Communication Is Key

Good communication is one of the keys to successfully planning, building, launching and maintaining a project, especially on the Web, where people could be scattered across continents. Yet, we’re all guilty of taking communication for granted, thinking: “Talking to people isn’t that hard.”

Whether you’re conversing in a cubicle, updating in BaseCamp or Skyping across the ocean, certain communication essentials will help you:

• Increase productivity,
• Avoid and solve problems,
• Enhance working relationships,
• Promote personal satisfaction,
• Complete projects on time and on budget,
• Create better results and happier clients.

Build Mutual Respect

Whether you’re a designer, developer, copywriter, information architect or SEO specialist, a little knowledge and appreciation of what others bring to the table goes a long way to fostering productive group efforts.

The following are some common Web trades and their usual roles:

Web designers solve problems and create online experiences through the thoughtful, deliberate application of design. Tapping into the right side of the brain, they take into consideration how a website will look and be used.

Web developers program a website’s functionality. These left-brain analytical thinkers consider what a website has to do and how it will do it, and then they choose software and write the necessary code.

Web copywriters craft copy to convey key messages, attract and engage visitors and entice them to take action.

Information architects analyze and organize functionality and content into a structure that allows users to navigate and find relevant information quickly and intuitively.

SEO specialists arrange and manipulate on- and off-site elements—from servers to software to content, and including keywords and links—to help a website get high search engine rankings.

Recognize Break-Down Points

Mutual respect fosters mutual benefit. Lack of knowledge of or consideration for others’ roles, objectives and requirements, on the other hand, can lead to significant frustration, delays and even clashes.

For example, a traditionally trained graphic artist might not take the basic usability or navigation of the website they are designing into consideration, which can cause grief for the developer and subpar results.

A developer who isn’t aware of the importance of design might overlook certain visual details, thus breaking the design’s integrity.

Likewise, a traditional copywriter who has limited knowledge of information architecture, navigation, link strategies or the Web in general could hinder search engine ranking, usability and conversions.

Learn to Listen

When discussing a project with colleagues, are you really listening? Coincidentally, Are You Really Listening? is the title of a book by Dr. Paul Donoghue and Dr. Mary Siegel, in which they note, “We hear not what is important to the speaker, but what matters most to us.”

They go on to explain that we become effective listeners only when we acknowledge that we have a lot to learn. This is valuable, practical advice, especially when you’re collaborating with specialists who could give you a wealth of insight into different views, trends and technologies.

What else can one do to become a good listener? Health Resource Network’s Dr. Morton Orman suggests that we need to listen without thinking about how we’re going to respond:

Much of the time when people are speaking to us, our heads become filled with our own personal thoughts and agendas… [we’re] thinking how we’re going to respond. But to listen well, you must put these thoughts aside and “be with” the other person. You’ve got to fully attend to their words and inner emotions. You’ve got to actively work to “put yourself in their shoes” and listen to them speak. And you’ve got to keep your mind open to discover the value or merit in whatever the other person says.

Intel Corporation CEO Andrew Grove sums it up well: “How well we communicate is determined not by how well we say things, but by how well we understand.” This understanding can give us a deeper appreciation for how co-workers approach issues—whether they’re right- or left-brain dominant—and for how our decisions and actions might affect them.

Put Goals And Expectations On The Table

Never assume that your expectations are self-evident or that they’re clearly understood and shared by your colleagues. Doing so could come back to bite you, your team and your project. Whatever the level of expertise among your co-workers, defining, stating and managing expectations is important. This way, everyone begins on the same page and understands where the project is going. So, from the start:

1. Articulate points clearly,
2. Find common ground,
3. Agree on goals.

These steps will help identify technological and personal limitations, allowing you to make special arrangements if necessary. To achieve your objectives, for example, you might find that you need to bring in a JavaScript specialist for part of the project, or a copywriter with advanced SEO knowledge.

