Not everyone’s needs are the same when it comes to projects; each one is unique. This is why we offer custom-tailored to suit your needs proposals. Our firm utilizes our standard studio policies, which are required with each project. This is to ensure the entire design process runs more fluidly, enabling a polished final project (with fewer hiccups).
Here’s how our process will go:
The initial consultation is an intimate one-on-one meeting with one of our designers. Our designer will gather pertinent information about your company, services/products, challenges/goals, and needs. This one-on-one meeting will set the stage for your project. Glad2Design will then be able to assess your needs and offer you options within your budget. Our initial consultation generally takes 15 minutes up to an hour. This is at no cost to you, or are you obligated to do business with us. This meeting will determine if we Glad2Design and you, the customer, can work together in a win-win situation. We pride ourselves on our client’s success as well as our own.
Glad2Design understands choosing a design firm is an important decision to make. Please review our commitment to our clients for more information. We recommend you choose a design firm which suits your needs best but who is not the cheapest. Please read why here… If we decide to do business together, our designer will move onto the next phase of the consultation; your design blueprint.
Proposal
Our Proposal to You
Once Glad2Design has determined the needs for your custom project, we will present you with a written proposal. Our proposal includes which services you will receive, and a break down of our prices.
Agreement Between Parties
Signed Agreement of Scope of Work
Glad2Design’s contract outlines our procedures, timelines, and payment schedules. This agreement also includes our team’s responsibilities as well as our client’s responsibilities. A list of required content/materials (deliverables) from the client will be included in the contract.
Initial Down Payment
Establishing a Strong Relationship
At the time the contract is signed, we will collect a 50% down payment. Our designs are custom and require immense research, concepts from scratch, computer graphics, layout, photos, logos, etc. With that said, deposits are crucial to establishing a strong business relationship. Noting all the work we put into each project, deposits are required. Deposits must be paid before any work begins. Make a payment here.
Creativity Now Begins!
Web Design/Development
It’s important for clients to give us information about the style, colors, and feel they’re looking for with their site design. As our designer touched some of these areas in the initial consultation, at this stage, we will ask for more input from our clients. A web worksheet will need to be filled out for website development.
Once Glad2Design receives your web worksheet, we will have a clearer picture of what you’re looking for in your custom web design. At that time, we will illustrate a “site map” that parallels the number of pages on your agreement. It is important to determine your navigation and page names. Re-building navigation is cumbersome and most likely will result in additional fees. Be sure to name your pages accordingly. Our designer can help you determine page names.
We will now graduate to the next design phase and sketch out web layouts. Once we are satisfied with our sketches, we will move onto computer-aided graphic designs of two web layout options. Our next phase of the design process is drafting samples.
Printing
Glad2Design will utilize all information obtained in our creative brief from our initial one-on-one consultation to design your print graphics. Each print project is unique. Depending on which services you have chosen, the conceptual steps may vary slightly, yet the approach is virtually the same.
For example; logo designs will go something like this:
- Several hours of research
- Brainstorming concepts
- Several pages of sketches from scratch
- Computer-aided drawings
Then, we will progress to the next phase in the design process.
Perhaps your print project is a brochure; the approach is still the same. The process will go something like this:
- Several hours of imagery research
- Brainstorming layouts/concepts
- Several pages of layout sketches
- Computer-aided layout designs
For vinyl, banners, and other large format graphics, the approach is again virtually the same. Necessary steps may need to be added; for example, we may need to take measurements for vinyl products. Then, we will do as the above examples and start with sketches in our sketchbooks, brainstorming concepts, research, and computer-aided designs.
The above examples should give you a good idea of how we begin our projects. As you can see, there is quite a bit of work required before we progress to the computer-aided phases. This is a prime reason why Glad2Design requires signed contracts and deposits before any work starts.
Comps
Design Options
At this phase of production, our design team is most likely working on computer-aided graphic designs. If your project is a custom illustration of a fine art piece, we, of course, will be painting or illustrating using different mediums other than computer-aided final designs. Web and print graphics will normally be at the computer graphics stage of production.
Glad2Design will present these “proofs” to the client for feedback. It is crucial to have client feedback in order to move forward. The terms of your agreement will outline how may samples (proofs) and round of revisions you will receive.
It is imperative firm decisions are made regarding layout, design, and direction at this stage of production. Usually, two samples will be provided for clients to pick from. Your contract will detail the number of samples specifically. Once a layout is picked, the chosen design may be slightly modified according to the number of revisions outlined in your agreement. Colors and minor things may be altered at this point. Once the design is chosen, any major alterations will require additional fees.
A proof sheet will be given to the client to approve or markup and sign off on. The design/presenter is also required to sign off on proof sheets. Aside from the proof approval, a payment of 25% (link to pay online) is due at this time. We will then move forward with the design process.
Glad2Design suggests submitting changes in a list format. This way, everyone is clear what changes need to be made, and they can be done in a timelier manner. There is an area for this on the proof sheet. Our design team will make said changes and present them again for the client to sign off and agree to. Once the client approves everything, we can move onto the next phase of production.
Proofs | Beta Website
Viewing the Proofs | Test Driving Your Site Build
In this stage of production, Glad2Design will have your custom graphics built to near completion. You will be able to see what your final design will look like. If your project is a custom web design, you can “test drive” your new website in this beta stage. The navigation and most functionality will be in working order. Some web coding does require the publication of websites before functionality is active. A good example of this is a photo gallery that must be connected to a MySQL database.
Final Revisions
The “Fine Tuning” Phase
This is the “Fine Tuning” phase of production. Your agreement will define how many revisions are included before incurring additional fees. If you have submitted your changes in list form as recommended, you decrease the probability of additional fees and changes. Mainly, at this point, the only changes needed would be textual. A revised proof sheet will be submitted to the client for them to approve all final adjustments, and sign off with the design.
The final payment of 25% is required at this time. Everything must be paid in full before logo files/formats are released; final print files are sent to the press, and websites are published.
Ready to get started? Contact us for more information!