Technical task under a design contract. Workflow: how to write a technical task.
In the Soviet times, designers were called artists-investors. The name was changed, and the essence remained. The designer is the person who simply makes a concrete business idea, words and numbers in an acceptable visual form. And that's it. Someone does it better, someone is worse. But the final result always depends on the clarity of the setting of tasks. No wonder they say "without a clear TK - the result of xs". Designer Nick Alexandrova gives advice on how to make a clear technical task for a designer.
1. Describe your business in detail
Only the client himself knows his own business project is the best. Only he has access to all information about prices, timing, conditions. Very disappointing "invent business" instead of the client. The designer can advise, but no more - it is simply not his task. Collect maximum information so that the designer is from what to draw beautiful infographics or additional interesting things.
2. Argument
When I see a strange color combination or a jumble of information in TK, I ask every time: "Why?". The answer is often like this: "Well, I want. Do just and everything. "
I do not feel sorry, but it is better to explain why you want it just that way. Maybe just customer is afraid that his sign will not be visible against the background of the building? I will make a sign red, and it will merge with the neighboring. And if they painted white, then everything would look better. If the designer knows what is the true problem, it will be easier for it to solve it.
3. Sketch examples
You can make a high-quality project within any budget. This is real. We just need to clearly ask the designer vector project.
Collect a few pictures on the topic of the project so that the designer knew what you like. Here is a cool site where you can see and collect examples of how you wanted to see your project.
Have you seen an interesting detail? Save the picture to the piggy bank. Saw interesting design, color combinations, fonts, interesting form of business cards? Right-click the "Zhomak" mouse - save the picture. The output will receive a folder with a selection, from which you can already type examples to set the task of the designer.
This is not about plagiarism, but about inspiration and visual images. This method really increases the design level on the project. Verified on personal experience.
4. Start with format
Mostly clients begin to talk from the content. And it is better to start it from the form. Because while you read the task, you immediately start to represent how it will look like. What do you want to do - billboard or book, postcard or banner on site? Tell me at the very beginning of the task of the designer.
5. Select the color decision
The selection of colors is usually both sides. I have green in my head - it is a salad closer to yellow. Many, imagining green, see the emerald color rather. Everyone has different colors in the head - this is a fact. What do you see when you think about green?
If you want to constructively discuss colors with a designer, pick up the gamma on the Internet. For example here - http://color.Romanuke.com /
All questions on the theme "blurry-green" and "thoughtful-lilac" are solved by the same way.
6. Decide with fonts
There are several thousand different fonts, but their types are much smaller. The client is not obliged to know what Antikva differs from Grotesque, but there is a way out:https://www.google.com/fo NTS /.
There is an opportunity to enter a specific word and see how it will look like a specific performance. If you send a couple of links to fonts with sneakers or without sneakers, it will immediately become clearer that you meant when they talked about the "modern" or "brutal" font.
7. We take into account the real time
There is a car of technical requirements, features, technologies and other mudes, which is obliged to know a professional designer. And after agreement, he will need all these manipulations with a layout to do to prepare a layout for printing. It takes time, and sometimes a lot. This is often forgotten and serious overlays may eventually happen. It is necessary to specify the deadlines for which a person will pass the project to work after the final coordination.
How to understand that everything goes how it is necessary and the initial task was composed well?
Very simple: there is no large number of editors. It is up to 5 iterations that in time do not take more than 2-3 hours each (although, of course, on large projects this time can be significantly more). When a thirtieth version of the edit arrives at the post office, it becomes clear that either somewhere wrong was the TK, or people affecting the decision on design, a bit too much.
About the author:
Nika Alexandrov,
designer
- Sorry, But English Version of this Website IS NOT QUITE FINISHED YET! I Hope Pictures Speak for themselves. \u003d)
The working process:
how to write a technical task
October 18, 2016.
Editorial layout
Collect material for work
- Company logo in vector format
- Contact information
- Texts and images to accommodate
- Specify branded colors and fonts
- Give general wishes for registration
If the project is big, then it must be divided into partitions and collect material into the appropriate partition sections. The information structure itself will tell you how best to organize it.
On this compilation of TK completed
Perhaps at the stage of the idea you did not fully imagine what and how to do. By this point, you will be much better understood that it should turn out in the end, which means to reduce the risk that the designer will make it all "not" or "not so." When I ask me how many design options will be offered, I answer: "one. That which will fully suit you. "
Analyze the material together with the designer
In terms of technical task, it is important to show the priority of one or another information, which is not always obvious. Give an understanding that priority, and what is not. For example, the date and venue of the event is more important than its description, and therefore should attract more attention. It is impossible to say that everything is equally important. It is impossible to make it so that everything is at the same time getting into the eyes, otherwise it turns out chaos. When everything is allocated - nothing is allocated.
