Week 4: Business / Project Plans and Communication – Client Relationships, Insight, Content, Structure

Weekly Learning Objectives

By the end of this week you should be able to:

1. Research and analyse client / practitioner relationships and the service they provide;
2. Research and analyse the format and structure of a business plan;
3. Write, communicate and deliver a 3,000 word business plan (speculative and personal);
4. Manage your independent learning effectively.

Week 4: Lecture – Case Study 1: Studio / Client Relationship

Lecture Introduction

In this interview case study, presented by Stuart Tolley and featuring Emma Harverson and Lucy Warburton, we will explore the dynamics between a studio and their client, including:

• Design and client relationship;
• Managing expectations;
• Clear project planning and development schedules;
• Format and structure for a business plan (company philosophy, creative team, our understanding of the brief, strategic outline, budget and financial plan, critical path and stages of work).

Watch the lecture video below and make notes in your research journal. Reflect upon these ideas, and use them as a springboard into your own investigations. Use the Ideas Wall freely to discuss, ask questions and share ideas.

Emma Harverson and Lucy Warburton

Week 4: Lecture – Case Study 2: Studio Set-up

Lecture Introduction

In this second case study, Stuart Tolley examines how Hamish Makgill set up his design studio and business at the point at which formal business planning was required.

Watch the lecture video below and make notes in your research journal. Reflect upon these ideas, and use them as a springboard into your own investigations. Use the Ideas Wall freely to discuss, ask questions and share ideas.

Studio setup: Hamish Makgill – Studio Makgill

2007-Current

Previous – Red Design, no learning of business in education process.

Reflection

I found case study two, Studio Makgill the most useful/relevant. Though I did get some points from each, the advice and information available here was much clearer and much more experienced than in the first. He sounded more confident and knowledgable.

Points from the first case study I picked up on are:

• Include all requirements from the start
• Prepare to alter an idea to fit different markets but stay true to the original – think ahead
• Recommend, meet and talk
• Get feedback from end-users

They’re all things I have had, more by luck than judgement, which help a project be more satisfying.

Also “the term: ‘Brand’ implying a wider implementation of an idea”

Case study two was closer to my aspiration I suppose, a small studio winning and creating nice work – an ideal scenario but not unachievable after all.

• Be more confident in the value of your work
• Don’t give time away – the fear of losing the work will trap you
• Make contacts
• Decide what to do

Frustration at using the same language – another point to look at, everyone sounds the same, how do I avoid being just another studio? It’s easy to say ‘just be different’ but you need to work out your way of being different to the rest around you:

• Work out what you do
• Work out what you stand for
• Why are you there?

*Figure these out*

And business-wise: look after the cashflow

Week 4: Resources

Read | Watch | Listen

Below is this week’s list of materials. For the full module resource list, please refer to the Course Hub. We encourage you to also go beyond and carry out your own independent research into themes delivered. Do not forget to use the Ideas Wall to share new ideas and thoughts.

1. Kourdi, J. (2009), Business Strategy: A Guide to Taking Your Business Forward. London: John Wiley & Sons

Read | Watch | Listen

2. The Futur, Chris Do (2015), The Client Is Not Your Enemy: Redefining Your Client Relationship (Links to an external site.), [online video]. [Accessed 28 March 2019]

‘Do great work for good clients who recommend you to their friends and it just keeps going higher and higher’ – oh yes, it’s easy.

Work directly with the client. Seems the ideal too but isn’t that the ordinary? Depends on who the client is I suppose.

Be happier.
Be empathic – what’s it like for the client?

Vague questions get vague answers – that sets you up to fail.

Need vs. Want

Find out the problems and work out how to solve them, direct the questions towards these problems.

Past the sale – once they say yes, stop talking.
If they say no, ask why.

Week 4: Workshop Challenge

The Challenge

How do you write a client facing strategic document for the purpose of a new business challenge?

Create a format and structure for a new business plan. You have considered company philosophy, leadership, budgeting, IP, and now we want you to create a 3,000-word business plan that presents your proposal to your client. This plan will be used to write a client facing project, or as an outline for a potential studio launch or entrepreneurial idea or artefact. This is very much a speculative exercise that will grow and evolve as you move through the rest of the course.

