You might be running your own design business, working at a creative studio or in an agency. Whatever the situation, handling your clients efficiently from onboarding to completion indicates admirable professionalism. This is exactly what keeps the clients coming back, one brand design project after another. Before you know it, you’ve got regulars.
In this post, we will discuss in detail all the steps involved in working on a brand design project.
(1) Onboarding
Hurray! You’ve got in touch with a client and they seem interested in hiring you to work on their brand design project. But what now? Simple, you begin the onboarding process.
Bear in mind that it is always best to have templates for every Excel sheet, agreement, journal, email, invoice and the like. Professional-looking documents with letterheads, dates, neat tables, boilerplate information and stamps, all ready, are the biggest time-savers.
(a) The Brief
The brief is generally a summary of what is required from the project. A clear mention of the design problems that should be solved is made here. Everything that is expected of the designer and creative team is listed and a summary of the goals is mentioned. While the brief is generally not more than a page long, it is still the most important document that gives the designer a good understanding of what direction to steer the project.
A good brief must mention details of the following:
- The design problem.
- The type of audience that will receive the message.
- The kind of design thinking that is expected.
- Conditions and preferences of the type of visual language.
- The design goals that are meant to be achieved.
(b) The Proposal
The proposal, as the name suggests, is how the designer proposes to solve the design problem and achieve the design goals. In this detailed document, the designer specifies the deliverables that are agreed upon with the client. Along with this, technical details like printing, release dates, variations, sizes and other such details are mentioned. This is a crucial stage, as this is what decides what will go in the contract and the pricing of the project. It is good ethical conduct for both the client and the designer to stick to the promises of the proposal and the terms of the contract.
It is recommended to have a detailed and professional-looking proposal template ready at hand. Doing so can save you precious time at this stage of the brand design project when you are rearing to go ahead and begin the creative work.
(c) The Contract
The Holy Grail of all business agreements is the coveted contract. A good and detailed contract can truly put your mind at ease to prance freely through the meadows of creativity. Declutter your mind of the legal bits by mentioning every necessary detail in your contract.
Here are a few things you might want to include in your contract:
- Enlist the deliverables you need in a detailed table.
- Mention the resources you might need to complete the project.
- The timeline of delivery.
- Number of free revisions.
- Charge for revisions beyond the ones you have agreed upon.
- Licencing and ownership of the artworks.
- Confidentiality and NDAs, if any.
- Cancellation fees, if any.
If you want to keep a contract template ready to go, it is best to consult a professional the first time you make one.
(d) The Billing
A pretty straightforward table of contents, delivery dates, payment instalment dates, TRN, payer and payee information. Depending on the geographical region in which you work, you might want to mention whatever is standardised.
Once again, an Excel template on a letterhead is a true time saver indeed.
(e) First Payment
As agreed upon in the billing stage, this is where you receive your first instalment. Bear in mind that your first instalment must be paid before the work begins. Ensure that you are cautious in brand design projects whenever it comes to receiving your dues. It is good business sense to have proof of all transactions.
(2) Discovery:
Learning whatever you can about your client’s business and the products is essential for many reasons. This is data that incubates in the subconscious mind and influences design thinking in the ideation stage. This stage is all about Q&A and extracting insights and nuggets of information from the client; it is the most interactive stage of a brand design project.
(a) Brand Questionnaire
You will only be able to produce great designs when you have all the necessary information about the company and product. To structure your enquiries and extract as much information as possible, having a brand questionnaire template is essential.
What to include in a brand questionnaire?
- Mission, vision and goals of the company.
- Description of product/ service.
- Unique selling proposition (USP ) (what sets it apart from the competition).
- Names of competitors.
- Brand personality.
- Brand guidelines (for existing brands).
- Describe the value your brand provides to the customer.
- Long-term design goals you wish to achieve.
While these are the basic questions, you may add your own or customise the template depending on your client.
(b) Moodboards
Not every designer makes moodboards, but it can surely help you get an idea of what aesthetic style or visual language your client prefers. The moodboard must reflect the client’s preferences and should be directed by your design knowledge. Bear in mind that whatever images you pin on your moodboard are for representation only. They are not meant to be plagiarised, reused or resold without purchase or permission. A moodboard is merely a FYEO collage.
(3) Design Phase
This is where the fun begins. Back-and-forth video calls, rough sketching, doodle apps to circle changes, colour testing, combination of design elements, finalising aesthetic styles, the list goes on.
(a) Designing
Each designer has their own process to follow when the actual designing begins. Drafts, sketches, trial-and-error, back-and-forth, split-testing and lots of designing are the hallmarks of this stage. Generally, designers might be found praying at the altar of Lord Gestalt while they work on design iterations.
(b) Brand Presentation
At this time, the designer usually makes a compilation of the deliverables that have been decided upon and presents them to the client. Any last-minute changes or finishing touches are mentioned in this stage. Doing this presentation gives the client an idea of how all the deliverables work with each other. This is expressed by highlighting the cohesive messaging, uniformity in style and other such factors.
(c) Feedback Session
Towards the end of the brand presentation meeting, you must enlist all the final changes that the client has requested. A neat Excel document that enumerates the minutes of the meeting can help with maintaining records of these requests.
(4) Delivery
Final edits, finishing, last-minute tweaks and the lot. You’re almost done with the “jklm final final final.psd” files, and it is time for both parties to hold their end of the deal with high ethical and professional standards.
(a) Fine-tuning
Ideally, there is no more design work left to do at this stage. However, this is a fail-safe for any last-minute or unforeseen circumstances that might need you to change a few details. Changing poster dates for a postponed event, extending dyelines by a few millimetres because the printer asked for it and other such tweaks are done at this time.
(b) Final Payments & Delivery
Once the client has given you the final payment, you deliver the high-quality files as promised. Logo SVGs, brand guidelines documents, collateral files, usage instructions and the like are delivered to the client.
(c) Receipts
As proof of dues paid and collateral delivered, both parties sign on the receipt and voilà! Once again, depending on your region, you can prepare a template for a receipt on a letterhead with the necessary information.
While not every designer and client might want a procedure as formal, it is best to follow at least some of these stages, if not all, when working in a professional capacity. Open communication and formal brand design project management help ensure that the work itself runs smoothly. More importantly, it gives the designer a safe, professional environment to work creatively and with ease.
0 Comments