What are the different kinds of design requests?

When you open a new deal toy project with us here at Altrum, the first steps will be determining your budget, how many pieces you want to order, when you need them, and what kind of design you are looking for. Once we have that information, we send everything to our art team, and they get to designing. There are a few different types of design requests in our system, so let’s learn about them!

A new project will go straight to “Concept” for the most part. Unless you have an exact design & sizing in mind or you’re working with a standard/company-specific template, this is when our art team starts from square one. They assemble an initial set of designs for your project, which usually consists of 2-3 options. It’s super important that we give the art team an accurate and detailed description of what you like and don’t like, that way they can provide you with the best possible designs right out of the gate. Because this stage starts from scratch, wait times for Concept designs can be anywhere from 5-6 business days depending on the complexity of the request, the time of year, and your place in our design queue.

Once you have your set of initial designs, it’s time to review them with your team.

Let’s say that everyone likes Design 2 as a starting point, but they want to see what it would look like if we slightly changed the shape of one element, made it 10% larger, and changed the color of the base. For something like this, since the design is already made and we are just adjusting existing elements, we submit it to our art team as a “Draft”. This type of design is worked on by an entirely different team of artists than those that handle Concept requests, and these tasks usually have a wait time of about 4 business days.

The last kind of design request you need to know about is called a “Change”. This is for everything that wouldn’t be considered a draft or a concept. Basically, if you want to swap the background photo on your design, update the text, alter the color of the text, or do anything else that wouldn’t require a change in size or the overall design structure itself, that would be considered a Change. Because these are usually simpler requests, you can expect a general wait time of 1-2 business days for something like this.

Because when you open a new project with us at Altrum, the bulk of the time spent on it from start to finish will most likely be design-related. Some projects take longer than others, especially when multiple design iterations are in the works.

If you’re on a tight timeline and need something designed and produced quickly, we will usually recommend going with one of our classic or signature pieces that do not require a lot of art time and can be produced fast at our domestic factory in Canada. Nailing down a final design can be tricky, especially if you have an event and have multiple iterations on the table. We are always able to expedite design requests that are high priority, but it is essential to know how long requests may take to manage expectations.

Something else we highly recommend considering if you want to quickly work out any kinks in your design is to schedule a Live Art session with one of our graphic artists! To learn more about Live Art, check out this article. 

If you have any questions about Concepts, Drafts, or Changes, please contact your Account Manager!