WORKING TO A BRIEF LO1

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CONTRACTUAL BRIEFDefinition:A contractual brief entails a brief that includes specific goals and deadlines for a media producer to fulfil. Once they have agreed to this brief, if the media producer does not deliver what they have promised, or have met all the conditions and details that they agreed to, or did not deliver the agreed content in the specified window of time, they will not receive payment.

Advantages:A contractual brief is an official, formal, and generally legally-withstanding agreement between a client and a media producer. This means that, as long as a media producer follows all their contractual obligations, it would be very difficult for a client to avoid paying them the amount that was agreed upon for their services. If they did attempt to do so, the media producer would have clear proof in the form of the contractual brief that their pay had been wrongfully withheld.

Disadvantages: A contractual brief can be quite limiting, as it often makes it’s desired specifications very clear, down to the smallest detail. Due to the nature of a contractual brief, a media producer must follow the brief’s directions to the letter, which means that they are not given much opportunity to pursue their own creative freedom within the project. If a media producer did deviate from the details of the brief, the client would have grounds to not pay them, as they did not follow the brief. This potentially means that a media producer could spend time and resources creating a piece of media work, only to receive no pay, due to a potentially minor infraction of the contractual brief.

FORMAL BRIEFDefinition:A formal brief is a brief that will generally only include the basic information regarding their requirements and specifications. This information will generally consist of only the most crucial information necessary to the completion of the project, while all of these additional details and specifics will be negotiated between the client and the media producer.

Advantages:A formal brief will offer some semblance of relative creative freedom, compared to some other forms of brief, as a media producer can negotiate some of the details of the brief with the client. A formal brief, while not as legally binding as a contractual brief, will offer proof of an agreement between a client and a media producer should there be any issues regarding payment.

Disadvantages:A formal brief, while being relatively official and acting as proof of an agreement, is not always necessarily legally binding, and may not be considered proof in an official court of law. An additional potential problem is that, without clear specifications from the outset, a client may be displeased with the content they are provided with, as they may have had a more specific image in mind despite not having made it clear in the brief. This may result in a media producer being asked to edit and alter their content, taking up more of their time.

INFORMAL BRIEFDefinition: An informal brief is generally a verbal agreement. These forms of brief will not often have detailed specifications and outlines, and will often leave the media producer to fill in the gaps with their own ideas. Informal briefs are generally made when a media producer and a client are already acquainted with one another.

Advantages: An informal brief allows a media producer a large amount of creative freedom and flexibility. These forms of brief will generally not have strict deadlines or windows of time in which content must be completed and submitted to a client. Therefore, a media producer working under an informal brief will be able to use a great deal of their own creative input, and with little pressure to complete their work in a limited amount of time.

Disadvantages:Conversely, an informal brief offers very little in the way of evidence that an agreement has been made. It is uncommon that an informal brief will have any sort of documents or written proof of the details of the brief, as informal briefs are generally only verbal agreement. This makes it potentially very easy for a client to withhold pay, or go back on their word after they have received the content they requested, and the media producer would have very little likelihood of receiving legal recompense.

CO-OPERATIVE BRIEFDefinition:A co-operative brief entails multiple different media production groups collaborating together to produce content for a client. These media production groups will generally specialize in different fields or styles of media production, and each provide different aspects of media production that the client may require.

Advantages: As multiple groups will be working on a brief, the work load will be more evenly distributed. There would be far more pressure upon one media production group to produce all the content necessary for a brief (content which may not potentially be their specialization) than there would be for a number of a media production groups. The overall brief can therefore be completed in a more timely and effective manner.

Disadvantages:As multiple production companies will be working to the same brief, they may potentially be given opportunities to implement their own creative input into their section of the brief. As it is likely that all the production companies involved a brief would be allowed this input, there may potentially be conflicting ideas and disagreements between the companies.

NEGOTIATED BRIEFDefinition: A negotiated brief is created as a result of issues within a co-operative brief. If the media production companies fulfilling a co-operative brief reach disagreements and conflicts of interests, then a negotiated brief will be created, in order to end any disagreements and allow the project to continue.

