JDA, Inc. Retail Ready Design

We look at each job individually, first referencing the Graphics Artists Guild Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines, and then considering the actual amount of time we estimate we’ll need to complete the project correctly.

As a general rule, we don’t work on spec. Advertising agencies commonly work this way because much of their work is done on retainer or through large-scale contracts. Design firms tend to work by project. If the opportunity for a larger-scale or longer-term relationship was presented to us and spec work was necessary, we would consider it.

Printing, copywriting, photography, back-end website programming, website hosting, inner box CAD drawings, die line construction and market research. We remain the primary agent for all of these services unless you wish to work directly with one of our vendors.

Dave and Patty Jensen stay involved in every step of the process and are always accessible. An account manager handles the day-to-day communication on a project. We think it’s a shame that many agency principals show up to land a job and are never seen again, as they are potentially a huge source of creativity and experience.

The creative brief outlines the project’s strategy, while the design criteria ensures we stay on-track during the creative process. You always get a chance to approve the design criteria and review creative every step of the way.

We work with specialists who start with our initial renderings to design a cost-effective die for your packaging and POP, including the inner and outer cartons and clamshells if necessary. This has proven to be beneficial for companies that manufacture and print overseas. It is much easier to hand off an electronic die and a package mocked up in the actual substrate than to work back and forth overseas. The practice saves considerable time and money, and puts you in control of the final product.

We request written input, whether by e-mail, fax, or our preferred method, annotated PDF. This enables us to keep track of all edits and to create a detailed tracking report for you at the end of the project so you have a clear picture of the job history.

Let’s say you feel a headline or graphic isn’t getting the proper emphasis. We welcome your creative input — letting us know that you feel this headline or visual isn’t grabbing enough attention. However, telling us how to make it grab more attention, such as by requesting a bigger headline, falls under art direction — and the realm of our experienced designers.

We have extensive experience working with packaging vendors throughout Asia, from Japan to China and Taiwan. While cost is a major benefit, the inability to give or receive regular status reports, and conflicts with software versions and other differing processes can be detrimental.

We have a stringent pre-flight process for all printed materials that ensures the high quality for which we’re known. It includes one designer going through an extensive project checklist and a second designer going through the list again on a second computer. In the end, this saves you time and money. Experience tells us that rushing the preparations for release of a project can lead to costly mistakes and we do everything we can to avoid that.

We do a lot of work up front to make sure this doesn’t happen, but if it does, we let you know immediately. It all begins with our creative brief that outlines everything we will provide and for what price. It makes sure we understand fully what your project entails. We stick to this estimated price unless the project changes direction due to new input or if revisions go beyond the typical three to five drafts.

We don’t host websites but we have solid relationships with several different hosting companies who we entrust with our most important sites — including ours! If you have your own favorite host or an internal department, we would be happy to work with them. JDA dose work closely with the host and our clients to update websites and can function as the web Master.

While doing work for two different companies in the same industry is OK, we consider it a conflict if we are working on similar projects for competing products — such as package designs for both Canon and Nikon cameras. We are always open with you about who we are working with and insist on signing a non-disclosure agreement.