Define Roles and Responsibilities

Web projects run best when everyone clearly understands their duties. To help individuals focus on their roles and secure commitments, ensure that each player has a clear-cut definition of their responsibilities, both individually and relative to the rest of the group.

When employees feel a sense of responsibility and ownership, they recognize that they’re making a valuable contribution to the team, and productivity soars. By contrast, failing to define roles and responsibilities creates confusion over who is accountable for what, in turn killing coordination and leading to turmoil and delays.

For example, you, your developer and your copywriter might each have sufficient knowledge to plan and build the website’s information architecture, but that responsibility must be clearly assigned. Otherwise, you could waste valuable time and resources duplicating work or waiting for a ball that dropped a week ago.

Mind Details and Keep Commitments

Teamwork is often seen as a warm, blissful, abstract concept. But it’s actually a bunch of concrete individual actions that are carried out for the greater good of the project.

When team players don’t hold themselves accountable, the outcome is usually sloppy work and late product deliveries, which means angry clients and lost profit. When each player instead pays careful attention to and acts on details of the project, deadlines are met and the outcome is almost always satisfying.

“A strong and balanced performance ethic spells the difference between widespread team performance versus random team success,” note Jon Katzenbach and Douglas Smith in The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-Performance Organization.

They suggest that high-performance teams are deeply committed to their purpose, goals and approach. Team members are also highly committed to one another and demonstrate this through disciplined action.

Accordingly, you must set and maintain schedules and high performance standards and encourage team members to hold each other accountable. Peer pressure can be a greater motivator than policies and systems.

Build Trust

Build an “emotional bank account” with your peers to bring up the trust level and avoid conflict. This doesn’t (necessarily) mean giving the programmer morning hugs or Valentine’s cards, but rather “deposits” of courtesy, kindness, honesty and keeping commitments. This creates a “reserve,” says best-selling author Stephen Covey, that promotes “easy, instant and effective communication.”

If you have a habit of being discourteous, showing disrespect, cutting people off, overreacting, ignoring others or betraying trust, Covey says the emotional bank account will overdraw and trust will run very low. At this point, he explains, “I’m walking on mine fields. I have to be very careful of everything I say. I measure every word. It’s tension city… protecting my backside, politicking.”

Building trust and rapport creates room to challenge yourself and others, to help produce good answers, fast. When you allow everyone to openly debate and disagree on important ideas, you’re more likely to establish sound solutions and deter backstabbing and dissatisfaction. If someone feels that a wireframe is flawed or that Web copy misses the mark on a certain page, they should state their case in a specific, constructive and civil manner. You’ll help your team uncover and resolve issues and become stronger overall.

Whenever possible, involve team players in the decision-making process, particularly when their roles are affected. If you have to make decisions that don’t jive with their points of view, take time to explain your rationale.

When you have to criticize someone, balance it with praise. Share your concerns, noting the individual’s successes or strengths as well as the areas that need attention. Be direct and honest, and do it privately.

In the event that you screw up, simply acknowledge it, say sorry and move on. Chances are the others will, too.

Keep Meetings Productive

When an email just won’t do, a well-planned and executed online or face-to-face meeting can yield exceptional results. Whether the meeting includes the client, the following rules (courtesy of Canadian business advisor and author Mark Wardell) invariably apply:

1. Begin with the end in mind. Your meeting’s purpose will determine the meeting’s focus, agenda and participants.
2. Distribute the agenda and any relevant information in advance of a meeting to foster more in-depth discussion and swifter decisions.
3. Start and finish on time. Don’t wait for late-comers. And if you absolutely must go into OT, at least acknowledge it, so that you can wrap it up more quickly.
4. Conclude the meeting with a brief recap of key points, decisions and assignments, and ask participants, “Did we achieve our purpose?” This fosters commitment to what was discussed.
5. If another meeting is required, quickly outline the topics for it. Planning ahead while the information is fresh makes preparing the agenda easier. You can even take the opportunity to schedule the meeting.