Once again, analyze the purpose of the work
The task "Make a beautiful" is a bad task. You need to do with the meaning. The result of the design process must respond to the request to the target audience. He must solve the task, to convey and explain the information, to benefit, simplify life, etc. It is also important to understand the context in which this design will work.
Allow the designer to make your work
You do not need to invent decoration. The structure of the material and experience of the specialist will be prompted as the most correctly arranged it. After viewing the collected materials, you and the designer will have ideas, it will be clear which of them are better what is worse, which will work well, and what is not.
It is important to understand that the TK should not contain specific instructions for design. No need to write, what type of headers do, or what background should be in pages (if this is not regulated by the brandbook). Also, it is not necessary to rigidly limit the location of information on the pages: no need to write in what corner what inscription put.
Be prepared to accept the best
In 99% of cases, your vision of the result does not coincide with the designer's vision, simply because we are all different people And we do different things. Ideally, the designer's vision should exceed your expectations - this is a guarantee of successful work. So you will always be satisfied with the client. :)
This technique of compiling a technical assignment can be applied not only when ordering printed publications, it also works and when creating logos, website development, as well as any other projects where third-party services are needed.
A significant segment of the modern market of printing services occupies a design of printing products, which includes a wide range of work - from the manufacture of POS materials before developing a corporate identity and executive documentation.
Most typography has a designer, and large printing houses have a designer department as part of a prepress shop.
Regardless of the printing houses there are design studios and advertising agencies that interact with them as needed.
In the printing houses, the interaction with the client is organized with, for example, a technical order card, where the circulation, format, colorfulness, bonding form and other characteristics of the printing product are indicated. The customer provides the original-layout, and the work follows according to the well-known scheme: check in the prepress department, output or films (if necessary), printing, post-printing and ordering.
In the design studio, the process of communication with the client is not so good. This is due to the specifics of work, because the design is largely a creative process, which is difficult to document, lead to unified requirements. It follows from this that there are often inaccuracies in organizing work, ambiguity in the original-layout and, the most regrettable one - rough mistakes from both the designer and the client. There are several reasons for this, but the most weighty of them is misunderstanding between the client and the designer. In turn, it is caused by a disadvantage of information about the project distorted by its feed, etc.
There are many software products for automation of management at the prepress stage of printing production, but there is not a single management system on the modern Russian market, which would take into account technological and information processes occurring at the printing stage of printing products, although in the modern development of printing technologies. Concept and original -Make often takes longer than the process of manufacturing the printed products itself. This happens for the following reasons:
- the designer needs to be processed and structured a large number of heterogeneous information that is needed for the manufacture of the original layout; Depending on the volume and complexity of the order, the amount of this information changes;
- extra time is spent on correcting errors and approval of the original layout;
- requires a certain time to create, filling and signing legal documents.
Thus, it is necessary to find a solution that could reduce work time and minimize errors at the stage of creating the original layout. All these problems are partly solved with the help of a technical task for a designer, the application of which provides the following additional advantages:
- structured information is convenient for perception;
- the cost of calling errors in the fault of the customer is easier to appreciate;
- you can automatically prescribe the items of legal documents on the basis of a technical task.
In the design studios, which are not the first year there are in the market and face a similar problem, there is a similarity of a technical task. But it arose spontaneously as a generalization of subjective experience with clients in this company. We are also interested in the generalized process of developing and implementing the technical task.
Dignity |
The way to communicate with the client |
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A personal meeting |
Telephone call |
QIP, ISQ. |
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Ability to immediately receive an answer |
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Convenient for small orders |
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The possibility of documentation |
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The ability to receive source files |
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No restrictions on the volume of transmitted files |
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The technical task (hereinafter - TK) exists in fact for any kind professional activity, be it construction, development software or control system. In our case, the TK is a document designed for a designer, which describes the requirements for the project, as well as information relating to the Customer's activities, or product properties, which is the central object of the project.
Consider the functions of the technical task.
Organizational function.With the help of TK, you can streamline the work of the designer and turn it out of creative chaos into consistent creation.
With the introduction of the TK, the need to keep all the information in the head disappears. From the living space of the designer will immediately disappear, the heavy papers will disappear, and from the computer - dozens of megabytes of electronic garbage. The work will turn into a simple queue of tasks. Having such a work scheme, the designer will no longer need to spend their efforts to the secondary things for him, and all his time he can devote to what does not require ordering, - creativity.
Information function.The main advantage of the TK before other forms of providing information on the project is its structure. The TK must be drawn up so that the designer can draw exactly that information that interests it is in the form, in which designer it is easier to perceive it, and it is in the amount in which it will be necessary to fulfill the order.
