Graphic design and creative services

What this section covers

HQT works as an as-needed creative partner to public agency and nonprofit communications teams: strategy and campaign planning, three distinct concepts for every campaign, refinement, and the full creative toolkit that follows, including print, digital, social, signage, motion, and copy. Accessibility and plain language are part of the first concept, not a check at the end.

Why this work sits with HQT

A campaign is a system. One idea has to hold across a poster, a postcard, a vertical story, a display ad the size of a stamp, a billboard, a banner on a stand, and the same set again in another language, and it has to stay consistent when the in-house team makes the next piece without anyone from outside. HQT is a technology company, so it builds the approved direction as a design system of templates, type, color pairs, and rules, produces the formats from it, and checks every piece by machine before a person reviews it.

Services 12

• Campaign Strategy and PlanningTurning a program goal, an audience, and a budget into a campaign plan an in-house team can approve and run.
• Creative Concepts and Campaign DevelopmentThree distinct creative directions for every campaign, then refinement rounds until one is ready to produce.
• Brand Identity and GuidelinesLogos, sub-brands, type, color, and the guidelines that keep every department and vendor using them the same way.
• Copywriting and Key MessagingKey messages, headlines, and copy for every deliverable, written in plain language and adapted for each audience.
• Campaign Creative ToolkitsThe complete set of campaign files, templates, and working files, organized so staff and vendors can produce from them.
• Print and Collateral DesignPosters, postcards, flyers, brochures, pitchbooks, and one-sheets, designed for the press and the reader.
• Digital Ads and Web GraphicsStatic and animated banners, homepage takeovers, mobile display ads, and landing page elements built to ad specifications.
• Social Media Design and StrategyPost, story, header, and event graphics, with the copy, hashtags, and posting plan that go with them.
• Signage, Banners, and Out-of-HomeEvent signage, vinyl banners, display boards, and outdoor advertising, designed for distance, weather, and installation.
• Events, Experiential, and Promotional ItemsEvent concepts, engagement activities, and promotional items that carry a campaign into the places people are.
• Motion and Video GraphicsAnimated banners, social video, titles, lower thirds, and caption styles for campaign video.
• Accessible and Inclusive DesignDesign that meets accessibility requirements and goes past them, for readers with disabilities and in more than one language.

How a campaign comes together

1. Plan. Work from the agency's brand guidelines, sub-brand language, and campaign framework template to agree the audience, objective, deliverables, schedule, and budget.
2. Three concepts. Present at least three genuinely different creative directions, each shown in the formats that are hardest to get right, not only the poster.
3. Refine. Take the selected direction through at least two structured rounds of refinement, with one consolidated set of comments per round.
4. Build the system. Turn the approved direction into templates, type, color pairs, and rules, then produce every size and language the media plan needs from them.
5. Check and hand over. Check every piece for contrast and minimum type size, review what automation cannot judge, and deliver organized working files the agency owns.

Design studies 2,880

60 campaign studies across 7 lines of business, each in three concept directions and 12 formats, with a Spanish adaptation: 2,880 pieces in all, every one checked for contrast and type size as it was made. These are self-initiated studies, not client work. Each is a fictional campaign; none was commissioned by, produced for, or approved by any agency or organization.

All 2,880 pieces

Accessibility from the first concept

Contrast, type size, plain language, alternative text, captions, and translated versions are part of the brief and the templates, so they are designed in rather than retrofitted. Every study in the portfolio was composed under the same rule the build enforces: text reaches at least 4.5 to 1 contrast against everything beneath it, the WCAG 2.2 Level AA ratio for normal text, applied to large text as well, and no text is set below the minimum size for its format. A piece that fails either check is not published.

How an engagement is staffed

As-needed creative contracts usually name the same six responsibilities. On an HQT engagement each is assigned to a named person at kickoff, and a change of key personnel goes to the agency for approval first.

• Principal. Accountable for the account, the strategy, and the commitments made to the agency.
• Account manager. The day-to-day contact: schedules, task authorizations, budgets, approvals, and the record of decisions.
• Creative director. Owns the concepts and approves every piece of copy and design before the agency sees it.
• Art director. Owns the visual system for a campaign and keeps every format consistent with it.
• Copywriter. Writes the key messages and the copy for every deliverable, and adapts it for each audience and language.
• Graphic designer. Builds the templates and produces the pieces, from the first comps to the final files.

Nonprofits

HQT also takes on a limited number of pro bono projects for nonprofits in San Diego County. See the nonprofit design program.

How to start

Most engagements begin with the brand guidelines, the campaign framework template, and one campaign that is coming up. Send the detail to info@hqt.org, or use the contact form.