In Soviet times, designers were called graphic designers. The name has changed, but the essence remains. A designer is a person who simply draws up a specific business idea, words and numbers in an acceptable visual form. And that’s all. Someone makes it better, someone worse. But the end result always depends on the clarity of the problem statement. It’s not in vain that they say “Without a clear TK - the result of HZ”. Designer Nika Aleksandrova gives advice on how to create an understandable technical task for the designer.

1. Describe your business in detail

Only the client himself knows his own business project better than anyone. Only he has access to all information about prices, terms, conditions. It’s a shame to “come up with a business” instead of a client. A designer can advise, but no more - this is simply not his task. Gather as much information as possible so that the designer can draw beautiful infographics or additional interesting things from that.

2. Argument

When I see a strange color combination or a pile of information in TK, I ask each time: “Why?”. The answer is often this: “Well, I want to. Just do it. ”

I don’t feel sorry, but it’s better to explain why you want this and that. Maybe the client is simply afraid that his sign will not be visible on the background of the building? I will make the sign red, and it will merge with the neighboring one. And if they drew white, then everything would look better. If the designer knows what the true problem is, it will be easier for him to solve it.

3. Sketch examples

You can make a high-class project within any budget. It's real. You just need to clearly set the designer a project vector.

Collect some pictures on the topic of the project so that the designer knows what you like. Here is a cool site where you can see and collect examples of how you would like to see your project.

Did you see an interesting detail? Save the picture to the piggy bank. Did you see an interesting design, color combinations, fonts, an interesting form of business card? The right button of the mouse "zhmyak" - save the picture. The output will be a folder with a selection, from which you can already type examples for the designer to set the task.

This is not about plagiarism, but about inspiration and visual images. This method really increases the level of design on the project. Verified by personal experience.

4. Start with the format

Mostly customers start a conversation with content. And it’s better to start it with a form. Because while you read the assignment, you immediately begin to imagine how it will look. What do you want to do - a billboard or a book, a postcard or a banner on the site? Tell about this at the very beginning of the problem statement to the designer.

5. Choose a color scheme

Color matching usually angers both sides. In my head green is green - it is closer to yellow. Many, imagining green, rather see the emerald color. Everyone has different colors in their heads - this is a fact. And what do you see when you think about green?

If you want to constructively discuss colors with a designer, pick up a gamut on the Internet. For example here - http://color.romanuke.com /

All questions on the theme of "blurry green" and "thoughtfully purple" are resolved in the same way.

6. Decide on fonts

There are several thousand different fonts, but their types are much smaller. The client does not have to know how the antiqua differs from the grotesque, but there is a way out:https://www.google.com/fo nts /.

There you can enter a specific word and see how it will look in a specific performance. If you send a couple of links to serif or sans serif fonts, it will immediately become clearer what you had in mind when you spoke of a “modern” or “brutal” font.

7. We take into account real terms

There is a carriage of technical requirements, features, technologies and other turbidity that a professional designer must know. And after coordination he will need to do all these manipulations with the layout in order to prepare the layout for printing. It takes time, and sometimes a lot. This is often forgotten and, as a result, serious timing overlaps can occur. It is necessary to specify the time frame for which a person will hand over the project to work after the final approval.

How to understand that everything is going as it should and the initial task was well done?

Very simple: there are not many edits. This is up to 5 iterations, which in time does not take more than 2-3 hours each (although, of course, on large projects this time can be much longer). When the thirtieth version of the corrections arrives in the mail, it becomes clear that either the technical specifications were incorrectly compiled somewhere, or there are a lot of people influencing the decision to design.

About the author:

Nika Alexandrova,

designer

Almost everyone faces the problem of creating technical specifications for a designer. When ordering the design of an advertisement, website, catalog, etc. The speed of the work and the coincidence of the final result with the wishes of the customer depend on how correctly the technical task is drawn up. The experience of our agency shows that it can be difficult for a client to draw up a technical task for a designer on their own. Therefore, managers and designers of RA Media Service, as a rule, help the customer to draw up the terms of reference correctly.

What is the technical task for?