One of the key challenges of this exercise is for you to target your writing and proposal to a specific audience and therefore the research, your strategy, your communication skills and outline of management or organisational objectives, are central to this challenge.

Next Level Studio

Even after two years my studio is still at a start-up level. The outcome of this exercise should be the key to developing it onto the next level. At the moment it’s just me full time with a small network of freelancers which are called on when things are busy, tedious (eg. data input) or for projects in a different field – mainly programming for websites, and photography.

Currently I have two web developers; 1 front-end 1 back-end, working with me on a product-heavy packaging CMS website. The site was designed by myself and I’m managing, just, to avoid it being hit by the ugly-stick and keep a hold on the original design.

Covid has meant that other regular clients have stopped sending work but, more by luck than judgement, some smaller projects have come my way via friends.

Studio name

Reference

Drafts

Goals

The underlying goal is simply to do nice work for nice people and avoid just chasing the money.

The business is realistic. I’m not looking for a global empire or a studio with large teams, the ideal number to work towards is three designers – myself included – and someone to run things (currently not sure if that would be an admin role, a ‘sales’ roll or as a studio manager position, clients are needed and I’m not good at finding them). Being in a position to build up the team incrementally over a period of 18 months rather than the big hit of three extra salaries in one go.

To get to that point investment would be needed to cover the outlay for first victim.

The designers need to be mid to senior level with the same core skills so that, although this would mean higher salaries than junior positions, the studio would be able to run more efficiently from the outset as the team builds.

We currently occupy a small town centre studio situated on the first floor of a multi-use building and so there is no presence at street level. I believe a studio needs to ‘look the part’, both for staff and clients, the right environment brings out the best in people. Everyone is aware of what the others are doing, any egos are left at the door and things are open for anyone to get involved and have opinions.

A larger studio will be required, one with a ground floor reception separate from a first floor studio avoid the need for it to always be a client-facing environment, ie. ideas stuck to walls, lively and relaxed. A studio that still feels like art school.

Values statement

Design is first, successful design brings the money and both are needed to keep a studio running in the way you want it to.

Avoid chasing the money, money doesn’t bring great work and its novelty soon wears off when the motivation from great work isn’t there.

Good design depends on trust from clients, when there’s willingness to explore design and push things that extra step the result is work to be proud of from all perspectives; look and feel, process and outcome.

That trust from the client must be with every designer so that they can all be relied upon to deliver, whether that’s as part of a team or on an individual project.

Vision statement

From a studio of four, we will have a strong reputation for design-led projects. All designers should be involved in every stage of a project,

Be approachable to graduates, offer internships and give up time freely to give advice to students.

Create a platform where other designers can collaborate and build a network of talent.

Mission statement

Primarily a graphic design studio specialising in identity and creative direction across all platforms; digital, exhibition and environment, branding and print.

Our clients should understand the need for good design, that it’s not a just a must-have by default.

In addition to the core team, we collaborate with a network of studios and freelancers to realise projects efficiently and to the highest standards.

Note: One of the key challenges of this exercise is for you to target your writing and proposal to a specific audience and therefore the research, your strategy, your communication skills and outline of management or organisational objectives, are central to this challenge.

Is this starting to sound as though I’m trying to pitch to myself?

Ok, this time…

I’m getting my ways of wording the section mixed up and each ends up sounding like the other so, round two.

The pitch is written to accompany an application for finance to expand the studio.

Business Plan

Executive summary

An active, fully rounded agency providing well-crafted solutions with a small team of talented designers. We have the experience, passion and enthusiasm for good design that we bring to all our clients, connecting them to their audience with a style, a function, a product.

We’re not looking to take over the world, our goal is to grow the studio to a team of five experienced designers working from a town-centre studio, creating the right environment to bring out the best in people. We enjoy what we do and want that to come across in the work; a different approach to design, bringing an advantage over the everyday services provided by other local studios.

Our services include:

• Brand Identity & guidelines
• Publications
• Website design & production
• Logo design & corporate identity
• Annual Reports
• Brochures
• Illustration
• Exhibition Design

Trusted by cultural and commercial clients, recommended by those clients and our suppliers.

Values statement

We’re passionate about our profession and the positive impact that our work can have for our clients. We don’t design for ourselves, there’s no distinctive style to our client work, each brief is different and so each outcome is different.

