WORKING TO A BRIEF LO1

Chris Bailey

CONTRACTUAL BRIEFDefinitionA contractual brief is one where the client and producer agree upon a set task, quantity of production time and the set fee for the task. This brief is legally binding and if either party fail to meet the requirements they could face legal action. A producer must read.

AdvantagesA contractual brief allows both parties peace of mind when it comes to their rights in the agreement. Both parties understand what they have signed up to and what is expected from them, meaning that any issues should be covered by the agreement such as the process following some kind of accident that means loss of production pieces or what will happen if the client doesn’t pay the designer in the end.

DisadvantagesBeing tied to a contractual agreement has the downside of often being a legal document. This means that any issues that arise contrary to the agreement can often be followed by court proceedings such as lack of payment. Freelancers may have to face a dilemma when offered a contractual brief as it may not suit them completely but they will feel obliged to follow through as the financial side may be more advantageous than an informal brief.

FORMAL BRIEFDefinitionA formal brief is less complex than a contractual brief. The formal brief usually comes in a written document and

covers only the essential facts such as the wanted product, time scale and end payment. Formal briefs are also usually not legally binding, there for there is less pressure on both parties to follow through with exactly the terms and conditions that agreed on. Other information regarding the smaller details will be issued during direct negotiations with the client.

AdvantagesA formal brief is often issued when both parties are working on a more personal basis than those of a contractual

brief. This means that the communication should be better as many of the terms and conditions will be covered in personal negotiations either during or before the process begins. Formal briefs give both parties more leeway in their actions, a client may realise he needs an extra product to be created half way through the designers production – the client is able to ask the designer if he has time to create the other product in, just as the client has the right to ask the designer has the right to deny. A formal brief is usually well structured but not as complex as a contractual brief, yet not as loose as an informal brief. This gives both parties comfort in knowing the agreement is stable yet there is still wiggle room.

DisadvantagesThe formal brief gives both parties the right to some leeway in what they do and how they do it with the discretion

of their own negotiations. Although this is often seen positively sometimes the fact that the brief is not legally binding worries the designer or client – usually the freelance designer. The reason for this is often surrounding the payment of the designer, if the client doesn’t pay in full or decides they want to pay in a different way such as a month later then the designer will have less power in court to make the client pay in the initially agreed time.

The worry of payment issues may also lead the designer to follow through with processes that the client decides halfway through the process in fear of facing issues with the client at a later time. This could increase the designers work load to an amount that may not be possible and lead to equal or greater issues at the end of the agreed production time.

INFORMAL BRIEFDefinitionAn informal brief usually involves no written documents, and is rarely legally binding due to the lack of evidential agreements by both parties. The brief is usually given verbally in a discussion and both parties will likely just note down the most important details. The informal brief gives both parties a lot of leeway so points such as finish dates and work quantity will often be suggestions rather than agreements. This way the designer will often be asked to be finished on or around a certain date, and the client will be asked to pay on or around the hand in date.

AdvantagesThe informal brief gives both parties a lot of free power throughout the process in what they would like to be done or not done. The process carries less stress and doesn’t have the legal concerns that surround a contractual or occasionally a formal brief. An informal brief is often done between friends or family members for example a business owner asking his brother to create graphics for the company, meaning the lack of legal agreements could be covered by the trust and respect owed to each other.

DisadvantagesBoth parties are at risk of facing issues that can only be faced personally and wont have much success in court. Both parties know that if there is a financial issue or the designer changes their mind regarding the clients usage rights then the disagreement doesn’t legally have to be set straight. The client could use the product in whatever way they like once it’s been handed over just as easily as the designer could say they don’t want to continue the project halfway through. The fact that informal briefs are often used on a very personal level means that disagreements will usually have negative consequences on the relationship between both parties.

CO-OPERATIVE BRIEFDefinitionWhen two or more companies are hired to complete a brief, an example of this could be companies ‘dynamic graphics’ and ‘real sounds’ being hired to complete the same project hand in hand, with one completing the graphics and the other completing the sounds. If there is a disagreement in the initial contract a new one will have to be created that suits both companies and the client.

