Getting to know you

Each creative opportunity we are invited to be involved with starts with a no-obligation,
no-charge initial meeting.  This would ideally take place at the location of the proposed project work, to enable us to discuss your specific briefing requirements, budgets, and timescales, within the context of the space.

This initial meeting helps us to get to know you and you us.  It gives us a feel for the aims and ambitions of your project, the project background and any context factors we need to consider when working with you.  We then followed up with a written fee proposal.

The fee proposal

Our proposals don’t’ blind you with complicated designer jargon or ambiguous statements.  We simply and clearly play back your briefing requirements so you know we have listened and we fully understand your aims and ambitions for the project.

We then list all of the project stages proposed and add our costs against each stage.

The go-ahead

If you are happy with the stages proposed and the fees suggested, we would expect you to confirm this in writing, via email.  This is the exciting bit for us as this is the beginning of the relationship with you.  We always respond to your go-ahead by sending you our Project Start Form (PSF).  It’s not as daunting as it sounds.  It’s a very simple ‘Word’ document capturing your contact details, your accounting department details as well as the fees agreed and finally the project number we assign to your project.

The PSF helps us with project billing as it captures the payment stages as well as ensuring you are never invoiced more than is agreed.  If the project parameters do change, and on occasions, this has happened, we simply update the Word document and issue it again with any amends agreed.

Starting your project

What we have learned over time is that often the people we meet at the briefing stage are not necessarily going to be involved on a day-to-day basis.  Our fee proposal covers this, however, in summary, we would normally request a Project Start Meeting.  The idea of this is to have all those involved in the project in attendance and to run through the briefing requirements again to ensure everyone is happy with how the project will be undertaken, the project stages and most importantly to manage expectations.

If you would like to see any of our project case studies, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. We are a friendly bunch and always happy to show you project examples to allay any fears you may have about working with design consultants.