I color-code the projects in my task list depending on their status and the green projects are those that need my attention. Tasks are piling up today and turning green. The project that is on my mind the most is the DDA Poster Designs I wrote about earlier this week. This is the perfect example of a graphic designer acting as problem solver.

The problem: Design 7 posters that are timeless, informative, all encompassing, and (dare I say) sexy. They need to visually scream that we are (pardon the overuse of these phrases) “A one-stop shop,” with “everything-under-one-roof,” or a “full-service” advertising agency. We are talented beyond belief, customer-service oriented (no voice mail here, thank you), motivated, intelligent, and professional. Our services range from 3d animation to 2d illustration, corporate and medical training tools to photographs of garden tools, and much more! There are a handful of talented copywriters just upstairs and an entire video studio equipped with a sound booth and video/audio editing services. Need a custom logo design?… no problem. Want your logo animated?… again, no problem. The posters need to share a common design theme, work together, and be able to stand alone.

The solution: stay tuned!

Quite often DDA graphic designers are called upon to meet with clients during a project’s kick-off meeting. The project might be a brochure design, logo design, or new website design or as was the case this past Thursday, a new package design. DDA (Dynamic Digital Advertising) was called upon to create graphics for a package design very similar to a sample package provided by the client.

While the package design served its purpose and the product sold, we felt it important to improve on the design of the package as well as the graphics. At one point, we suggested to abandon the package altogether and allow the product to stand alone. We are always looking for the best possible solution to any client project request. If that solution benefits DDA, great.

Our client’s are important to us and it is our job to deliver the best possible design whether it comes in the form of an animation, video, logo, package or website. Their satisfaction to a solution that is beneficial and produces results is our ultimate goal.  I believe our client left our meeting knowing that DDA is on their side and confident in the fact that a successful package design will be delivered!

On the way to work early this morning, I was so tempted to stay home and putter in the yard, listen to the birds, watch the V formation of geese overhead, wave to the power walkers, and maybe even enjoy a cup of coffee while I walk around with my pruning shears. It is a fantasy I have every beautiful April day, and I WILL get to experience it, but not Monday through Thursday. Those are dedicated Dynamic Digital Advertising (DDA) days, and I try to give full measure, as do all who work here.

I’m sure the whole crew yearns to be outdoors when the weather is perfect and bug free, and at DDA, we are in the process of improving the big back area of our new digs so we can install picnic benches and fire up the grill before long. Don’t tell anybody, but I’m even thinking hammocks between trees! Meanwhile, we do our collective best to produce.

There is talk of an economic slowdown, but thankfully we are busy with several video projects. Carrie, our lead graphic designer, is working on new print designs for several long-time clients, and yesterday Melissa, another designer, sent a new client two finished images for her trade show booth (a project incidentally with a very tight deadline). Last week, we launched a very sophisticated jewelry website and there is still much to tweak before we are satisfied.  

The tasks of maintenance through search engine optimization and inbound linking continues uninterrupted daily, the conference rooms are booked for long distance meetings–and so the day goes. If you walk around our new offices, it is hard not to notice all the strategically placed clocks, the silent reminder to use time wisely. Like I pointed out in an earlier blog, time is not elastic. Furthermore, we all have the same number of hours allotted to get things done. How we use the 38 hours helps decide if DDA will have a good day, a better week, and then a profitable month. 

Ponder this, “We say we waste time but that is impossible. We waste ourselves.”  ~ Alice Bloch

Today, I am writing about the writing of the blog, as well as my usual submissions assignments and accounts receivable duties.

Our blog writing is an interesting assignment where each of DDA’s employees describes what he/she is doing. The writers write about their copywriting services, as well as their additional roles within our advertising company. The website designers may blog about their new custom web design that they just created or a graphic designer may talk about their design for a new brochure and introduce themselves as a graphic design specialist.

The point being is that all of Dynamic Digital Advertising (DDA) employees, myself included, write about our daily tasks and assignments and how we plan on handling a project or the tasks we are working on. This is the creativity which separates DDA apart from all other advertising agencies.

Today I am working with one of our Graphic Designers adding content to a new site. The site is an update and has a great new look and feel. Our Graphic Design Artists have the BEST eye for what makes a great Web Design. They can create all types of print design and logo design as well as web design that will amaze you!

I always fear that one day I’ll run out of ideas, that my creativity will be depleted and I’ll be left staring at a blank Photoshop document that’s just waiting for the next great design. But, somehow the ideas never run out, the designs always get finished and another client is pleased with our work. As a graphic designer, I am expected to keep things fresh, exciting and always on the cutting edge; we do that by continually looking for inspiration.

Our job doesn’t end at 6pm when we all go home and turn off our computers. We are compelled to look at everything printed with a different perspective. We are constantly critiquing everything we look at: TV commercials, newspapers ads, brochure designs at the doctor’s office, magazines, etc. Ideas are created by absorbing all those designs that we are drawn to and breaking them apart to see why they work and how they can work for us.  If we as designers become stale, then our designs become stale, and our work is stale.

Fortunately, at DDA we have a team of designers that keep things fresh, find inspiration from other website designs, direct mail pieces we receive, trade magazines, articles about current trends in design, and brainstorming amongst ourselves.  I feel it’s also important to not only look ahead at the next great movement in design, but to also look back at design legends such as William Morris, Paul Rand, and Saul Bass, to name a few, and study how their processes have brought on such overwhelming success and insight into the field of graphic design.

I was thinking the other day how fortunate I am to work on such a variety of design projects. Today, I will be finalizing a logo design for DDA’s new division, DDA CMT (Corporate and Medical Training), then I have some web design updates for DDA’s Corporate site, and finally I will continue my work on a new cover design for a brochure folder, which is in it’s third cycle of printing. What a variety! This sort of variety, I believe, is especially important for any graphic designer. There is a risk of getting to comfortable with one subject matter and failing to expand one’s horizon into other areas of advertising, which helps to keep our designs fresh and consistent from one project to another. This is especially important for many of the Corporate Identity projects we have worked on. My 3-year old child has a book that teaches us the beauty of all the ways one thing can take on different shapes and colors… but it is still the same thing and this one thing can be loved by many different types of people. In some respects I think that that my job as a graphic designer is just that… to design each project that will be accepted and “loved” by the great variety of our clients. 

My job here is varied. I do little bits of several different things, for many different areas like taking care of actors and website maintenance. I have learned that DDA can practically do it all, from Web Design to Video Production. Our Graphic Designers and Writers are insightful into the needs of each individual client, and the Programmers and Videographers are amazing at bringing it all to life. Each day I see something new and creative from the talents here!