I was talking to an acquaintance the other day and he was telling me about a new business he was starting. He’s doing custom promo kiosks for local businesses. He was 
telling me a bit about his process and how he goes about creating the graphics. Long story short he was creating the graphics from scratch each and every time. It would take him twice as long to create these promo graphics. When I asked him why he doesn’t create a template system or use a frame work, he replied that every business wants a custom design. But does that mean you have to reinvent the wheel each and every time? NO!
Just because you have a custom product doesn’t mean you can’t create a system for making that custom product. This acquaintance refused to see that. He would start with a blank canvas each and every time. The questions, information he asked for, and his process was different each and every time. But the core product was the same for every business.
- Create a standard questionnaire or work order. The information and final product can be unique per business but the information you ask for to get their can be the same.
- Creating a library of art work/templates/etc that can be mixed and match to create custom unique products.
- Create jigs/frameworks/etc for all those pieces that are going to be the same.
Creating a standard procedure and some baseline rules to doing work will in the end give you more creative work and less time where you are staring a a blank canvas.
