A significant amount of work that we do isn't about handing over the resolved piece of work. All of us at various points will be part of a process where we generate the ideas and then hand them over to someone else. It might be that we are doing the art work to then pass on to the printer. We have to articulate what the product is and how we communicate that to someone else. What evidence do we have to develop? What do we have to produce?
If we are working for ourselves the idea of pitching for work means that we aren't going to be going in with a final product. We are going to go in with ideas to allow the client to choose you and employ you for the work. Pitching and proposing to people what things could be is about being a graphic designer. The design process is a negotiation and a dialogue with other people. We have to communicate proposals, ambitions etc.
Professionalism and project management is a large learning outcome. We have to decide how we are going to manage our time and be balanced. Workload management isn't just about individual briefs but it is about the quantity of work that we actually have to produce.
The idea of working on one project actually never happens. The idea of professionalism is about project management. What is the cost to us as an individual? Not just financial but in terms of time. As a student there are other costs involved. Other elements of our work load. We run this as a long thin module because we all have a lot of other work to manage.
At this stage the proposals have nothing to do with the actual design at the end of it, it is more about the ideas that we currently have and our research. 50% of this module has got nothing to do with the final product of graphic design, it is all about how we manage and present our ideas.
Indicative content:
- Approaches to the informed and strategic selection of briefs
- Brief analysis and clarifying of problems in response to a client centred brief
- Brief management
- Project review and documentation
- Presentation
- Roles and responsibilities in relation to individual and collaborative practice
Project proposals:
- 10 steps to writing persuasive project proposals
Not just about writing documents. All of our ideas to start with will then develop in to our final product but it is all about the progression. Proposals can take up a large amount of time and can be paid for with a considerable amount.
1. Set clear aims and objectives
What will the impact be?
What or who will it impact on?
How will you make an impact?
We will have overall aims, specific aims and objectives.
- Overall aim might be to get people to buy more products
- It will impact on the users, buyers, manufacturers etc
- Objectives start to look at the how - how will we make an impact
- Objectives are measurable
- Changing people's perceptions
- Aims should be really ambitious
- Aims should be really creative
- They should be the things that we aspire to
- We need to describe them first to show what change we are wanting to make
- Objectives are about how you will achieve those changes
- They are measurable and quantifiable things that we can measure
- What is going to separate us from other people is whether or not we have considered all of our objectives whether they are simple or ambitious
- If we have spoken to the right people and done the right research, then arguably the person receiving the pitch will be convinced that we can do this job
- If we can back it up with knowledge then we are setting clear objectives
The aim is what you aspire to do.
The objective is how you are going to do it.
2. Be Smart - The definition of objectives
SMART
Specific - Details what needs to be done
Measurable - Achievements can be measured in terms of units, or specific success criteria
Achievable - That resources, scope and scale within your capabilities or capacity
Realistic - The objectives are possible to attain which is important for your motivation
Time bound - The period of time, target dates, schedule or timetable is clearly defined
The criteria for success is that we understand what needs to be done.
We could propose something that is achievable but realistically in the time that is available, with our current skill sets and technical ability it isn't appropriate to do in this amount of time.
Even if I can't produce it, it may still catch the clients attention and win the pitch.
3. Use words from the brief
4. Justify the need for your proposal
Who needs it?
Why do they need it?
What evidence can you provide to support your argument?
What circumstances have created this need?
Don't make empty statements
Argue the need for my response
The client knows what they are talking about so back everything up
5. Describe your audience
WHO ARE THEY?
Demographics?
Locations?
Lifestyle?
Which industry?
What values do they have?
Why will they engage with it?
What is the reason they will engage with it? We need to do the research. If we are pitching to a client for a branding brief and understand who their customers are and the kind of thing they look at they we are already buying in to a brand that they are buying in to already.
You have got two audiences. You have an audience out there who will be the end user but there is that hidden audience that the client wouldn't appreciate. This other audience is the client themselves. So who are they? How old are they? What is their location? What is their lifestyle like? They may be disconnected to their end user. We have to buy in to who they are. Do they understand who they are? Who is that secondary audience? Ultimately, what are their values?
End user audience wants to save money and the client wants to spend money.
6. Describe your motivations
What are your goals?
What are your ambitions?
What are your success criteria?
What are your values?
- Political standpoint
- Environmental concerns
- Social factors
- Economic factors
If we are ambitious about their product and their company then this is going to
7. Consider the viewer
Make your proposal easy to read by:
- Using a professional template/layout
- Using the appropriate tone
- Not repeating yourself to pad it out
- Asking two people to check your grammar and spelling before you submit
PROOF READ
8. Don't be vague
Avoid the words unique, nice, special, normal, bland, sleek, definitely, awesome, basically, essentially, totally, interesting, utilize, like, get got etc
9. Visualise the ending
- Begin with your vision of the ending in mind
- What is going to be the result? This has to drive any proposal that you make
1. What does the project require?
2. What criteria do you need to satisfy?
3. Who is the target audience?
ETC
Within my proposal I need to write down all of the research I need to carry out - create my own criteria.
10. Assume nothing
Except that the reader of your proposal knows nothing about you, your skills or the context of your project - EXPLAIN EVERYTHING!
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