A guide to working in the creative media sector

There are a lot of different elements you have to consider when you receive a brief. The main fiver areas you need to consider are as follows. Firstly you need to be able to interpret the brief you will need to be able to correctly work out what you need, by this I mean you need to be able to establish and clarify with the client for the proposed product in order to inform designers decisions. Secondly you will need to develop an initial idea design which follows the agreements of the brief you have been given. Thirdly you need to agree on communication with the client and how and when you will communicate. Also it will be important that the different stages of the design are shown to the client so they can see the ongoing improvement. As well as that it is crucial you receive feedback from the client so you know where things can be improved. All the way through you need to make sure youre still meeting the briefs expectations. Also to consider you need to identify all components required to produce the work, asses technical requirements associated with the production using the guide lines given. Another thing will you need to do would be to identify and consult with any support services required for the production of the work. Last of all collect and organise required opponents for the work. Also monitor the production of work ensuring that all parameters of the brief are met. To finish off accurately document the work progress in a format appropriate to the nature of the design and the requirements of the brief. They are the things that you must take in to consideration when receiving and type of brief. Of course each brief will be a bit different but that is an overall summary you will need to consider. However there is further information you may want to consider with in responding to a brief these being. Specifications this including the size, cost, target group, time frames and quantities for the design. Secondly constraints this including cost of production, distribution, budget and financing. As well as those theirs also pertinent information which includes material, health and safety, new technology, is it legal and copyright. Following on, formats for concept submission within this section it includes radio, DVD, digital copy, tape, storyboards and script. Last of all agreeing on concept may involve negotiation, discussion with client and viewing of rushes. How to respond to a cooperative brief The easiest way to reconise if you are reading a cooperative brief is to look for the amount of people implicated. A cooperative brief will have other people involved as well as your self. As a group you will all be allicated different taks to to make the final production. As you are all working to make the same product it is very important to work together and let eachother know if you become across any difficulties or have any queries on anything, you must tell your other team memebers as it is important the client is happy with the end result. However as your are in charge and you are the one liasing with the client, you must make sure you are keeping in contact with the team members, otherwise you could come to see the end product and it is not what you expect as the team members werent aware of some aspects of the brief, or did have a few queires but you were not in contact. For example if one team memeber was in charge of the text for the logo and they didnt talk to you or see the brief, they could put the wrong colour scheme together or text. Along side liaseing with your team members it is extremly important to stay in contact with your client. However with multiple team memebers working on the product it may become harder to decide when the most necessary times to contact your clients are. Although it is important and shows your proffesional if you liase with your client alot, you dont want to come across a pain and seem your pestering them. A good way in which to over come this is to have regualr team meetings to see how

everyones is getting on and see if they do need any help or have any questions. Another important aspect is, as soon as you recieve the brief you need to check for any deadlines, to manage this the team should come together and make a productions schedule so no one gets confused and are aware of when the aspect of the productions needs to be finished by. How to respond to a tender and comission brief In using these briefs you would have applied for it, so before you even recieve the brief you will understand, what the brief is about. For example if a big establishment needed a extension your company you apply. The client would request tenders for the execution of the work. Some tenders are sold or may require a tenderbond to ensure parties are fully commited to delievering the requirements. The tender document will identify the scope of work to be completed, time frames to be achieved and normally minimum gurantees and isurances that will be required. The tender brief will require the tenders to be returned on sealed fashion on or before the deadline. A tender brief will be designed by the client to suit your needs and your requirments. To ensure you are happy with everything the client will make several briefs. This will allow you to pick the brief that you think you will be able to create the best outcome for. A tender brief is very similar to a comission brief, in a commission brief, you are able to keep in contact with the client through out the the task. The reason being, is that if you come across any parts of the brief that you think needs negotiating you can contact them, if you dont contact them, about any extra charges or changes to the brief you have recieved, you could end up going over the budget and end up with a unsatisfied client! In most briefs you liase with the client at the start and the end of the production, however in these types of brief it is very important to stay in contact with the client regulary so they are always assured there production is going to plan. As you pay a key part in the brief, you need to liase with the client alot with what they actually want, for example if you were planning to build a new restaurant, it would be crucial to have a lot of meeting with the client about percific requirments, the more you talk the client the more you get to know them and understand what they want done. During the construction of the product, it would be good to keep a production diary, so the client can understand what has happened to make the final product how it is, it will also reasure them all the money they have put in has been used sensibley and to create the best outcome. The link below is an example of a tender brief. Its really good example of a tender brief and how detailed they can be. http://www.greatersudbury.ca/linkservid/6D9BB30E-C701-34E7-84AAAE09B9E46AC0/showMeta/0/ How to respond to a negotiated or informal brief A negotiated brief is easy to indentify, most briefs have fixed costs and fixed deadlines, however a negotiated brief, will leave room for costs and deadlines to be negotiated. When dealing with a negotiated brief you need to be aware there can be up to three parties involved in the production. There would be no more than three parties as having too many people involved could lead to disagreements and rubbish end production. This type of brief allows you to suggest and put forward your own ideas on how the brief should be formed. However you are more than in your right to put your ideas forward, however the other parties involved have to agree with your ideas. If there are any disagreements you would have to start again until everyone is happy. You will be expected to negotiate with your client. This will give you the chance to talk about any concerns or but any ideas forward. This could vary from a delivery date to a budget or organisation of materials.

