A working day in digital media — from brief to finished product...
How you handle the power you have as a professional
A day in digital media rarely involves sitting in just one program. It is about translating a customer's wish into something concrete that works on a screen — and doing it again and again while you adjust along the way. Here is how a typical task moves.
§It starts with a brief
A task begins with a brief: a description of what the client wants to achieve who the recipient is and what parameters apply — formats deadlines colors logo and budget. The better you understand the brief the less you change later. That's why good questions are part of the craft: Who should see it? Where will it be shown? What's the most important message? An unclear brief is the most common reason a task has to be redone.
§Research and idea development
Before you open a program, gather inspiration and facts. How do the customer's other materials look? What are the competitors doing? What are the platform's requirements? Then you sketch — often quickly on paper or in rough drafts — several directions instead of locking yourself into the first idea. Developing broadly and choosing afterward almost always gives a better result than going straight to detail.
§Production in the programs
When the direction is chosen, you build the product. It could be a layout in a layout program, an edit in image software, an animation, a video, or a website. Here technique and order are critical: name your files and layers, work with templates and stylesheets, and stick to the customer's colors and fonts. A clean project is quick to change—a messy project costs you hours every time something needs changing.
§Feedback and corrections
Almost nothing is finished in the first attempt. You show a draft, get feedback and revise. This requires you to be able to receive criticism professionally and distinguish between taste and error. Write corrections down so nothing is forgotten and confirm major changes with the customer before you spend a lot of time on them. A good media graphic designer is not one who never gets revisions but one who handles them calmly and efficiently.
§Preparation and delivery
Finally the product must be delivered in the right format. Is it to be printed, used on the web or shared on social media? Each purpose has its requirements for file type, resolution, colour space and size. A picture for print and the same picture for web are not the same. Here you also check for errors: typos, cropped elements, missing fonts and wrong sizes. A final, careful check catches errors that would otherwise stand in the finished product.
§Why communication is a core competence
It surprises many that a large part of the trade is talking with people. You work with customers colleagues and suppliers and you need to be able to explain professional choices so they are understood by someone without the same background as you. The person who can both do the craft and communicate it is far more valuable than the person who can only do one.
“Half of the trade happens in the programs. The other half happens when you listen to what the customer actually needed.”
— Professional view on media designer's daily work.