• To provide all the information necessary for the design development and its structuring
• To understand the goals, ideas and tasks of the customer, to set the desired direction in the work of the designer
• When compiling a technical task in writing, in contrast to the task in words, the customer clearly sees whether he conveyed everything to the designer or missed something
• The terms of reference is an annex to the contract, thereby determining the relationship between the customer and the contractor

We made up the product catalog for the Troy company (the leading Moscow company for the wholesale of tiles and porcelain tiles), the layout of 123 pages took 3 months, since the customer had no source material at the beginning of work on the layout of the catalog. The constant addition of raw materials / data lengthens the layout process. As well as the quality of the source material affects the speed of layout of the catalog.

What is the main problem when writing technical specifications for a designer?

At a first approximation, the customer cannot clearly express what he has in mind. “Do us something beautiful in two or three ways.” The customer has a picture of a surrealist in his head, and the designer has a winter landscape of a Russian village.

Proposed option

Approved Option

When we were developing the design of the booklet of the Ascension insurance company, the customer expressed a desire for blue, cyan and white to dominate. Our designers offered the client a booklet design depicting a blue sky and white doves flying up. The customer did not approve this design of the booklet design, as it turned out that when a person picks up this booklet, he already has an insured event and he is not interested in pigeons.

Of course, collecting and reporting all the information can be difficult, but spending a little time on this will save you in the future. Avoiding unnecessary alterations, and, accordingly, unnecessary waste of money and time. Convenient forms (briefs) will help you with this, and in some situations you can turn to the help of managers.

• Write everything at once
• Read it for yourself. Edit and complete.
• Indicate immediately sections, headings, slogans, promotions
• Decide! Do you rely on the creativity and professionalism of the designer or do you want them to accurately realize the picture you invented
• If you already have an idea of \u200b\u200bhow the design should look, then it is impossible to guess what you keep in mind unless you describe it in the terms of reference
• Define the "direction of movement." Describe the goal, color preferences, mood, emotional background
• If you have a corporate identity, or even better a brand book (rules for using a corporate identity), be sure to attach it to the terms of reference
• The technical specifications should also indicate (attach) the technical requirements, where and by what methods the manufactured layout will be reproduced, exact dimensions, etc.

The more detailed the technical task for the designer is written, the better the result you get. Choose one channel for communications. The more comments and additions from you the designer will receive via ICQ, phone, e-mail, the more difficult it is for him to put it together. If the designer is not only busy with your order and distracted by another, without written instructions, it may well be that you get a hybrid, then what you asked for and part of what the designer was distracted with. For a while you become a single team with a designer. Therefore, the success of this joint activity depends both on the designer and on you! And the only document that helps to organize this interaction competently is the technical task.

Based on the contract for the development of the site’s design, the contractor is obliged to perform work on the development of the design of a predefined type and characteristics, such as, for example, views (web, 3D, exhibition, graphic, industrial, landscape, etc.). The contractor also undertakes to complete the work within the time period established by the contract.

To simplify the interaction between the customer and the contractor, a detailed technical task is drawn up.

Terms of Reference (TOR) is defined asa document that the parties to the contract use to determine the order and conditions for the performance of work, as well as the goals, objectives, principles and requirements for the implementation of all stages of the creation of the design object, the expected results and the timing of the work.

Creating TK is a complex and time-consuming job.

As a rule, the responsibility for the preparation of technical specifications lies with the customer.

Contents of the terms of reference for the design development agreement

Terms of reference for design development in any form.

For example, when developing 3D-design, the following information should be indicated in the technical task:

• development requirements (object, purpose of creation, degree of elaboration and style of images, list of images, size and number of images to be performed and other information);
• list of required information (the main task in the development of 3D-design, advertising idea, competitors, attached materials, target audience (consumer), favorite examples and other information).

The statement of work should contain information about the contract (number and date of drawing up), information about the customer and the contractor, and the number of the statement of work as an appendix.

The terms of reference for the design is made in several copies   equal to the parties to the contract and is certified by the signatures of the customer and the contractor.

- Sorry, but english version of this website is not quite finished yet! I hope pictures speak for themselves. \u003d)

The working process:
  how to write terms of reference

October 18, 2016

Editorial layout

Gather material for work

• Company logo in vector format
• Contact information
• Texts and images to be posted
• Specify corporate colors and fonts
• Give general wishes for registration

If the project is large, then it needs to be divided into sections and collect material in folders corresponding to sections. The information structure itself will tell you how best to organize it.

