform.

Share links to live assets

Share a link to an assets final location (aka where it will live in the wild). 
If a link to the final asset placement is not available, sharing a link to similar assets can be the next best thing. Else share screengrabs of where assets will live in the wild (across desktop, tablet and/or mobile). While not idea, it's the next best option when live links are not available.

Bring eRetail clients and designers together

Invite the eRetailer’s design reps and eComm designers to meetings whenever:

  • Working with new clients

  • Working with new asset placements

  • eRetailers make changes to asset placements