Now that’s a question all freelance designers must be asking themselves pretty much everyday.
In my case, I’m not even a freelancer. I’m supposed to be an entrepreneur! I’m playing the roles of hiring manager, trainer, mentor, designer, finance manager, data entry operator, consultant, art director and some I am not even aware of. Phew!
After four months of ad hoc work and no processes and systems – and after innumerable discussions – last week, I decided to create some documents to help smooth out the design process.
I’ve managed to create a simple, preliminary PowerPoint document, which would help even a newbie to understand how a design engagement works at this particular design studio.
This would help anyone to understand how the design process works at this particular design studio. We could even hand it out to clients from them to understand “What the hell do these guys actually do!?” – should be a lifesaver when faced with a client who has no clue what to expect.
I have also created a template for receiving Creative Briefs from clients.
I scoured the web for sample creative briefs and creative briefs that have been used by advertising agencies. While I got the general drift of how they are usually composed, I realised that I’d need something completely new for this particular design studio because of the way work is done here and the type of organization this is. It’s going to help us decide – before we start work – what the client has in mind. While I don’t intend to use it as the sole tool for understanding the client, it will help us get started and we’ll be able to elaborate on the requirements once we at least know where the client is going! It’s a 10 page document with the cover – I’m wondering if the length with be intimidating to a client – it’s actually a four page thing, but I’ve increased the font size and given ample space for replies, hence it goes on to nine pages. It’s an interactive PDF form that a client can fill and return via e-mail.
The third thing on my agenda is the creation of a template for a proposal that is presented to a client – to be signed and approved.
Till date we’ve not used a single “formal” document, except the estimates, bills and invoices – everything related to money. Not a single document related to deliverables and the design itself. Clients have turned around – midway through the engagement and said “Oh! I no longer need that envelope designed, I’m sourcing them from someone else. Please remove the charge for the same from the total bill” AND “I’ve spoken to the boss, we’re great friends and he’s agreed to reduce the price of the design engagement even further” after the design team has been working on the project for over three months! I’m hoping to completely do away with such clients and situations – terrible for the morale of the team.
The fourth thing would be a check-list that will help the designer stay in sync with the other parts of the design engagements [ for example job number, supervisor assigned to the job, a quick list of deliverables, some mandatories to be kept in mind, etc. ].
This would be a quick reminder of what the project is about, without going through the entire creative brief and the formal proposal to the client. One sheet of A5 paper that summarizes the whole engagement – will help me understand where we’re going in terms of type of design engagements and type of clients.
These documents are going to help me work smarter and avoid wasting time on ambiguous client brief, they will also make me dispensable – as a Business/Creative Head. Which just brings me closer to my goal of setting up a design studio or a creative services business division and moving on. [ TEXT REMOVED ]
When I’m done refining and testing the above documents, will make them available for download – that should help me refine them further.
This post has been edited to make it more politically correct.
12 comments
I’m looking forward to peeking at your revised creative brief and proposal template.
Sure Hugh, will send you a separate e-mail when I’m done – and before I post on the blog – would appreciate your feedback.
still waiting for wonderous docs?
Thanx for sharing such nice stuff on ur blog…
Would you have the time to just sound me off (by email) when those docs are ready?
Sure Ramachandran, will let you know. Thank you for stopping by.
:)nice article. Since 1 hour i arrived at ur blog and the colors and the nice looknfeel dont let me go away!
Also the no-spec writing makes a sence. I decide here, n now. NO-SPEC!
Would obviously want to look at the documents n presentations u have created. May i?
Hi Bhavesh, Thank you for stopping by. I appreciate the kind words about the blog! I also appreciate your sentiments about NO-SPEC! – honestly, its a tough act to follow – but once you do that, it’s esy to see the long-term benefits. Will send you an e-mail once the documents are done.
Nice to have reply Naina. Yes, it does have long term benefits. It really feels bad while someone goes away without paying u anything despite of all the hard work u have done. (but it seems hard to apply. Guess what! just yesterday evening, i couldn’t bring the NO-SPEC issue while discussing with a new client. 🙂 have to show him work on monday. and then -he will decide- )
anyways, will try next time.
Hi there Bhavesh, nice to hear from you again – I have NEVER had issues with NO-SPEC work – I just tell the client that work means money and I am not doing anything for free. It’s the old bad habit of not knowing how to say ‘no’. And it’s even more trouble for designers who believe their work is not good enough – I’ve seen your website and I believe you’re one of the few Indian designers who are doing some really good work – you should work also accordingly – the client needs to understand that design services are not like fruit/vegetable selling where the shopkeeper allows you to taste the sweet fruit before you decide to buy – this is serious business.
For example, before buying a house, the buyer take a look at the house and sees whether it is good enough – he doesn’t have to stay in the house for a month for free! Similarly, to check out a designer’s design skills, all the prospective client needs is a look at the designer’s portfolio and past client testimonials – I don’t see why a designer needs to prove his/her worth by doing something for free before the client gives the go-ahead.
I have never done SPEC work and never will no matter how big the client.
It’s not that difficult – you’ve to do it once to realize its power.
Good luck for next time and I thoroughly appreciate that you shared with me how difficult it is to practically implement the No-SPEC rule – not everyone can admit that they find it difficult – when I was starting out, the prospect of earning money made it very difficult for me to say no to SPEC work but I did and now I can see the results.
me and my boyf are now trying to open our own business and I am going through the same doc problem as you. I found really interesting what you say and I believe it is great initiative.
I would love to take a look to your work for eventualfurther reference
that would maybe helpful to save time on this bullshit paper work and focus more on what we are good at.
hope to hear from you soon
Thanks and keep it up!
Emy
I would love a copy of your docs too – are they available for download (or are you able to email me a copy)?
I read your entries above but wasn’t sure how to access the templates you’ve created and offered to share. Thanks for letting me know.
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