This completes the compilation of TOR

Perhaps at the idea stage you did not fully imagine what and how to do. At this point, you will be much better aware of what should result in the end, which means reduce the risk that the designer will do completely “wrong” or “completely wrong”. When asked how many design options will be offered, I reply: “One. The one that completely suits you. "

Analyze the material with the designer

In the technical task it is important to show the priority of this or that information, which is not always obvious. Give an understanding of what is priority and what is not. For example, the date and venue of an event is more important than its description, and therefore should attract more attention. It cannot be argued that everything is equally important. You can’t make sure that everything is striking at the same time, otherwise you will get chaos. When everything is selected, nothing is selected.

Review the purpose of the work again

The task of “doing beautifully” is a bad task. You need to do with meaning. The result of the design process should meet the request of the target audience. He must solve the problem, convey and explain with information, be useful, simplify life, etc. It is also important to understand the context in which this design will work.

Let the designer do his job

You do not need to invent the design yourself. The structure of the material and the experience of a specialist will tell you how to design it most correctly. After viewing the collected materials, you and the designer will have ideas, it will be clear which ones are better, which are worse, what works well and what doesn't.

It is important to understand that TK should not contain specific instructions for execution. No need to write what font to make headings, or what kind of background the pages should have (if this is not regulated by the brand book). Also, you do not need to strictly limit the location of information on the pages: you do not need to write in which corner which inscription should be placed.

Be ready to accept the best

In 99% of cases, your vision of the result does not coincide with the vision of the designer, simply because we are all different people and do different things. Ideally, the vision of the designer should exceed your expectations - this is a guarantee of successful work. So you will always be a satisfied customer. :)

This technique of drafting technical specifications can be used not only when ordering print media, it also works when creating logos, developing websites, as well as any other projects that require the services of third-party specialists.

Do not overwhelm the desktop. It must always remain pristine as a mountain peak. This helps to feel above a working routine and maintain both clarity of thought and good spirits.

Karima Rashida, 50 Commandments

Introduction

Designer is a creative profession, and, like any creative person, any bureaucracy abhors a designer. Nevertheless, the designer is not a free artist and he needs to somehow streamline his production process. The main and, fortunately, the only document that the designer encounters in the process of working on an order helps him in this streamlining - the terms of reference (hereinafter TK).

Likely for any solid design studio (design department, advertising agency) in which a harmonious “manager-designer” relationship has developed, the things that will be discussed in this article will seem obvious and even banal. But personally, from my own experience I can say that in none of the 4 offices of a completely different profile in which I worked (outdoor advertising, operational printing, full-cycle advertising, design studio), there was no competent interaction between the manager and the designer , nor the design scheme for TK developed over the years. In two offices the project documentation was absent as such, in the other two forms of TK were in their infancy, and the number of managers able to draw up even primitive TK tended to zero ...

Thus, I am infinitely happy for those designers who do not have such a problem, and I do not recommend them spending time reading. For those who, like me, as they say, “got sick”, I suggest that you familiarize yourself with my thoughts on the TK for the designer.

What is TK

In our case, the statement of work is a document intended for the designer, which describes the requirements for the project, as well as information related to the activities of the customer or the properties of the product that is the central object of the project.

TK has four main functions:

1. Organizational
2. Informational
3. Communication
4. Legal

Organizational function of TK

Work will only be effective when there is order in the space surrounding this work. Order is the core on which the entire workflow is strung. In the work of the designer, one core is enough - TK. With it, you can streamline all work and turn it from creative chaos into successive creation.

Why keep all the information in your head, where it can easily be lost when you can put it next to it on a table in a neat pile and pull it out in small portions? A heap of dissimilar pieces of paper will immediately disappear from your living space, and a megabyte of electronic garbage from a computer dozen. Work turn into a simple job queue. Having such a scheme of work, you will no longer need to spend effort on things secondary to the designer, and you can devote all your time to what does not require streamlining - to creativity.

TK information function

The main advantage of TK over other forms of providing information on a project is its structure. You know for sure that from TK you will gather exactly the information that interests you as a designer, precisely in the form in which it will be easier for you to perceive, and in exactly the amount in which it will be necessary to complete the order.

