Production teams have always been essential at advertising and branding agencies, but as organizations expand digital offerings, the role of production shifts, leaving it, at times, under utilized. How can agencies better use production talent to innovate, alleviate resourcing issues, increase efficiencies and revenue, and deliver the highest-quality assets in an evolving digital landscape?
The Meaning of Production
Agency production teams excel at bringing a design team’s intentions to life. Whether it’s a logo suite or a social media campaign, all assets need to be on brand, on time, mistake-free, and user friendly. A good production team has the design chops and technical experience to free-up time for designers and developers, allowing them to move to the next project, and do what they do best. That same production team can address an array of details, avoiding costly errors. It doesn’t matter how well something is designed; if it doesn’t serve the client’s needs, it’s effectively useless. Production designers have the understanding of how assets work in the real world, and can flag challenges that may arise for the client and end user before an asset is delivered.
Here are action steps an agency can take to have production support its digital team. Getting this right will increase productivity and revenue across all the agency’s teams.
Early Inclusion A production team member should be included in the early stages of scoping and design approvals to ensure each project is on budget, on time, and optimized for its final applications.
Resourcing Design resources are often spread thin when the workload is heavy. Design can hand off iterative and relatively straightforward projects with clear direction. For instance, an approved online ad design direction can be forwarded to production to execute all of the size, text and image iterations, saving designers considerable time.
Quality Control Digital content, like any other asset, needs to be checked for a variety of possible issues. Each deliverable needs to be on brand in relation to fonts, icons, colors, logos and imagery. Text should be proofread, checked for alignment, and font weights and sizing should be consistent. Spacing between elements needs to be consistent. File naming needs to be standardized and consistent.
Testing All functionality needs to be tested; navigation, scrolls, buttons, links, motion, responsiveness, etc. This avoids costly, time-consuming changes at the developer stage.
Clarity All imagery, logos, icons, and so forth, need to be the correct resolution for the size used. All imagery should be clear and crisp. Designers can place low-resolution imagery in working documents to save time, and the production team can later replace with the appropriate assets.
Accessibility On-screen assets must be tested for accessibility to prove digital compliance. It’s best to monitor this throughout the project’s progression.
Client Revisions Production can make most client revisions, sparing designers’ creative time. Client revisions should be consolidated by the account team before they reach production. Revisions should be limited and set as milestones in the project scope, avoiding overrun costs.
Asset Costs Fonts and images are checked by Production to ensure correct licensing. Costs are researched and shared with the account team and client.
Process Generally, the Production team has a good handle on process efficiency, being aware of bottlenecks and what will help projects run smoothly. The Production manager can interview all stakeholders to flag issues, and subsequently suggest and implement solutions. This extends to the client who often greatly benefits from process changes on their end. The client will appreciate the proactivity which builds trust, so when challenges arise, they can contact Production directly, rather than the account team relaying messages.
Innovation There is an ever-widening array of add-ons and plug-ins available to make processes and applications more efficient. A good approach is to periodically and systematically research what’s new, short list likely finalists for wider review, and incorporate the best into ongoing workflow and processes. This exercise should never end.
Software Usage There are many applications which serve similar purposes. Prioritizing which ones are most effective is essential to ensure departments are using the same tools for consistency, collaboration and efficiency. The Production team can initiate research, share unique insights, and roll out applications that are the best fit for the agency.
Software Training Design and Production teams need to regularly improve and expand their software knowledge to improve efficiency and quality. Software training is worth the investment to build upon the existing expertise and knowledge these teams bring to the agency. In turn, agencies benefit from a dedicated staff that can flex their experience to handle whatever project comes through the door.
Software Maintenance Once an agency does incorporate an application (for example, Figma or Sketch), it can fall into dis-use or become functionally outdated. The Production team can research and share knowledge of plug-ins, updates and alternative methods to make the best use of these in-house applications and facilitate more productive collaboration. The collaborative nature of these tools necessitates a clear and precise process that the Production team can establish in conjunction with the account and design teams.
A well-rounded, experienced production team is one of the primary revenue drivers in an agency; their role can continue to add value in the digital age.
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Stephen Lipman