Remember, meetings usually require lively discussion, with diverse perspectives, to be productive and for participants to reach consensus. So, to motivate people to contribute, treat everyone’s ideas and concerns equally, regardless of position or status.

Show Gratitude

When your project reaches a milestone or concludes successfully, you don’t have to throw rose petals at your teammates, but do recognize their efforts and achievements. Kudos, thank you’s and high fives take little effort and cost nothing, but they can make a world of difference to someone’s day.

Research shows that caring, supportive words increase chemicals such as serotonin in the brain, which calms and soothes people and generates a feeling of contentment. Just keep it real. The more genuinely positive the message, the more neurochemicals are released, creating that tranquility. A forced “Awesome!” or “You’re the best!” doesn’t have the same effect.

Rest assured, when you make people feel special, you get in their good books and, if you’re a freelancer, remain top of mind for any future projects.

Start Making Your World a Better Place Today

With every project and opportunity, do what you can to encourage a team-oriented atmosphere, so that you can achieve more as a cohesive unit, capitalizing on each player’s skills, experience and strengths.

And always lead by example. In the words of Stephen Covey (in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People), “Be a light, not a judge. Be a model, not a critic. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.”

You’ll attract a higher caliber of colleagues, clients and projects, and you’ll make your world a better, happier, more rewarding place.

Further Resources

• Agile, Multi-Disciplinary Teamwork
• The Wisdom of Teams
• Serotonin and Depression 

(al)

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The next step is not so simple.  Finding the right content and figuring out exactly what the people talking about you need and want is critical to PR success today. Content analysis is a traditional PR skill, but data mining is not.  Building social graphs has not been part of our PR practice.

I don’t know about you, but I have not studied math since high school. Most PR people I know are much more right brain than left brain oriented. It’s the nature of our work.

But as ReadWriteWeb (RWW) said:

“People need to develop habits of thinking about this stuff. They need someone to explain it to them. They need to develop an easy-to-use vocabulary set for understanding data mining and social graphs and communicating about it. Right now ‘social network analysis’ just doesn’t trip off the average person’s tongue.”

The online conversations are a constant stream of content – a fire hose of data. What you need are the actionable insights.

• Who talks about you?
• Who talks about your competitors?
• What do they say?
• Is it positive or negative?
• Who are they connected to?
• What communities do they belong to?
• What does their social graph look like?
• What kind of content do they share, and with whom?

95% of new media (social media Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter) users expect companies or brands to have a presence on those sites. 89% expect those companies to interact with them in those social spaces. (Cone Research)

Less than 30% are doing so. (SNCR, UMass 2010 Adoption Surveys)

Engaging with people online requires that you know who they are, where they gather, who they talk to, how they feel about you and your products, and what kind of information or content they’re looking for and might be motivated to share with others in their social sphere.

And once you know that you can respond appropriately.

It might not be simple, but I agree with RWW – this is something we need to think about, talk about and start to include in our PR strategy.

Originally published at The Proactive Report

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There are sweeping generalizations and stereotypes for each of us, some true, some not. What follows is some insight (albeit slightly tongue-in-cheek) into what makes us tick in the hopes of creating- or furthering- a symbiotic relationship between writers and designers.

Give feedback to us as you’d like it to be given to you

This kind of goes along with the whole “do unto others” saying that gets thrown around a lot. Feeback is great…everyone needs it. And like designers, most of us are not overly-sensitive. But throwing something back to us with a huffy “yaaa…NO” doesn’t get either of us anywhere. And it makes you look like a jerk. So if you’re the point-of-contact with the client and have the clearest idea about what they want copy-wise, steer us in the right direction…with a smile.

We aren’t basing characters on you for our “All-American Novel” (all of the time)

Ha! This is my favorite one because I’ve been asked this a number of times. So many times, in fact, that when I came across a “Be careful or you’ll end up in my novel!” t-shirt I had to pick it up. The truth is, like you, we draw much of our inspiration from everyday life. So if we happen across you, and you happen to be a colorful character (whether positive or not), your “type” may crop up in a future piece. Have no fear, though. Names and identifying characteristics will be changed to protect the innocent-and the guilty.

