Briefing

  1. New clients need to be onboarded into Bluebird and the welcome pack shared. The welcome pack is available from the Finance team and no work is to commence until completed and sent back. CLICK HERE for a sample.
  2. Internal session with studio to confirm scope of brief and agree project timings. Timings to be segmented appropriately: Initial Concept, Roll Out, revisions x2, Finished Art etc. This will be the framework/guide for project costings and will help manage and create transparency around project timings & expectations.
  3. Thoroughly account for all items, copy, images, fonts. We can not cost a job without the facts.
  4. Do not be afraid to ask clarifying questions of the client, upsell, see if there are other channels we can assist or drive this communication. Reverse brief if necessary, particularly on bigger projects to ensure we are delivering to the clients expectations.
  5. Walk the halls and see if you can get out to see the client at least 1 time per month.
  6. Create estimate in Bluebird based on agreed scope of work with studio and share with client.
  7. Email approval of estimate and copy of estimate into job bag on server.
  8. Once all content and financials are supplied and approved then the job can be booked in.

Booking

  1. Add project to Sales Tracker CLICK HERE
  2. Projects are managed internally through the on-line WIP CLICK HERE
  3. WIP occurs daily at 4:30pm to discuss the next days work and timings.
  4. Designers days are segmented into hour blocks from 9am – 5pm.
  5. Designers to work through projects consecutively changing the colour of the project to red as they complete them.
  6. Projects at risk of not being delivered for that day need to flagged at earliest to ensure clients expectations are managed and re-scheduling is arranged.
  7. Meetings and other engagements need to be also captured in the WIP to ensure transparency around available resource.
  8. Job to be booked into WIP, if possible try to avoid outsourcing to external suppliers and gain time on time line for internal production.
  9. Job tasked to designer via Blue Bird. Include agreed hours for that segment of the project ie: Initial Concept etc. to ensure transparency around expected timings. For revisions, judgment will need to be made around timings. But including them in the task will give the designer the chance to flag prior to completing the work.
  10. Book into WIP based on agreed timings for project segment.
  11. Check profitability status of job in Bluebird prior to booking and after receiving to ensure a 70% + profit margin is maintained. If profitability is under threat due to scope creep, notify client of increase to project cost. Try to avoid this at the end of the project. If for any other reason, discuss internally.

Dispatching

  1. Designer to check work against brief prior sharing with AM. If a marked up PDF has been supplied, tick the changes to ensure all have been made.
  2. Run a spellcheck
  3. Run a sense check -ensure what has been completed, makes sense. If unsure, double check with client.
  4. Brand check – Ensure project is using the latest brand assets and aligned with the latest brand specs.
  5. Account Manager to provide a buddy check based on supplied brief or changes.
  6. All designs need email/written approval from the client prior to being dispatched and added to job bag
  7. Print assets need to delivered to the supplier specs, check against publisher specs, printer specs, clients requests.
  8. Check the profitability of the project:
    1. 70% + for creative
    2. 25% + for print (Please note, this requires a markup of at least 35%.)
  9. If profitability is below the above margins, we need to establish why and if we can get more money for the project. Ideally by creating and monitoring hours throughout the project, this should have been identified earlier in the project.
  10. Any jobs being billed at below the agreed margins need to be approved by MM or MH prior to dispatch
  11. Invoice ASAP, as cashflow is important and also to not create a bottleneck at the end of the month for the finance team

Overview

  1. Discuss with Creative Director/Account Director if this job will be used within the online portfolio, or a social media post and if it is is book in a task under thirdegree Blue Bird to create the assets etc.
  2. Ask your client if they were happy with everything, get feedback.