It’s competition season for graphic designers around the world. What does that mean for us here at Elements — and for our clients?
We view competition season a bit like a year-end review. We cull through all of the work we completed in the past 12 months by category, and select the projects we want to enter into which competition.
This ‘taking inventory’ activity offers great insight and reflection on our body of work. It can inform us of several things at-a-glance, such as trends in services. For example, in 2020 we noticed an uptick in projects related to websites, e-newsletters and digital presentation materials. To no surprise, we also noticed a sharp decrease in services that would have been needed for in-person events, such as trade show graphics and print brochures.
In addition to taking a look at trends in services, we also can see what our body of our work means for the direction we’re headed as an agency. This helps inform our marketing planning, the services we offer (so we can meet expectations and needs) and which industries are growing — and it allows us to move in the direction that’s best for us and our clients.
I’m not going to lie; it’s always satisfying to win awards for our work. Being judged alongside other creative agencies and our peers has always been gratifying, and a great watermark for us as an agency. We have been fortunate to have won awards every year since Elements began in 1999. That being said, we don’t create, strategize and design to win trophies; we work to help our clients find the best way to move their business and marketing goals forward, and our reward has always been our clients’ success.
And, if we happen to win recognition for the work we do alongside our clients, well, that’s really great too. 😉
Looking to start a new marketing project that you’ve been putting off? Summer is the perfect time to do it, and we’d love to help! Give us a shout at 203-776-1323 or amy@elementsdesign.com
—Amy