The designer is in the middle: Client-Designer-Audience, we connect the client to their audience with a style, a function, a product.

Vision statement

• We build a reputation for quality.
• No ego.
• We work as a fully rounded agency.
• We will create a platform for collaboration to build a network of talent.
• Always direct to client.
• Our reputation will make us a ‘go-to’ studio.

Mission statement

We are a design consultancy, we see great design as much more than decoration; we get to understand the audience, we set objectives, we deliver well-crafted solutions: logos and branding, print and digital, exhibition and environmental.

Trusted by cultural and commercial clients.

Goals

To grow the studio to a team of four or five including myself, of experienced designers and a studio manager. For that I estimate the salary bill to be around £260k.

To cover this salary bill at our current rate of £70 per hour we would need to bill a minimum six months per year, per person, ie. 2.5 x 7 hour days per week (this includes having 20 days’ holiday) = £58,800.

If we can keep the studio busy – everyone billing four full days – the figure for possible gross income to the studio is £470,400.00 (running costs and taxes haven’t been included in this equation).

Our current location isn’t big enough to cater for this number of people so there’s a need for a new premises.

SWOT analysis

Description of services

We will promote ourselves as multi-disciplinary. Our basic creative services will include logo and brand design for print and web, as well as web production, however, we don’t want to be all things to all people.

I have 20+ years experience of designing for print and around 10 years experience of web design. Printed literature, promotional, books, exhibition graphics, logos and branding; print design is much more satisfying so this will be our primary focus.

Web design, these days, is expected as part of a studio’s output, I see it as necessary but I don’t enjoy it so I would look to collaborate more with outside specialists in this field when their skills are needed. Specialists in SEO, site optimisation and the management of client social media accounts would also be sought.

Extra services which I would like to offer would include environmental/experiencial design and although we would include it in our list of services, we would need to outsource a specialist in this field to start with. We have no technical knowledge on AV and lighting, for example.

Our goal here would be to bring the design element in-house once we have gained the knowledge needed to run this type of project and work more collaboratively rather than watching from the sidelines.

Business environment and market trends ????

Client profile

Museums and galleries will be a prime target for us. The benefits of these are that they regularly launch new exhibitions and specialist events, so repeat work is available. They also look for a more creative solution than corporate clients.

One drawback is that lots of them tend to be council-owned and therefore cuts in services often affects these institutions first. As a way around this we look to become a provider for many different sites around the country, that way, budget reductions in Shropshire for example, would only impact on part of our income.

Another source of work we enjoy are startups who need a complete package from scratch. To tap into this network we would aim to register as an adviser for events where advice workshops are held for newly formed businesses. These events are held by some banks who offer startup loans, as well as organisations such the FSB.

Studio projects would play a large part in finding new work. Our running costs would include building a reserve fund to allow us to build up revenue to allow these not-for-profit projects. They will be based on issues or themes we are passionate about or created as a way to develop new skills. They will also be used to generate new interest in our studio.

Evaluation of your competition ????

Sustainable advantage ????

Marketing plan

Our main issue is that we are unknown, this would be the first of our current weaknesses to tackle. Social media is a good way to build up a network but that network needs to be with potential clients and not just for kudos from other agencies.

Ways of raising our profile are:

Social Media

Currently raising our profile on LinkedIn by posting articles and opinions, though I don’t see this as bringing in anything in the short-term, it is building up a network which can be targeted in the future.

We will be using a platform called ‘HootSuite’ to maintain regular posts on sites such as Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. This platform allows you to prepare a set of messages in bulk and schedule them to be posted at set times. The benefit of this is that once you have a campaign in mind, you can set up the whole thing in one go rather than inconsistent posting or forgetting your plan, just set it up and let it happen.

Case studies of new work will be added to our website, these will be the subject of some of the messages mentioned above. With each of these we will include a link to click-through to our site to increase traffic and raise our profile. We will have an option for viewers to sign up to a mailing list which will be used to send out new information to those subscribers.

Case studies for the use of social media include DixonBaxi, a successful London studio set up in 2001, and Fiasco based in Bristol, which started around 10 years ago.

DixonBaxi director Simon Dixon posts many times a day on Linkedin through his own account rather than the studio page. He offers opinions, regularly engages other members’ posts and gives advice freely. The studio also posts case studies of recent work. It seems to be their favoured social media platform, it’s the one I see most of their activity showing up.

