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Marketing Assets - In-house design

Essential characteristics of in-house design departments
  1. Valued by senior management
  2. Staffed by experienced designers (creative and technical expertise)
  3. Well managed (managed by a creative or design director)
  4. Multi-functional (experience across all media)
  5. Multi-level experience (senior level and junior level)
  6. Open channels of communication with senior management
  7. Clearly defined roles and responsibilities for staff members
  8. Clearly defined and proven processes and procedures for producing work
  9. Commitment to brand identity standards and vision
  10. Ability to design with creativity and innovation within system
  11. Ability to explain the rationale behind design solutions
  12. Teamwork; open and clear communication within the group and beyond it

Designing Brand Identity by Alina Wheeler

Biggest challenges to
in-house design
  1. Getting access to senior management
  2. Getting senior management respect for in-house design
  3. Overcoming design-by-committee thinking/actions
  4. Focusing on high quality rather than the bottom line
  5. Debunking the myth that high quality means high cost
  6. Getting hands-on designers access to external design firms when developing standards (e.g. design firm develops something that cannot be produced in-house because the two parties did not talk)
  7. Too much work for too small a staff

Designing Brand Identity by Alina Wheeler