Graphic Design Services
Developing the Right Ideas.
Through our combined years of experience, the craft of design is quite the opposite of what most people might imagine–namely, a highly intuitive, unstructured activity, with artists staying up all night to devise award-winning creative visions that convey the immediate embodiment of what the client has had in their heads, but had never been able to express verbally. In fact, our work, which HAS garnered an amazing number of high profile and creative awards between our two agencies, has proven that the exact opposite is true.
Despite popular misconceptions, good creative work doesn’t come in a flash of inspiration; usually it comes from lots of trial and error. This is why we also need to take the time to consider several approaches or concepts, work them thoroughly, try them out and then revise if necessary.
This is the naked truth. Brilliant creative rests on a very structured process with client services doing a lot of preliminary legwork in order to provide our designers and strategists a detailed, defined set of parameters regarding the campaign or project. The collection and documentation of information related to a project or campaign, including identification of audience, goals, related research information regarding the behaviors of target audience, are key to helping all those involved with concepting, a focus for their ideas.
Part of the formula for coming up with brilliant creative is also balance. We believe in the talent and vision of our people, and in order to ensure we retain amazing talent, and offer the efficiencies of teams who have developed working patterns together, we have long prescribed to nurturing environments of balance, relying on our account managers to manage and protect space enough for everyone to approach each project or client campaign with a fresh perspective and an invigorated spirit.
Which is why, in the end, the creative process sounds way more unsexy than one would hope a creative process would sound.
Our Design & Creative Services Include:
- Logo Design and Brand Identity Development
- Company Culture Expressions
- Graphic Standards
- Print and Digital Design
- Illustrations
- Video, Audio and Broadcast Production
- Copywriting, Editing and Proofreading
We understand that your world is complex, and your graphic designer should be able to help you respond to complex problems. Our goal is always a design that aligns with your core values. We want in-person and online experiences to be consistent for anyone who encounters your brand. We like to build templates so you can respond on-the-fly to changes in the marketplace or your organization.
There are some practical and functional ends to tie up before submitting our first ideas, such as research, analysis and discovery meetings with the client. All this, and the need to schedule our workflow within a balanced, operational framework, including multiple check points for proofing and editing, means that we normally ask for up to two weeks, depending on the job’s complexity, before we submit our rough concepts for your review.
Experience has taught us that it is best to first present rough concepts to a key client point and just one or two others. This ensures the focus remains on the problem and the team is not distracted by too many personal opinions. Our rough concepts usually consist of penciled drawings or thumbnails. They are adequate to convey what we believe is the best approach to take, as well as demonstrate the strategy, taking into consideration your budget, schedule, objectives and preferences. On the other hand, they are not so well developed as to have wasted time and effort if we need a course correction.
After presenting, we’ll ask for feedback. The more detailed and specific the feedback, the better we will be able to respond. Comments are our input for revising the rough concepts into a finished one, which is when the key client contact typically shares the design internally for approval and feedback. Revisions to designs normally take about a week, and we schedule a second presentation shortly thereafter. Each milestone within the creative development process receives two rounds of revisions for each presentation. This allows us to stay within the defined budget for each project. If we find there are multiple rounds of revisions that impact the budget, the Account Service contact will specify the impact to the budget in order to draft up a Change Order.
From the input at this second presentation meeting, further refinements are made, as necessary. We also finalize the production timetable, and the scheduling of additional services such as photography and illustration at this time. We recommend the finished design be routed to the appropriate decision makers for fact and detail checking only, reserving stylistic and subjective decisions to your project manager. To avoid costly confusion, it is also important that all communication with us come from the project manager on the client side.
For the most part, all of the creative services offered by the team will go through this process.
However, we will say this: As tedious as this process may sound, it's the end result that makes it all worthwhile. Strategy will be based on industry knowledge and research into your audience and business needs. Messaging will motivate your audience in ways that you will understand. Collateral and components of an integrated campaign will make sense, based on the profile of your audience behavior. And the exceptional creative that is the final outcome, will not only be an effective business tool to help achieve your goals, it will be of a professional quality and design standards of which you and your brand can be proud….. Because SOME of the creative process does entail a bit of intuition and God-given talent.
INTEGRATED CREATIVE CAPABILITIES
Assessment, Research & Strategy Services
- Quantitative Market Research
- Qualitative Market Research
- Industry and Consumer Trends
- Competitive Analysis
- Brand Audit
- Creative Discovery
- Strategic Planning
- Marketing Plans
- On-Site Target Workshops
Creative Services
- Brand Design and Development
- Brand Culture Consultation
- Graphic Standards
- Print, Digital Design and Development
- Illustration
- Video, Audio and Broadcast Production
- Copywriting, Editing and Proofreading
Multimedia Creative Services
- Online Marketing Strategy
- Responsive Website Design and Development
- Proprietary, Customized Mobile Apps
- Online Video Content Creation
- Social Marketing Design and Promotions
- E-Newsletter Design and Content
- PowerPoint Presentations
- Online Community Communications (Blogs)
“Covalent Logic graphic designers are not just digital wizzes, they are traditional artists. At Covalent, design is a collaborative experience that encourages client participation, feedback and input. Whether it’s a logo refresh, traditional printed collateral materials or a full rebrand, the Covalent designers lead the charge with innovation, creative intuition and your unique brand goals at the forefront of the process.” - Stafford Wood, Founder, Covalent Logic
Clear & Legible Visual Design
Everyone benefits from designs that are easier to see. People with different visual abilities see your designs in varying ways—the diverse nature of impairments creates a wide variation in how your designs are perceived. A clean and clear visual presentation helps everyone make sense of a website's information and functionality.
Color & Contrast
Visit web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, for more accessibility information. Is there enough contrast between text and its background color?
- Provide good contrast.
- Make sure the contrast between the text and background is greater than or equal to 4.5:1 for small text and 3:1 for large text.
- Exceptions
- Color contrast ratio requirements apply to text and graphics that are essential for understanding the content or functionality. You don’t need to meet color contrast requirements for logos or incidental graphic elements.
- Text that is part of a disabled control's state or disabled buttons does not need to meet the minimum contrast ratio.
- Text that is part of a logo has no minimum contrast requirement.
- Slightly temper the contrast between your text and background color. For example: don’t use pure black text on a pure white background. Stark contrast can result in blurred or moving text for people with Irlen syndrome.
- To use text over images, add a solid background behind the text or a dark overlay to the image.