Competently composed TK can become the only source of information necessary for project implementation. The design of the designer is divided into several typical sequences of actions that require typical input data. And if the input data is typical, it means they can be provided with a designer in a typical form. Consequently, instead of one form of TK, you can do somewhat - one on each type of design work.
Communication function.TK can set the desired direction in the work of the designer and, as a result, to promote the speedy mapping of the layout. In detail drawn up TK helps the designer to feel the client and perform the work that meets the tastes of the client and its ideas about the final result.
Legal function.Sometimes customers simply "forget" about their initial requirements for the layout and in the process of work or, more worse, approval is set up new requirements. TK, as well as a spent scheme of working with the client (the number of options, the number of improvements, etc.) leaves the designer the ability to shift the costs of reworking the layout to the client.
The next point is all kinds of errors at the order design stage. Errors are different, but the reason is usually one - an inaccient order design. At the same time, the absence of TK is quite often a reason to dump the entire guilt on the designer.
Thus, the introduction of the practice of technical assignment in the design studio can greatly facilitate the work of the designer. Let us dwell on more in the work stages on the project and consider them in the key of the use of the technical task.
Obtaining source information on the project
The client's goal - to explain as accurately as possible what is required at the final stage of the project, and the task of the designer is to understand, on the basis of which source materials will be working.
The table describes how to communicate with the client.
In practice, a combination of these methods of communication is used. In general terms, the project, its cost and deadlines are negotiated by telephone (in the case of a large and complex project - personally when meeting with the client); Incoming files can be obtained using email or FTP, small parts can again be discussed in ISQ.
In the absence of a technical task, the details of communication with the client are transmitted to the designer in arbitrary form. Posted by e-mail The letter is in best caseworse - if in words (then the manager can play the role of a "spoiled phone"). With personal communication with the client in the process of working on order, the designer loses weight of time and forces (although there are no cases when this communication is necessary); Again, information about the project is transmitted in an unstructured form. A competently composed, tested by the manager, the client and the TK designer can get rid of everyone from an excess headache.
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Comment Editorial In the computer number 8'2008 published an article "Order and manufacture of corporate calendars", which is an interview with the designer Viktor Kukhukovsky, who during the conversation noted that the technical tasks on the design of printing products in the industry exist, but are called brifs. The word "brief" came to us from of English language (Brief - Summary, Summary), and, apparently, wins in frequency of use in advertising agencies our phrase "technical task". Briffs are an internal agreement between the customer and the Contractor. Each agency has its own form of brif. Example project But at first there was a brief, or, speaking in Russian, the technical task (see table). Professional approach Work on the project distinguishes serious market analytics at the initial stage. The customer and the performer must be a degree of responsibility before choosing the option. Otherwise, we need to wait for the accusations of incompetence, weak creative or design decision. Creative Task / Creative Brief
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In addition, it is necessary to take into account the moment of interaction with the printing house. If the client knows in advance where the order will be printed, it is necessary to obtain the technical requirements of the typography for incoming files, at best - color profiles. It is usually enough to know the name of the printing house (in most cases, the technical requirements are posted on the site). If the advantage of the selection of the printing house remains for the design studio, the need to recognize the technical requirements disappears - work occurs with one or more typographi, already known for previous orders. The situation is further simplified for the designer as part of the prepress department of the printing house - in this case, the technical requirements are known to him "by default".
In addition to the above, the task of the designer is the assessment of the proposed source materials for sufficiency - whether all the elements needed to work on the order are indicated. In this case, with a competently composed technical task, it is quite simple to assess - according to the filled TK graphs.
When placing a technical task on the website of the Design Studio, you can reduce communication with the customer to a minimum and significantly automate the process itself:
- it is possible to lay out incoming files (for example, up to 30 MB);
- all that was perceived by rumor can now be documented;
- upon completion of the TK, the Customer is possible to check with the designer, checking the sufficiency of incoming files, their quality, clarification of inaccuracies, finally, the approval of the Customer (as an output - an electronic signature provided for by PDF format);
- in terms of technical specification, you can enable active references that explain to the client technical moments (what is Pantone, CMYK or CBS).
Such an urgent question, as the cost of work, is also solved with the help of a TK, which is clearly shown and design studios, and the client, what work and in what volume will be conducted.
In the case of the use of TK, an important psychological moment takes place: for the client it is much easier to get rid of common phrases by phone, than thoughtfully filling the TK. As practice shows, the result depends largely on the competent preparation of materials by the customer (it is impossible to disagree that even with the most exclusive design and good print, the impression of the product can spoil only one grammar mistake). Therefore, the process of filling TK must be made as clearer and easy - require the client the necessary minimum of information. In addition, you need to convey to the customer a simple rule: the failed TK is a guarantee that the work will be executed on time and exactly how it is required.
