Landor Associates: Bringing a Brand to Life

Early Exposure
Designers are often skeptical about sharing concepts early in the process because they are sensitive to wasting time on designs that will never see the light of day, know the artwork is not ready for critique, or that the client has not yet blessed the direction. The most valued print vendors are willing to risk extra work to see an advanced glimpse of a design concept and can be trusted with confidential information. Similarly, production houses, color separators and packaging engineers are invariably grateful for this luxury. It lets them develop their own plan of action, gauge resource allocation, ask important questions, and provide valuable feedback and advise on some of the “gotchas” that can often arise during the package printing and production process. For example, simply knowing whether a design includes photography or illustration and may have foil stamping is helpful for planning even if the photo shoot has yet to take place or the foil has not yet been specified, because it helps the printer plan production and suggest ways to prepare files or even fine-tune a design for optimal results.