We appreciate flexibility

This one can be a bit tricky. We know your work is pretty labor-intensive at times and involves many moving pieces. But you sometimes change things after the fact, right? It’s the same with us. There are times when we write something and once you put it into the design, it just doesn’t feel or sound right to us anymore and we want to tweak it. As long as we’re not over-doing it, please grin and bear it.

We don’t know HTML and chances are we don’t have Photoshop so everything we do that is picture or graphics related is in a (yikes!) Microsoft program

Maybe some writers do and I would love a lesson! I consider myself to be pretty proficient in blogging platforms but I’m mighty thankful that the “kitchen sink” dashboard exists because if it didn’t there wouldn’t be anything but miles and miles of 12pt Times New Roman text. In fact, I was once asked to submit something in HTML and I copy and pasted it into WordPress, formatted it as needed, clicked to the “HTML” tab on the dashboard and then copy and pasted that back into a Word doc. I’m sure I was the laughing stock of their office for a long time.

Give us specific space limitations

It helps to know ahead of time how much room we have to work with. Don’t just say “you have 4 inches for text.” Give us an idea of the number of lines based on the font and the size of everything. That makes a big difference.

Politely listen to any “look” related ideas we may have. We will do the same.

Do we expect you to incorporate everything we suggest? Of course not…you’re the expert. We acknowledge that in most cases we have no idea the amount of time and work that goes into something that looks fairly straight forward to us. But we’re not morons either and we’ve been around the block a few times (be careful with that one!) so we’ve seen our share of designs. We may surprise you and actually have an artistically, feasible idea!

We aren’t as different as you may think. We’re both artists…we just create with words.

We appreciate and recognize your talent. That is all I will say about that one.

Conclusion

Whew! I hope I cleared the air! Did anything I’ve written above surprise you? Maybe or maybe not. What it comes down to is that we’re both working towards the same goal: to make the world look –and sound- better, one project at a time.

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I am a big fan of Frank Gehry , but not only because of the unusual shapes and remarkable work, but also because of the concept and behind each project, and this building in Cleveland shows that, it plays with our eyes and minds.

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Cleveland Clinic for brain health treatment in Las Vegas is Gehry’s last finished project. The building has certainly his signature all over it, either by material or by mild forms in movement, a mark of his architecture. Together these extravagant forms create a composition with clean and simple shapes, representing the two sides of the brain (the classic left-side and the creative right-side). These two forms seem to be connected and at the same time being affected, as the shift in thinking we have all the time.

Besides that all the space is terrific, the photos show the customization of each room, the connection of the shapes and the contrast of vibrant colors in some internal sites, in short, a great inspiration for architecture!

photo © etslee

photo © etslee

photo © etslee

photo © isaac brekken

photo © etslee

photo © etslee

photo © etslee

“The unobstructed, informal movement that the design promotes from one wing to another suggests the way we use our brains every day, flowing from left-brain to right-brain thinking and back again without noticing the difference.” – Christopher Hawthorne, LA Times

photo © etslee

photo © etslee

photo © etslee

photo © etslee

photo © etslee

photo © isaac brekken

More images of Gehry’s Cleveland Clinic at etslee’s flickr photostream.

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Yet these days we ask more of ourselves than just the possession of a good eye, a formidable portfolio and well-honed Photoshop skills. The days of design for design’s sake are gone, and rightfully so. Today, any design agency worth its salt completes a strategy phase before a single designer puts stylus to tablet. 

And this is good. Indeed, our work has much more value when grounded in sound business strategy. But, lest the pendulum swing too far in the other direction, remember: our discipline is not all science. The magic we bring is in fusing design with business. Yes, our work must be rooted in the left brain: gathering background information, doing competitive research, interviewing key stakeholders. Doing this homework well results in a rock-solid design brief—a document that will keep everybody, including our clients, on track. But with the design brief in hand, the next phase of work begins, and this is work of a different kind: expansive, playful—decidedly right-brain.  

