I found this thing by a guy who blogs about board game design. We can always learn more about creating quality, so here it is.
My three steps towards creating quality:
1. Figure out who’s going to care if it’s good, and what THEY think is good. If you’re a graphic designer, this is especially true because people are really screwy about what they think is good.
2. Find the best examples of what they think is good, with their help. This is not always easy, because sometimes you’re presented with contradictory definitions. Find what they really identify in those contradictory examples, A/B presentations (do you prefer this [show example] or [this, show other example]). Alternatively, this may require psychic powers, fMRIs, and torture. (Torturing the client is often tricky, but if you do it right, you can often insure prompt payment, while you’re at it.)
3. Make the best possible example of that definition of quality. If you can’t, don’t try, turn down the project.
This is completely true, yet completely facetious.