Advantages: A negotiated brief offers a means to resolve issues within a co-operative brief, and ensure that a project can still be completed in a way that is satisfactory to all parties involved.

Disadvantages:Both parties will have to compromise on the revised, negotiated brief, which means that they will each likely have to relinquish some of their own ideas and concepts that do not combine together with the vision of the other parties.

COMMISSION BRIEFDefinition: A commission brief occurs when a larger media production company that are, themselves, working to a client’s brief, will employ a smaller media production company to produce content for the project. The smaller company will not be creating all the content for the original client’s project, merely contributing a section of the content that the larger media production company require as a part of their own work.

Advantages:Alongside receiving payment for the content they produce, the smaller media production company may potentially receive payment anytime that the content is used, even though it is only one part of an overarching piece of media. As this brief involves working for a larger company, creating content for such a company may potentially give the smaller media production company exposure and introduce their work to a new audience.

Disadvantages:This form of brief only allows the media production company to create a relatively small amount of content, which in turn will likely mean less pay than the average brief project.

TENDER BRIEFDefinition:In the case of a tender brief, a client will publish something to inform various media production groups that they require someone to produce media content for them. If they are interested, these various companies will create a brief for the client, detailing their concepts of what they would want to produce for them, and the submit it to the client. The client will then choose from these submitted briefs, and generally only one will be chosen. The media production company chosen will then produce the content they detailed in the brief.

Advantages: A tender brief gives a media production company the opportunity to develop their own concepts and ideas for a brief, therefore giving them relative freedom. If their brief is chosen, then a media production company will already have a certain amount of assurance that their client is confident in them and their ideas, and therefore they will be unlikely to ask them to make changes or tell them they are dissatisfied with the final project.

Disadvantages: Generally, many different media production companies will compete to submit their brief to a client using a tender brief, and generally only one brief will be selected. This means that, for a media production company that is not chosen, they will have expended time and effort in developing and planning out a concept, only for it not to be chosen, and therefore they receive no payment.

COMPETITION BRIEFDefinition:A competition brief occurs when a client will make a brief readily-available for a vast number of media production companies, or potentially even to amateur designers. These companies or parties will be asked to complete the brief and submit their finished project to the client. The client will then deliberate and choose their preferred response to the brief, which will then be used in their project.

AdvantagesA competition brief will often be made available to the general population, encouraging anyone to submit their work. This can provide a welcome opportunity for amateur or small time media producers to have their work be noticed and shown to a wider audience.

Disadvantages: For the parties that submit their work to the client, but are ultimately not chosen, there is essentially no recompense. They will receive no form of payment or accolades to reimburse them for the time and effort spent producing content for the competition brief, and ultimately they will have wasted their time. Also, in some competition briefs, there will be no payment at all, and the prize for having won will merely be the use of the project.

MY BRIEFWhich structure/structures will your client brief use? Reference your reasons for choice/choicesMy client used a formal brief for this project, as their brief details most of the basic elements of the project that they wish me to undertake for them. This means that, while I do have guidelines to follow in my project, I am allowed a certain degree of creative freedom in developing my media design.

READING THE BRIEFWhy is important to thoroughly read your brief?It is extremely important to read a brief thoroughly for a number of a reason. Firstly, if a client has detailed the specifications of what they wish from your project when you fulfil their brief, then it is important you clearly know and understand what it is that they wish you to do. This is because, in many briefs, if the end project you submit to the client does not fit all the specifications laid out in the brief, it may give the client grounds to void the agreement, which means that you will receive no payment. Even if they do not do this, they may still ask you to edit and alter your finished project, which will take up more of your time. It is also important, especially in contractual briefs, that you understand exactly what agreement you are making with the client, especially in terms of how you will ultimately by paid for your services.