AdvantagesThis will often make a task easier for both companies, as they will be able to communicate with each other easily to ensure what they are doing matches up. If a company is making motion graphics then the client may constantly have to alert them to the fact it ‘might not’ suit the audio that they are hoping to have created. By working hand in hand they can compare work and make sure it expresses the same quality and information that is suited to the client. It also gives both companies more freedom to experiment as they wont be stuck making a song for already designed graphics or vice versa, they will be able to communicate suggestions to each other to make a more perfected and visually/audibly entwined final product.

DisadvantagesA co-operative brief makes it harder for a client to create a suitable contract for both companies and themselves. Some or all parties may have to take a hit in what they want in order for the agreement to go forward, on company may want to be one step ahead of the other to lead the process or may want a different amount of production time.

NEGOTIATED BRIEFDefinition This is when 2 or more media companies are working to a brief and disagree upon something. This could be design ideas, method of practice or legal boundaries. To overcome this disagreement a new brief would need to be negotiated to appease both companies. The negotiated brief will have to fairly compromise each companies needs in order to settle an equal brief.

AdvantagesA negotiated brief has the advantages of being customised to the structure that the media companies would like to work to. This is very useful when working with 2 or more media companies as it is likely that problems and disagreements will arise over the brief or contract. By negotiating fairly, all companies will be able to agree upon a final brief, each probably taking an equal compromise.

DisadvantagesThe negotiated brief is often bad for the client as they will be having to alter their own needs and wants in the brief to suit the people they are paying. To the client this will be frustrating as you simply wanted your work to be made but suddenly it is being altered, or the legal bindings you set up might have to be altered against what you liked. It can also be hard to appease multiple media companies in the negotiated brief. Finding equality between 2 companies won’t be too complicated but when you have more than that communication will be broken down and mixed up. The client will find themselves having to compromise companies ideas here and there which may upset them more. Finding a balance between each company will not be easy, especially if a company have directly opposing views.

COMMISSION BRIEFDefinitionThis is when a large media company pays a smaller or independent media company to create content. Often this content will be made for an external client of the large media company, but will be negotiated between the 2 media companies. The smaller media company may receive payment in the form of commission every time the product is used by the larger media companies client, although this will only be a cut of the payment which may be split between multiple sources.

AdvantagesThe advantages of this brief is that the larger media company will be able to produce work without having to pay their own staff do it. The client will be happy with the work from the larger media company and the smaller company will be able to receive commission in some cases. This is good as it allows the smaller media company to work to more important briefs or for bigger companies media products.

DisadvantagesThere will clearly be a vertical chain of command and it may take some time for the smaller media company to hear back from the larger company. If the external client has issues with the contract and a renegotiation is needed, the larger company may take a while to feed it back to the smaller company. The power of the larger company may also dwarf the smaller company and make them feel as though they need to follow briefs they may not be comfortable with.

TENDER BRIEFDefinitionThis is when a client announces that they need a media product to be made. Production companies then form their own briefs, proposal and budget and pitch it to the client in order to be hired. Due to multiple media companies applying their may be heavy competition. The client will then have the freedom to choose from a range of proposals from different media companies which they will choose. The rest will be simply denied the job.

AdvantagesMost of the advantages lay in the path of the client in a tender brief. The client is able to sit back and relax whilst multiple production companies scramble to create a proposal for the client. Once the final day of applicants arrives the client will be able to sift through the proposals and choose the most appealing one. The client has total freedom in what they choose and why. The media companies are able to spam out many proposals to different companies like a raffle and hope that somebody gets back to them with positive news.

DisadvantagesTender briefs have many disadvantages for the production companies. If 10 production companies create briefs, budgets, proposals and pitches for the client and only 1 is chosen then that is a lot of wasted time and money for the companies. In some cases the client won’t choose any of the companies and simply re-announce their need for media producers soon after. If a small company really is ‘spamming out’ proposals to companies here and there then they may end up accepting a contract out of desperation meaning it may not suit them and they will be easily playable by the client.

COMPETITION BRIEFDefinitionA client produces a brief to all participating companies in the competition, each company then completes the brief and hands in their work. The completed products are then judged by the the company or sometimes the public, and the company is then awarded and the project is then published. This is usually a free to enter competition and is seen on online media jobsites where anybody can have a go. The client will usually reward the winner in the form of a cash prize, or sometimes other products of worth. Although sometimes the client will not award anybody anything.