An informal brief is very similar to this, yet you are the only one involved. There will be no other parties and you will be the only one liaising with the client. This will let you be creative and put forward all of your ideas. Once a negotiated brief has been confirmed with you by your client, it is essential that all parties have agreed with the brief, as you client wouldnt be too impressed if other parties werent happy with the brief. To avoid this happening your best bet would be to refer to your client with different ideas and letting choose their favourite before you begin any production. Nevertheless if before you negotiated ideas the different parties, you can suggest minor changes along the route of productions. Where as in a informal brief you can use your ideas with this responsibility, your client will have expectation and you will have to meet them, the outcome of this will be your reputation will damaged and you may lose future work. Both briefs dont require much liaising with the client unless drastic changes are made. Howe ever the negotiated brief will need more contact with the client purely because there will naturally be minor or even major disagreement on different elements of the brief. It is crucial for both briefs that you plan out your productions first as you need very organised. As well as planning you will have to produce documents that show how you decided to make the decisions you made. For example a brief for making an advert would include, risk assessment, storyboard, crew hire and so on. As you are creating a production you need to keep documentation in case of any faults or anything accidents that happen. So that your client can see what is happening, this will form a good reputation for you and a good bond with the client. How to respond to a contractual Brief A contractual brief is a legal document and should be treate with caution. You will be able to recongnize a contractual brief, as you will need to make sure sure you have read and understood the content of the brief before signing. If there are some constraints that arent realistic, you should check for negotiable parts of the brief that could be changed in order to suit you better. If you sign the brief and do not fully understand the brief you will still be expected to fullfill the terms of the brief. If any terms of the brief are breeched then legal action could be taken by the client against you and you could end up in court. It is crucial to liase with the client to ensure they are aware your dealing with there request well and that the outcome will be fully what they expect. You will most certainly be asked to liase with your client on more than one occasion. It is vital to plan everything before you start creating the projects. This will allow you to grasp a real understanding of what your being asked to do as well as this, it will also give you time to negotiate any parts of the brief you feel you arent happy with. It is most important to complete the production by the deadline day, otherwise you would have breached the brief and your client will not be happy. If you dont want to get in to this position, you should make sure you are capable of taking on the responsibilties and your not going to struggle or speak to your client prior to signing the brief. How to respond to an informal or competition brief A competition brief is where a client, usually a large corporation of companies gives all employees a chance to complete a brief. This can be done by; social network sights, emails and so on. This type of brief allows masses of people to compete against eachother for the chance for their product to be used. After all work is submitted it will be looked over by the client and the winner will have their product used by the client. The winner could recieve a prize or even work with the client. However in this brief you would not get the chance to liase with the client just a brief to refer to.

A informal brief is simialir, it is a written document containing specific and precise details about the goals that need to be achieved, this type of brief isnt written with un-nescecarry information, it is straight to the point. This type of brief is aimed mainly at a group of people or a buissness company rather that indviduals, it is not always a legal document. http://www.architecture.com/Files/RIBAProfessionalServices/CompetitionsOffice/LiveCompetitions/Re naissancePavilion/Brief.pdf Above is a competition brief hopefully by looking at this example and the other example I gave of a tender brief you can gain a understanding of how different briefs can be from each other and how each briefs will need a different response.