We all know that inspiration often strikes from the intensely personal, and yet we often try to bury this fact in strategic validation. I’m suggesting that this personal inspiration is, in fact, an exciting and irreplaceable part of the design process. We must inject ourselves into what we do, revel in the moments of creative self-expression that drew us to this work in the first place. That doesn’t mean embracing whatever pops into our heads. Rather, we have to develop skills that support our design process, guiding our creativity down constructive paths. Here are four tips for harnessing the personal creative energy in your work and creating excellent results: 

1. Be curious.

Albert Einstein said, “The important thing is not to stop questioning,” and this is certainly true for the best designers. Always ask “what problem are we trying to solve?” and “is this the best solution?” Question your decisions along the way. This will ensure that you never accept the status quo or take the easy way out.  

Curiosity drives us to be insightful observers… of everything. Look outside your frame of reference. Literally, get away from that computer and outside. Watch people, observe nature, read literature, go to a soccer match. One never knows when or where the flash of insight will come. When we are mulling over a design challenge, our senses are attuned and our designing minds are open to the input the world has to offer. 

2. Remember your own past.

Our memories shape us as people and as professionals. What are the events that have made an impact on you throughout your life? Connecting with these stories and understanding how they fit in with your daily life—your actions and choices, the things you do, the things you eat, the things you love—is one of the most valuable tools you have for understanding human behavior. Now, think about how this might relate to a brand story. It should be every bit as detailed, nuanced and tangible as your own personal history. It should speak to the intellect and the heart. Above all, it should resonate with the real people who are your audience. 

3. Put yourself in someone else’s shoes.

Empathy is yet another way that our personal skills support our design work. It’s not enough to know your target customer, to create a collage detailing her age, income and favorite brands. We have to try to imagine ourselves in her place. Like an actor preparing for a role, we must think about what her needs are, what drives her, what excites and empowers her. 

This exercise gets us out of our heads and prevents us from falling in love with our own designs. Always remember it’s about your consumer. By shifting your perspective, you will create the potential for the brand to truly connect with her. Like any process, this will become easier with practice. And over time you will develop an amazing capacity for anticipating consumers’ needs and thinking of what they could want in the future. From there you will be in a position to create trends, rather than follow them. 

4. Like your mom always said: tell the truth.

This one is easy, at least on paper. Translated for the purposes of our design work, the basic point is this: Know your consumers and communicate with them with honesty and respect. In other words, let trust and authenticity guide whatever you do. Ultimately, that package on the shelf needs to reflect the brand in a truthful manner—what it stands for and why people should care. Without that, you’re just a pretty box on a shelf. 

A final word of wisdom: When your work is done and it’s time for the big presentation to the client, no egos allowed. You’ve poured yourself into your work, but you can’t get too attached to your vision. It’s time for you and the client to judge the work based solely on your mutually agreed-upon brief. And it’s time for you, the designer to stand back and let you, the strategist take over. 
 

About Will Burke and Brand Engine

Will Burke is the founder, CEO and Chief Change Officer of Brand Engine. He draws on more than 20 years of experience in branding—uniquely bridging strategy and design—to solve complex issues with great insight and straightforward solutions. With a focus on consumer brands, his expertise is introducing new brands and repositioning existing brands to engage today’s consumer. Formerly with Landor Associates, Lister-Butler, and Axion Design, Will’s background includes major branding and packaging programs for Citicorp, MasterCard, Shell Oil, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Logitech, Palm, Foster’s, Frontier Natural Products, Nestlé and Tropicana. Under Will’s direction, Brand Engine’s work has been recognized in globally renowned competitions and books. In addition, Will’s thought leadership has been featured in various trade & industry publications, and he is involved with several brand advisory boards, a speaker on branding and design, and judge for design competitions.

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Right-brain versus left-brain or designers versus accountants, both refer to two different ways of viewing the world. I call them Crunchers (as in ‘number crunchers’) and Creatives and there’s a healthy tension among these two camps in almost all organizations, but what about the influence they each have on the growth of a company?