Fiasco in Bristol appear more frequently on Instagram. I noticed their activity increasing over the past few years, their approach is if they don’t have anything of their own to show they openly repost work from other design studios, crediting and congratulating them in the message.

They also send a weekly email without fail which uses this same trick. The emails start with a ‘what’s caught our eye this week’ section, followed by their latest or current project. It makes their newsletter more interesting as it’s not all me-me-me. It’s a good way of building your profile without having much to say about yourself, it would fit our situation well.

Both these studios follow an effective strategy for social media, rather than each post being about their own achievements, they engage and encourage interaction between different agencies and businesses. These are good models to follow.

Website

The website will be updated to only show the types of work we are looking to gain. Samples of work done in other sectors will still be available to view but to through the general portfolio. Links to these projects can be sent directly to companies in similar fields who may sign up to the mailing list, or who may have been introduced to us through our network as a recommendation.

Other

The studio will make a conscious effort to look for and enter design competitions to add some credentials to our business. This is something which we haven’t looked into before due to the type of clients we have been working for, but with our new approach to creating studio projects we feel that we will produce items worthy to enter.

Networking

Instead of waiting for enquiries to come to us we will make better use of our current networks by simply asking for leads, it’s a simple task but one we have always shied away from. Advice received from a successful and renowned studio is to simply ‘be active and consistent in how you build connections. Talk to as many people as possible’.

Ask our freelancers for leads and actively seek referrals from past and present clients and suppliers.

Operations plan

Our current operation is:

New project arrives, take down a brief.
If this is a possible new client then we will always push for a face-to-face meeting, if it’s a new job from an existing client then usually an email or telephone call to discuss the project will cover it.

Confirm the brief.
Once back in the studio we write up the notes from the initial briefing/meeting and email a copy through to the client so that they can check through and confirm and/or add any missing information or correct any points we may have misunderstood. Once a current brief is confirmed we prepare and send in our prices as well as some basic information as to how the project prices apply, ie., we state the number of ideas we will submit, the number of drafts we will go through within the budget, stating that if this number goes over then they will incur extra charges at our normal hourly rate.

On confirmation of the above we start the ideas process with an agreed date to present. At this stage we brief any freelancers needed to complete the work so that we can fix schedules with them. Currently, we use freelance programmers for all large web projects which require any specific function such as content management by the client.

Presentation of ideas.
With an existing client an email and phone call usually suffice but with a new client we always push to present in person. We present using printed boards or sheets so that notes can be added directly to them during any discussion which can help avoid some confusion later. It also helps to leave a set of the printouts with the client at the end so that they can study them further.

Project development.
Once the client has responded to the presentation we agree a schedule for the work going forwards. We keep in constant contact during this period to keep things on track, any delays from the client which will alter dates for key stages can be monitored and the client notified of any changes needed in the schedule.

We keep a record of the time spent during this period, if a job is open-ended we can keep a running total, if the job has been set a budget we can make sure we are staying within it. Extra sets of amends or updates than agreed are added to the invoice.

On completion, a formal sign-off is required to avoid any comeback on errors detected after the event.

Invoicing.
Our approach to invoicing on the whole is to send on delivery of the project. Some larger or ongoing projects are split into payment stages, this tend to be the web-based work as it can take longer to complete and freelancers may need paying in the meantime.

Follow up.
A new addition to our process is to ask for a summing up by the client; was everything as it should have been, could the process be improved, what have been the results from launching the new project, etc. This will help us to streamline or improve our processes.

Human resources plan

Notes:

I currently do everything except for the job of an accountant but there are roles which I don’t like to do, can’t do well enough or don’t get around to do properly. Ideally I would need someone to cover these areas, especially if the studio grows and therefore needs/gets increased volume in these areas.

I’m sure I’ll be able to add more to each column.

The current setup:

Design Director & Project Manager (myself)
2/3 freelance developers as required by projects

The next step:

The plan for the business is realistic. I’m not looking for a global empire or a studio with many large teams. From past experience a crew of four designers is a good number to work with. The designers need to be mid to senior level with the same core skills so that, although this would mean higher salaries than junior positions, the studio would be able to run more efficiently from the outset and as the team builds.

