To help ensure that you cover every detail of information that your designers need to know, we have developed a framework for you to build upon. The more information you can include, the better the response will be.
Basic Details:
- Client name
- Contact details
- Project Name
Introduction
Provide an overview of your business:
- Who you are?
- What you do?
- Where you do it and how long you have been doing it for?
- Add a link to your website and any relevant information with regards to the project.
- Add any further information that would help the design team get a feel for your business and how it operates.
Project background
- Describe the project in as much detail as you can or need to.
- How has the project been raised?
- What is it designed to do?
- Where does it fit with other initiatives within the business?
- Does it have to work with any of them?
- Detail the project objectives if available, particularly with respect to business impact and what the project? needs to do for the business or organisation.
Market background
- Describe the market you are in;?
- What are the current prevailing conditions?
- What you need to achieve in the market?
- Have you any market research data to support the project?
- Was the project based on changes within the market itself or are you looking to enter new markets?
- Who is the target audience/s (customers/users) within the market you have just described?
- What is the competition in your market? what does it look like? can you list websites we can view to get a feel of the overall landscape of the market you are describing?
Work to date
Detail any work (if you can) that you have carried out or completed to date that has an impact on the project.
- What is available to the design team?
- describe the point that we are entering in to the project (if relevant)?
- Is there anyone else that we might be working with during this project?
- Is there anywhere else that they might be able to get further information on what you have done so far?
Services required
This is where you detail what you need. It may be that you just want a brochure or alternatively it may be where you attach a specification for something much more technical. You can be specific about what you need or leave the brief deliberately open for the design team to challenge at a meeting. If you are unclear about exactly what form the services will take, please ask.
Measurement and outcomes
To be judged a success, It’s important for any project to have measurable criteria to be weighed against. Please communicate what you feel the deliverables above will do for the business. This should correspond with what you need the project to do for the business or organisation outlined above. This section should be more detailed with regards to how effective you need the project to be, using numbers or more specific targets or goals. These may be related to a business plan or business case raised for the project.
Budget
There is always a debate as to whether you should communicate the budget for the project or not. This will be entirely up to you. The budget may not be known at this point and you are looking for a response that helps you formulate it. You may not want to communicate the figure allocated at an early stage, that’s fine.
At this point you have two options
- Either tell us how much money you have in the budget and ask us to provide a response that indicates what we would be able to deliver against that budget;
- or let us come back to you with a figure for the project without any guidance.
There are no rules here. It is more likely to depend on the budget available. If the budget is on the tight side then we would always prefer to know this and tailor a solution to suit your budget, saving time (and perhaps embarrassment) later! Please bear in mind that where you have indicated what the budget is, you are reviewing what we can deliver for the money whereas where no budget has been given you are evaluating what you are getting for the price quoted. Either way, please be clear what your position is with regards to the budget, we are used to working both ways when it comes to putting a price to a project.
Constraints
Your project may involve working to design or brand guidelines or being asked to work alongside other designers. You will need to confirm this as well as how our design team will get access to a copy of the relevant guides. There may be other constraints for the project such as time or location as well as access to key individuals or audiences. It would be best to identify this up front and allow the plan to be developed around whatever the constraints are rather than dropping them in at a later stage and having to rework the project.
Timeframe
If you have a timeframe, then please do communicate it to us. This may be in the form of a project plan or just a list ?of dates that you need us to hit.
Approval process
On longer or more complicated projects there may be an approval process that allows the project to move from stage to stage. If this is the case, please communicate:
- what this process is,
- who is involved (consider other departments such as procurement or in-house design teams) ?
- and how long you would need to get each stage signed off.
This will allow our design team to plan for this when working out how long each stage may take. This can be especially important when running projects over any key holiday periods.
Response required
To ensure you have everything you need from us please indicate what you require back from the design team.
- Do you want us to prepare for a? meeting to discuss the brief before we make a formal response?
- Will you just expect us to call you if they have any questions?
- Explain what you are looking for; ?
- How you would like it sent, and in what format.
- You may require the project plan to be in a certain format or the budget estimate to be provided in a certain way.
- Confirm when you want it returned by.
Additional information and attachments
If you have any supporting information or attachments, explain what they are, why they are attached and your expectations for use. It may be that you can set up online access to existing brand guidelines; relevant market research and other project related materials, so detail access here.
Downloadable form
We have a downloadable form that you can fill in all of these details, if you’d like this you can get your hands on it, you can download
More information
If in doubt about any part of the process or you have questions that are specific to what you are trying to achieve, please direct any questions ?you may have to either Stuart Woollon (stuart@meetbob.co.uk) or Wayne Bryant (wayne@meetbob.co.uk). Alternatively we are available by telephone on 0117 973 9326