Hiring a full-service design agency

A full-service agency brings several kinds of design and marketing work under one roof. One agency can then carry a project from the brand to the website and on to the campaigns that follow.

What the work can cover

Design agencies have their own trade association, the Design Business Association (DBA). Its guide for clients describes the main kinds of design work.

It says many agencies offer more than one of these specialisms.

For advertising and marketing campaigns, agencies have their own professional body, the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA).

One agency or several specialists

The DBA suggests starting with the problem you need to solve. Then look for designers who specialise in it. For a packaging problem, for example, it suggests a packaging specialist rather than a generalist.

It also says you may need different types of designer at different points in a project.

Writing the brief

The DBA publishes a template for a design brief. It suggests covering:

Sharing the budget is your choice, it says. Whichever you choose, tell every agency in the pitch the same thing.

Shortlisting and pitches

The DBA suggests a shortlist of three or four agencies. Its questions include these.

A first, informal meeting to look at each other's work is often called a chemistry meeting.

If you ask agencies for ideas in a pitch, agree who owns those ideas before they start. One option it gives is a token fee to each pitching agency towards its costs.

It also asks clients to give feedback to the agencies they did not choose.

Who owns the work

When you commission work, the copyright starts with the agency that creates it, not with you. GOV.UK says this is the case unless you agree otherwise in writing.

Without that agreement, a court may find you have only an implied licence to use the work for the purpose it was made for. That licence may not be exclusive, and it doesn't make you the owner.

To transfer copyright, the agency signs a written contract handing it over. This is called an assignment. If the agency designs a product's shape, such as a bottle or a pack, it may also own design right in it. Design right is transferred the same way, in writing and signed (section 222 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988).

The designer may keep moral rights, such as the right to be named as the author. Moral rights can't be transferred, but they can be waived.

If the work uses material that belongs to someone else, you need the owner's permission or to buy the rights, GOV.UK says.

For a new brand name, search GOV.UK's trade mark register first, to see whether someone already has a similar mark. Registering your own mark gives you the right to take legal action if someone uses your brand without permission.

Checking an award

The IPA runs the IPA Effectiveness Awards and publishes its winners. The DBA runs the Design Effectiveness Awards and announces its winners too. You can check an agency's award against the winners the awarding body has named.

The rules for your campaigns

In the UK, advertising outside TV and radio comes under the CAP Code. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) publishes rulings on ads under it. The code puts the main responsibility for following it on the business that advertises. Agencies that prepare the ads also accept a duty to follow it.

Before an ad runs, the advertiser must hold documentary evidence for claims that can be checked objectively. The advertiser must also hold evidence that any testimonial is genuine.

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