Another member of staff would be taken on to fill the role of ‘sales’, for the want of a better term. This person would be design-savvy and not set on chasing everything from everywhere, they would also be involved in the planning and presenting of work so that they aren’t just seen as ‘the sales guy’, they are part of the same team.

The experience of the group will mean they can all be relied upon to deliver, whether that’s as part of a team or on individual projects. A team such as this is always able to bounce ideas around. We want the studio to be a relaxed environment where everyone is aware of what the others are doing, any egos are left at the door and things are open for all to get involved and have opinions.

A steady flow and not a sweatshop, my aim is not to make as much money as possible, but to enjoy what I do. Design is first, and successful design brings the money.

We currently occupy a small town centre studio situated on the first floor of a multi-use building and so there is no presence at street level. I believe a studio needs to ‘look the part’, both for staff and clients, the right environment brings out the best in people so a larger studio will be required, one with a ground floor reception separate from a first floor studio avoid the need for it to always be a client-facing environment, ie. ideas stuck to walls, lively and relaxed. A studio that still feels like art school.

Once the studio is settled and running, the next stage would be to build relationships with art schools and offer placements for interns and cater for junior positions.

Technology and physical facilities plan

We currently occupy a small town centre studio situated on the first floor of a multi-use building with no presence at street level.

I believe a studio needs to ‘look the part’, both for staff and for clients, the right environment brings out the best in people so a larger studio will be required.

A premises with a ground floor reception and meeting room separate from a first floor studio to avoid the need for it to always be a client-facing environment, ie. ideas stuck to walls, lively and relaxed; a studio that still feels like art school.

The technology would be the standard setup; each designer would need their own workstation. A good standard iMac is around £2000.00 and so not a huge outlay per team member as they come along and as the studio is already up and running we already have systems in place for backup and retrieval of work as well as file storage, and we have a web-server for hosting client sites.

The software is provided by subscription to the Adobe Creative Cloud, our current licence cover just two machines so the subscription will have to be increased as more stations are needed. The subscription includes all upgrades.

Our accounting software is provided by our bank FOC and is sufficient for the moment but it may be that a more streamlined system will be needed as numbers increase; software such as Sage or Xero.

Financial overview

Current running costs

Projected extra staffing costs

Cashflow forecast

Based on the figures above this is an outline of cashflow needed to fulfil the growth of the studio and repayment of any finances borrowed to facilitate that growth.

Reflection and observations

First of all; it’s hard to talk about yourself properly. Thinking hard about detailed ‘stories’ to big-up myself, it’s not something I’m used to doing nor do I enjoy doing it, it sets off a large dose of imposter syndrome.

Second; this exercise has been very useful – and extremely hard – in pinning down a realistic-enough plan for me to follow for real. This is something I was hoping would happen, I didn’t just want it to be an exercise in writing or theory.

Third; the Aiga plan has a very long list of sections, much more than other examples I came across in my research: Prince’s Trust, NatWest and GOV.UK all show examples of their own, with a lot less categories! The easy way out would have been to choose one of these instead (the shortest one) and simply aim to fill it in rather than think more about the content needed.

Initially, as seen above, I was struggling to keep the content from coming over as stories of an ideal. But I think I managed to leave that behind and bring over just enough of that content into the finished plan. Perhaps revisiting it at a later date would bring a more succinct version but I’m happy with the result, and so glad it’s done.

I hope it’s right…

Download PDF copy

Feedback (now applied)

Alec:

Looks good to me in terms of content. Nice to see the numbers in there. One addition that would be worthwhile including potentially would be a cashflow forecast, just so you can project where money is needed upfront and how you can spread that cost through your first 12 months or so. Doesn’t have to be super-detailed, but could be really handy.

Other than that, looking forward to seeing this take shape in the PDF. Well done for hitting the word count so precisely.

Richard:

I think Alec’s pointer is the main one to look at. My additional thoughts might be to focus on addressing the points within your SWOT analysis in the appropriate sections. The main one for me relates to your clear statement of being ‘unknown’ and yet you currently don’t really address this square on within your marketing strategy. One might say it’s a general marketing plan but lacks an air of strategy. Look at Simon Dixon (DixonBaxi). I think this is a good example of a smaller agency who utilise social media to good affect.