We’ve seen companies like 37signals burst onto the scene in the last few years with a great appreciation for design and user experience. Both supported by their preachings of simplicity which has launched a mentality of “less is more” in designing apps and has made a convincing argument that design is key to growing your business. We’ve also seen Apple’s focus on design skyrocket the company into a leader in technology. We see this happening around us but for some reason there are companies that continue to downplay design and its importance in impacting the bottom line. The companies that are ignoring this haven’t built a culture that understands the power of design and realizes its real impact on business and my guess would be that these companies are filled with Crunchers.

So let’s look at Crunchers and Creatives. Both understand the importance of revenue but approach its generation a bit differently. Crunchers tend to develop a laser-like focus on the goal of acquiring revenue and make a b-line for it without paying close enough attention to user experience. Examples of this would include aggressive sales tactics in order to “close the sale”, bending the truth in their messaging in order to attract more customers, or selling customers products or services they don’t need. They can get a little too aggressive with closing the deal. I believe that this effort is needed to makeup for a lack of clear differentiation of their product in the marketplace which could be achieved due in large part through great design and a focus on user experience.

When strong design and focus on user experience is non-existent or weak, marketing must work that much harder to compensate for these shortcomings. When design and user experience are strong it removes a burden from marketing by making the benefits of using the product clearer and empowers users to share their experience via word-of-mouth and through social media. In short, if your product is easy to use and empowers users, they will share their experience with others. When this happens marketing can simply play a supporting role and doesn’t need to work twice as hard in convincing prospective customers on why they should use your product over a competitor’s.

The Big Picture and How These Elements Work Together

The diagram below illustrates Design & User Experience, Marketing, and a solid Business/Revenue Model working together to generate revenue and growth for your company. You can also see what happens when you have two out of the three working for you.

Marketing Must Overcompensate for a Lack of Quality and Focus on Design & User Experience

We can see what generally happens when there’s a lack of quality and focus on design and user experience. Marketing must work harder to tout the benefits and competitive edge over similar products.

A Greater Focus on Design & User Experience can Relieve the Burden Placed on Marketing

By focusing on the quality of design and user experience and improving it, marketing dollars can be spent much more efficiently and work to support a product that has a clear competitive edge through ease of use and quality of design. In addition, making the product easier to use can reduce the amount of effort and resources needed to support it, which can lower costs and increase your return on investment.

Creatives tend to do a great job of focusing on the customer’s experience and also attracting the right customers. If they can do these things well there can be a clear differentiation among their competitors and customers will be easier to support. Creatives also realize that by focusing on the customer and their experience customers will trust you, pay you (and perhaps even pay a premium), and continue using your product leading to a higher lifetime value.

However, there needs to be a balance between these two approaches. Creatives must remember that there’s a difference between building a product and building a business. An extreme example of this is Twitter. I love Twitter, but they have yet to develop a business and revenue model around their product. That’s not to say that it won’t become a revenue generating machine, but it’s currently lacking the model. Building a product will serve your customers, but you must develop a business model around the product in order for it to be sustainable and serve your customers, you and your team, and thrive. If Creatives can do that successfully and team it with great design and user experience, and support it with targeted marketing, the sky is the limit for their business.

Crunchers on the other hand must realize that not everything can be individually and directly tied to a return on investment and it’s the small things that collectively contribute to a customer’s experience with your product and brand. In addition, don’t treat design as an afterthought. Design is king. Design is the reason Apple is a success, design is the reason you chose your car over others, design is the reason you chose the clothes you are wearing, design is the reason you chose one app over another- you get the idea. My point is that EVERY SINGLE THING YOU TOUCH WAS DESIGNED. Do not downplay its importance in generating revenue and growth for your business and its impact on customer retention.

