After working five years within internal marketing teams, I entered the world of freelance design in 2008 and I quickly realized: Small businesses have a large need for design—and, more specifically, a large need for branding and information-driven communications.

 

While building my client base, I noticed a trend with my clients. They would come to me wanting a tangible collateral piece (i.e., a brochure, a website, a capabilities deck); however, when I would simply ask, "Why?" together we would discover their real need was something else entirely.

 

More often than not, what they really wanted were their ideas to connect with their prospects and clients. And what they really needed were brand initiatives for building understanding and resonance.

 

Yes, often those are implemented in a brochure, website or capabilities deck; however, without looking at what you want to generate how are you ever going to resonate? And from there Resonate to Generate was born. 

 

With Resonate to Generate, I want us to get rid of the notion that design is only about creating a tangible collateral piece. Instead, let's approach design in conjunction with business strategy. Design then becomes a way to create solutions for generating desired business outcomes.

 

So every project, no matter the scope, starts with the question, "What's your business objective?" After all, you do want your business communications to have impact, right? Resonate to Generate.