AdvantagesThis sometimes gives small production companies the chance to have a go at creating work for companies usually out of their reach. It also gives regular people who design as a hobby the chance to create work for a company and potentially be rewarded. The client ends up with many products to look through meaning they can choose freely from a selection of products that may even be the standard of a professional without having to pay much at all, if anything.

DisadvantagesThe companies and solo people will take a lot of time to complete the brief whilst facing heavy competition. This means their chances of winning is greatly reduced, often leaving them with no prize and only lost time.

MY BRIEFWhich structure/structures will your client brief use?My client has provided me with an informal brief that has been written to me in an email. There is no contractual agreement and what the client has asked for is malleable.

Reference your reasons for choice/choicesI chose the brief as it was provided by a company I am naturally interested in. The brief is aimed at young and new motorcyclists, I was totally new to riding not long ago and therefor know what would have appealed to me at the time. I feel that this personal knowledge and experience will contribute healthily to the products I design.

READING THE BRIEFWhy is important to thoroughly read your brief?It is important to read all kinds of briefs thoroughly, not only those that are legally binding. The brief will contain information that may be out of the obvious, and often a designer may just assume the details of the brief when picking out the main details. The brief I have been provided with says that the designs must be compliant with the rules of the print works Lexmoto use. I did not notice this until viewing my brief for the 3rd time. Luckily the compliances seem easily achievable. In a legal binding contract a client and designer must understand the agreement fully, this helps both parties avoid falling into legal matters, and if there is an issue they will know their rights in the contract.

READING THE BRIEFWhat is the nature and demand of your client brief?

My brief is informal although still in a text format. There are specifics to follow, but I will be able to expand from the specifics my client has asked for once I have created the original.

NEGOTIATING A BRIEFWhy is it important to discuss the brief with your client prior to production?

It is important to understand every detail and ask any questions before the production starts. The reason for this is to make sure that you and the client don’t realise something was missed out information wise half way through production. This is also a good time to work out how much manoeuvrability you have as a designer on the project. Often the client will have specifics but it is up to you to work out how far out of the box you can go before the client feels like it’s too far from what they wanted.

NEGOTIATING A BRIEFWhat are the advantages and disadvantages of employing discretion with a brief?

Brief discretion allows you to add your own personal touch as a designer to projects. Often a client will have certain needs and wants but you, the designer, knows best about what people like to look at and for that reason the client will often give you certain freedoms. It is important during negotiations to figure out how far you can go with your freedoms though.

NEGOTIATING A BRIEFAre there any potential legal/ethical/regulatory issues with the brief’s proposed product?

The only issue I could face would be using fonts or images that are not free to use commercially. To avoid this I will be using specified fonts by Lexmoto and using images from the Lexmoto website which has been agreed by the client.

NEGOTIATING A BRIEFAmendments you have considered to:The ProductI am going to create the exact product the client has asked for, I will then move on to creating something that stands out a little more to the consumer, as I feel the original isn’t as appealing as the client may expect it to be.

The BudgetN/A

The ConditionsN/A

OPPORTUNITIESWhat opportunities could this brief allow you to explore? Self DevelopmentThis is my first opportunity to work to a real world brief from a business that I’d enjoy creating work for in the future. It will allow me to test my time keeping and ability to follow the instructions of a client. After the project I will be able to look back and work out what went right and what went wrong, this could potentially help me in the future when creating work for clients.

Learning new skillsFollowing a detailed and instructional brief is something I have never done design wise, this has led me to understand how the briefing process works. The project will allow me to test how well I can add my own touch to a product without veering off course too much.

OPPORTUNITIESMulti-skillingMultiskilling will allow me to cover multiple design subjects and have a strong and competent knowledge surrounding them. This means I will be able to cover further grounds in terms of design processes and products. Opening more doors for me when it comes to design and work opportunities.

Contributing to a projectPotentially contributing to a commercial project will allow me to add real word experience to my portfolio. This will show companies and other clients that my work is strong enough to make it out into the field of what is becoming a very competitive market in the UK.