Summing up the stage, we give an algorithm for accepting an order to work based on the use of a technical task:
1. Admission of applications from the client to the managerial department. The client provides initial information (product type, format, general requirements, acceptable time, etc.). The manager approximately calls the price and timeline, based on the situation in the enterprise. If the manager and the customer comes to the agreement, the technical task is filled.
2. Drawing up a technical task. With a major order, the technical task is filled in personally by the customer in the presence of an art director - this eliminates inaccuracies and misunderstanding between them. For small orders (or orders from the client, who has already worked with the enterprise) is enough manager. The filling of the TK occurs by phone, personally or on the company's website. For example, the manager when telephone conversation With the customer fills in a certain form of TK.
3. Approval of the technical task. The compiled technical task is signed by both parties and is an annex to the legal contract.
Project implementation
At this stage, the purpose of the designer is to implement the project in accordance with the wishes of the client and on time, and in the process of work - the accounting of all necessary details of both artistic and technical nature.
First, the TK helps adequately and quickly assess the complexity and, accordingly, the time spent on the execution of the order, and therefore, more accurately plan the work schedule. Secondly, the process of work is simplified - when the designer has a list of the necessary elements before the eyes of the designer, it is much easier to draw up a common picture of the project. Thirdly, it is much easier to appreciate the work of the designer for errors.
Along with all the pros, it is necessary to note one substantial minus of the technical task - this is a fairly rigid framework that limit the creative component of the designer's work. Often there are situations where the solutions offered by the customer do not correspond to the ideas of the designer. To exclude such controversial moments, it is necessary to carry out a clear border - where the client's powers end and the designer's responsibility zone begins. Another output - the principle of "client is always right". What way to choose is the personal matter of every designer.
With the problem of drawing up a technical task for a designer face almost everything. Ordering the design of advertisements, website, catalog, etc. From how correctly the technical task is made, the speed of performing the work and the coincidence of the final result with the desires of the customer depends. The experience of our agency shows that the client is difficult to compile the technical task for the designer independently. Therefore, managers and designers of the RA "Media-Service", as a rule, help the customer correctly compose a technical task.
Why do you need to make a technical task?
- To provide all the information necessary to develop design and its structuring
- To understand the goals, ideas and tasks of the Customer, to set the desired jurisdiction in the designer
- Making up a technical task in writing, unlike the task in words, the customer clearly sees all of whether he brought to the designer or missed something
- The technical task is an attachment to the contract, thereby determining the relationship between the customer and the performer
We versed the product catalog for Troy's company (leading the Moscow company on wholesale of tiles and porcelain stoneware), a layout of 123 pages took 3 months, since the customer had no source material at the beginning of work on the location of the catalog. The constant addition of the source materials / data extends the layout process. As well as the quality of the source material affects the speed of the catalog layout.
What is the main problem when drawing up a technical task for a designer?
With the first approximation, the customer cannot clearly express what keeps in the mind. "Make us something beautiful in two or three options." The customer in the head is a picture of a surrealist, and the designer has a winter landscape of the Russian village.
The proposed option
Approved option
When we developed the design of the booklet of the insurance company "Climbing", the customer expressed a desire to dominate Blue, Blue and white colors. Our designers offered a booklet design to the client, on which the blue sky and flying up white pigeons were depicted. The customer did not approve this design of the booklet design, as it turned out that when a person takes this booklet in his hands, he had an insured event and not to pigeons.
Of course, it is difficult to collect and set out all the information, but spending some time you will save in the future. In order to avoid unnecessary alterations, and respectively, extending money and time. This will help you with convenient forms (brifs), and in some situations you can contact the help of managers.
- Write everything and immediately
- Read yourself. Edit and add.
- Specify immediately sections, headlines, slogans, stocks
- Decide! You rely on the creativity and professionalism of the designer or you want them to accurately implement the image invented by you
- If you have already happened at the idea of \u200b\u200bhow the design should look like, it is impossible to guess that you are kept in your mind, if you do not describe it in the technical task
- Determine the "Direction of Movement". Describe the goal, preferences in color scheme, mood, emotional background
- If you have a corporate identity, and even better brand-beech (rules for the use of corporate identity), then definitely attach it to the technical assignment
- In terms of technical specifications, you should also specify (attach) technical requirements, where and which methods made by the manufactured layout, accurate dimensions, etc. will be played.
The more detail the technical task for the designer, the better result You'll get. Select one channel for communications. The more comments and additions from you, the designer will receive on ICQ, telephone, e-mail, the harder it is to collect it together. If the designer is busy not only by your order and distracted to another, not having written directions, it may well be that you will receive a hybrid, the fact that you asked and some of what the designer was distracted. For a while you become a single team with a designer. Therefore, the success of this joint activity Depends on both the designer and from you! And the only document that helps competently organize this interaction is a technical task.