On that note, one of the greatest things we’re witnessing are creative agencies building businesses. They are taking the talents they have provided clients and developing apps for the rest of us that solve the problems they, and/or their clients, are experiencing. I love seeing this. Who better to launch an app than a company who has all the tools to build it and an in-depth understanding of what users are looking for based on their experience working with clients. As a result, we’re seeing well-designed apps that solve real problems all while inspiring us to better serve our users through great design.

Whether a company is lead by a Cruncher or Creative a culture should exist that emphasizes design and user experience and a realization that without them, innovation, differentiation among competitors, and solid growth cannot and will not happen. If you’re a Creative and leading a company be sure to include a Cruncher on the team for balance and healthy tension and leverage what they do well like financials, forecasting and planning and if you’re a Cruncher leading an organization it’s time to embrace design and user experience, spread it through your organization and realize that nothing can have a greater impact on your bottom line.

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Freelance Contracts: Do’s And Don’ts (via @smashingmag) -

In the world of freelancing, the entrepreneur has to take on a number of tasks for themselves that would normally be handled by a separate department at a bigger company. Most of these tasks are not part of the creative processes that freelance workers are used to, but rather are more tedious, left-brain paperwork. Right-brain creatives often shudder at the thought of these forays into linear domains. Such detail-ridden tasks would strain any freelancer who wears multiple hats, but they must be completed.

One such task is contracts. Drafting a contract that covers you, and doesn’t just enumerate information, is more than important: it is a must. Freelancers do not have the benefit of a legal department dedicated to protecting their interests with a watertight contract. Nevertheless, a freelancer’s contract must be comprehensive, concise and clear. It should outline the scope of the job, scheduling demands, the expectations of both parties and more.

In this post, we’ll help you identify the information that should be included in your contract and make sure you have a concrete agreement that leaves little chance of things getting out of hand… as can sometimes happen to those of us in the freelancing crowd.

These do’s and don’ts will hopefully remove a lot of the headache and guesswork that comes with drafting a contract. By understanding the rationale behind various contractual elements, you will be able to better customize your contracts to fit the specific job you have been hired for.

The Basics

Include the basic information, obviously. The “who” and the “what” of the project. Who is contracting you to do what kind of work? This is standard stuff included in every contract that defines the job as a whole. While this information is probably well known by both parties, put it in the contract anyway so that everyone is on the same page about their roles and responsibilities. Because it is such basic information, freelancers often overlook how important this section is for establishing the framework of the project.

Do’s and Don’ts

K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple, Simon (your name may not be Simon, but it is nicer than the traditional “S” in the phrase.) Do be sure to clarify your role in the project from start to finish and exactly what it entails, so that the client doesn’t try to put a hat on your head that you do not want to wear (for example, trying to make you switch from designing to providing tech support once the project has launched).

You know who you are and what your strengths are; don’t leave room for the client to change your role in the project for their convenience. Be specific about what roles you are and are not willing to play.

Time Frame

This simply establishes the time that the project will take and the duration that the contract covers. Sometimes a freelancer has to leave time open after a project’s completion to help integrate the product into the client’s existing media stream. But not always. Determining that time frame at the beginning and formalizing it in the terms and conditions of the contract will ensure you are not taken advantage of.

Do’s and Don’ts

Many people do not like deadlines, and some freelancers are no different. Whether you love or hate them, including deadlines in your contracts is important. Don’t overlook this detail simply because of the pressure it may bring. Give yourself enough time to properly complete your tasks, while keeping the client’s timetable in mind.

Being vague about how much time the contract covers will give your client room to find things for you to improve after the project has launched. Also, do be sure to include time frames on when the client needs to respond to your submissions with their questions and concerns, so that you are not endlessly strung along waiting to hear back on how to proceed.

Delivery Details

Putting this in the contract further clarifies expectations at the outset. The client knows up front what the final product will be and how you will be delivering it to them. This frees you from having to guess later on things like what file types they can access, and it gives the client peace of mind knowing that you are both on the same page.

