No matter how great your message, product or service is, if you don’t package it with great visual branding, you’re missing an incredible opportunity to wow the heck out of your potential customers, and leave your competitors in the dust. It never ceases to amaze me how many PR and marketing pros seem to miss this simple truth, and miss the opportunity to partner up with designers or design firms to 1.) add polish to printed and web materials and 2.) share clients. Designers don’t want to bother with copywriting, media pitching, or messaging the same way you don’t want to fiddle with vectors, color balance, or Photoshop.

Collaborating with designers presents an unparalleled win-win situation because designers come across clients who need PR and Marketing services, and PR/Marketing Pros regularly have projects that could use some good design. The two parties can form one of the most practical symbiotic relationships on the planet.

I have several designers that I regularly partner with, as well as a design firm that I will collaborate with in the future on larger projects. But how does one go about finding and working with a design firm? What elements must one have professionally designed? And what are the rules of engagement? To answer these pressing questions, I caught up with a local (DC-MD-VA) designer to get his insights. Meet Greg, of Carousel30 Interactive Media.

Name Greg Kihlström
Age 33
Company Carousel30 Interactive Media in Alexandria, VA
Title Chief Creative Officer
Years in the Field 11
Web
Blog
Twitter carousel30

Mopwater: How long have you been working in the design field, and what made you get into design?
GK: I have been designing Interactive Media for over ten years now and got into it after spending some time in Photography, which also teaches you many of the important elements of design and about the economy of space, shape and message.

Mopwater: What kinds of clients do you work with?
GK: A pretty wide range from high-profile for-profit (AOL, MTV Networks, Starbucks) non-profit (The Nature Conservancy, AARP, DividedWeFail) and government (NASA) clients to medium-sized companies and organizations.

Mopwater: How often do you collaborate with PR and Marketing firms?
GK: My company, Carousel30, has done some of our best work when collaborating with PR/Marketing firms and other agencies.  About half of our work comes from these types of collaborations. Read the full story