READING THE BRIEFWhat is the nature and demand of your client brief?The ultimate deadline for my client project is the 14th of June, which is apart of the demand of the project. Also as apart of the demand of the brief, the client has stipulated three of their beer products that they wish the project to be focused on, and have advertised. There are a number of components regarding the nature of my brief, such as the specifications regarding font, for which the client suggests the usage of a certain Futura-based font in the names of their beers. Other elements the client suggests is the usage of the company logo within the artwork, and the style of the project (e.g, poster designs).

NEGOTIATING A BRIEFWhy is it important to discuss the brief with your client prior to production?

By discussing the brief with the client prior to pursuing the project, you can ensure that your thoughts on how to proceed with the project align with those of the client, and that the course you wish to undertake in developing media for them will ultimately result in content that is satisfactory for them. Simply reading the brief may not be enough, as some briefs may be quite vague and leave a great deal to the discretion of the media producer. However, it is still wise to discuss to a certain extent with the client what they wish from the project, in order to prevent having to make alterations after the fact.

NEGOTIATING A BRIEFWhat are the advantages and disadvantages of employing discretion with a brief?

Employing discretion when working with a brief can be a positive factor for a media producer, as it allows them a certain amount of creative freedom as they proceed with the project, and therefore they are less limited by the guidelines of the brief. However, employing discretion can potentially result in issues with the client, if they potentially are not satisfied with the media producer’s ideas regarding the design of their media project.

NEGOTIATING A BRIEFAre there any potential legal/ethical/regulatory issues with the brief’s proposed product?

There are some potential issues with the product in a legal sense due to the many restrictions surrounding the distribution, consumption, and advertisement of alcohol. Because of this, it is important that, when following the brief and creating my posters, I need to adhere to the advertising standards and regulations surrounding alcohol, such as ensuring that the content I create in no way aims to advertise alcohol or make it seem appealing to children, or anyone below the age of 18. Advertising standards surrounding alcohol also prohibit advertising content that suggests alcohol improves social ability in any way. The brief has not suggested that I create content that violates these advertising standards.

NEGOTIATING A BRIEFAmendments you have considered to:The Product: In the brief, my client has only stipulated a few core ideas for how they wish me to proceed, and the sort of content I am to create. This includes the product being in the form of posters, and that these poster designs should be inspired by the names of the new beer products they have created. These are guidelines that are clear and achievable, and thus there is no need to amend them.

The Budget: Similarly, due to the nature of the brief and the level of freedom it allows me, there was no stipulation that suggested I undertake a project path that would require any sort of financial support on my part. Because there is no money needed in order to fulfill the requests of the brief, I will not need to consider, nor amend, any budget concerns with the client.

The Conditions: As I am working for free on this project, the pay I will receive from the client does not need to be discussed, as I will not be receiving any.

OPPORTUNITIESWhat opportunities could this brief allow you to explore? Self Development: In following this brief I have been able to develop my own abilities as a graphic designer by experiencing first-hand how working to a brief functions. Understanding this concept is of an enormous use to me as I may require it if I am working to a brief in the future in a professional capacity.

Learning new skills: This project has allowed me to hone and develop a number of skills, both in design work and elsewhere. For example, due to the time constraints surrounding working for a client, I have been able to better develop my time management abilities and learn to more effectively work to a schedule, in order to produce the necessary content in well organized sections of time. Pursuing this project and wishing to create content on a professional level has also lead to me attempting new techniques to create more visually interesting content using digital methods.

OPPORTUNITIESMulti-skilling: Creating the content for this project has required me to use a number of different skills, as I have worked on this project independently and thus had to be responsible for all aspects of the project by myself. This allowed me to further my abilities in terms of managing using multiple different skills in order to achieve a singular, end-goal, such as utilizing both creating original digital artwork, and using layout and design techniques to arrange my work.

Contributing to a project: Brass Castle Brewery already has a number of different forms of media attached to their company from different media producers, such as their website, their logos, and their pre-existing designs for beer labels. If they were to select my work for usage, it would be contributing to a great deal of other media, as well as potentially acting as positive exposure, as Brass Castle Brewery is a popular company.