It also gives you an indication of the depth of the client’s knowledge in this area of work and how well they will be able to work with the product once you hand it over. And being able to anticipate the client’s need for assistance in accessing and integrating your product will help you formulate other parts of the contract.

Do’s and Don’ts

Once again, keep it simple. Once you’ve assessed the client’s needs, don’t send them more files or file types than are needed to satisfy the project’s requirements. Don’t try to impress them with a ZIP file full of extras that show how professional you are. This will overwhelm clients who are not design-savvy and encourages needless pestering. Keeping it simple will move your client happily along their way, not only giving you peace of mind from a job well done but freeing you from future distractions as you move on to your next client.

The Financials

For most design work, billing by the job, rather than by the hour, is easier for everyone. You may have already come to an agreement on financial matters, but include them in the contract anyway for good measure. Just because you have an understanding about payment, the client could always conveniently “forget” the amount or change the terms.

Do’s and Don’ts

Agree on an initial deposit (whatever seems fair) before doing any work, to protect both parties if either wants to back out. Make sure the client understands that this deposit protects them as well by committing you to the project and keeping you from being sidetracked by other clients. Also include a Cancellation Clause in the financial section of the contract. This isn’t Santa’s less famous brother; it actually protects you, the freelancer, in case your client backs out by stating the financial obligations of both parties should the project terminate before completion.

Revisions And Alterations

You can also protect yourself by including a clause that states how many alterations and revisions to the product are covered by the fee. You can set the pricing for changes requested by the client that go beyond the number specified in the contract, thus preventing the client from abusing their privilege.

Be clear that this is not a commentary on either party; by including this, you are not implying that the client will be hard to please or that you will need multiple attempts to get it right. It simply recognizes that we sometimes need time to fully process something before making a decision and that we should have the freedom to change our minds about whether an idea works or not once we actually see it in action.

Do’s and Don’ts

Remember that professionalism should win out at all times, so don’t let this part of the contract be any different. Yes, it can be aggravating how some clients come back to you over and over with requests as a result of every whim that moves them, but do be reasonable. Don’t punish all of your clients because of one that burned you in the past. And don’t let pride keep you from accommodating a modest amount of revision by the client, even if they don’t suit your taste. After all, the design may be yours, but they are paying you to create it for them.

The Fine Print And Bottom Line

In the end, make sure the contract is professional and clear throughout, and be as detailed as possible in defining the roles of both parties in the project.

Further Resources

Here are some further articles and related resources:

• Terms and Conditions for Design Contracts
  An extremely helpful post by Shel Perkins that seeks to inform designers about the terminology and general conditions of contracts.
• Web Design Contracts – The How and Why’s of Contracts
  This is another post full of great information that talks about the reasons why designers need to use contracts.
• What goes into a good web design contract?
  It is a question that every designer should ask themselves at one time or another, and this fabulously informative post from Idea15 answers that question.
• Using freelance graphic design contracts
  An article by David Airey dealing with the whys and hows of using freelance design contracts.
• Business of Design Online Forms
  The Business of Design Online offers a number of useful forms free for download and use.
• Freelance Contracts
  A great contract template which makes it easy for freelancers to fill in their own information.
• Logo Design Contract of Agreement
  This is an actual contract drawn up by Logo Designer, Joni Solis, and is a good example to look at when you start drawing up a contract of your own.
• Work for Hire Agreement
  A form necessary to ensure copyright transfer and protect your creative firm when you outsource work to other freelancers. Guaranteeing that you will retain all rights to the work.
• Freelance Design Contracts & Templates
  A fantastic resource full of free downloadable design contracts and alterable templates for easy customization.
• AIGA Standard Form of Agreement for Design Services
  This agreement allows you to create customized terms and conditions for different types of design engagements.

About the Author

Rob Bowen is a talented author and graphic designer, celebrated podcaster and poet, who is now the co-editor and imaginative co-contributor of Fuel Your Creativity. With a background in most areas of the arts, Rob works from a creative wellspring that shows no sign of running dry.

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© Robert Bowen for Smashing Magazine, 2009. |
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