Another plus - competently drafted TOR may be the only source of information necessary for the implementation of the project. We are talking about small orders, for which verbal contacts of the client and the designer are not required. A designer who has protected himself from exhausting communication over trifles will free up a significant amount of time, which is useful for more important matters.

In order for TK to fully fulfill its information mission, it must be focused on a specific task. Fortunately or unfortunately, but the work of the designer is not as diverse as it seems at first glance (remember how many lines are in your price list?) And divided into several typical sequences of actions that require standard input data. The sequence of actions in developing, for example, a logo is the same in Russia and in Africa. The information necessary for its development is also always required the same. And if the input data is typical, then it can be provided to the designer in a standard form. Therefore, instead of one form of TK, you can do several - one for each type of design work, which will ensure the relevance of the information.

Communication function of TK

The article described in detail the process of approving a project from a customer. The role of TK in this process was also mentioned there. Indeed, TK can set the right direction in the work of the designer and, as a result, contribute to the speedy adoption of the layout. Any design task can be solved in different ways, and the less information the designer has on his hands, the more free he is in choosing a solution, the more chances there are to do something that the client does not accept at all. The detailed terms of reference help the designer “feel the client” and do the work that meets the tastes of the client and his ideas about the final result.

Legal function of TK

Clients have a bad tendency to suffer short-term memory loss. Sometimes they simply forget about their initial requirements for the layout, and in the process, or, worse, statements put forward new requirements. “Build” a client, or dance to his tune is everyone’s personal business, but TK, as well as a well-developed scheme for working with a client (number of options, number of improvements, etc.) leaves you the opportunity to transfer the costs of remaking a layout into a client’s wallet. Since expenses are often quite substantial, the very availability of TK will make your sleep much stronger, and having a client’s signature on this TK will save you from losing nerve cells, which, as you know, are restored, but slowly.

The next point is all kinds of errors at the stage of placing an order. Errors are different, but the reason, as a rule, is the same - inaccurate ordering. At the same time, the absence of TK quite often is an occasion to blame all the blame on the designer.

Who's guilty?

After all of the above, I think that few have any doubts that TK “is a great good”. But the situation does not get any better from this. In order for TK to enter (in its full form!) Into the production process of each designer, it is necessary, as has been done in Russia for centuries, to identify the perpetrators and begin to fight them. We have two people to blame - these are (surprise!) Designers and managers. Or rather, the lack of initiative in the former and the inborn laziness of the latter.

Managers can be understood. It’s easier to approach the designer when it’s convenient for you (the manager), to tear him (the designer) away from work, to quickly “get in the know”, than to sit and carefully record the information received from the client on paper. It is very easy, in the absence of documentation in the case of some emergency, to say "Well, I told you (a) !!!" and leave the designer extreme.

It’s fun again: you sit, pour the eighth cup of tea into yourself, wait for the work day to end, and then the designer comes running and ask you something, and you immediately feel so warm in your soul, and you immediately understand how people need you . No, managers can definitely be understood, but there is no forgiveness for designers.

What to do?

As Gandhi used to say, "if you want the world to change, change it yourself." Take the initiative - make TK forms for the main types of services provided by your office and distribute them to managers. After the new forms of TK merge into the production process (and this will take some time):

1. Refuse to accept orders without TK
2. Refuse to accept orders without a neatly executed TK

A good remedy for laziness is a piston inserted by the authorities. Therefore, in the event of conflict situations on this basis (and they are inevitable), do not be afraid to inflate them to a "higher" level. In most cases, the bosses will be on your side, because an illiterate ordering is a failure to fulfill job descriptions on the part of managers, which threatens the office with losses.

In the case when, in principle, such a document as TK does not exist in the office, it is first necessary to raise the issue on the meeting regarding its introduction. Honestly, I can’t imagine a situation where the authorities can say something against innovation, with so many obvious advantages.

Who should draw up TK?

It all depends on the type of activity of the company, which determines the flow of orders and their size. If the flow of orders is large, and the orders themselves are small (operational printing, printing, etc.), then the manager must deal with the processing of orders. If work is underway for a VIP client, the flow is small, and the projects are solid (large design studio, branding agency), then the designer or art director must clearly communicate with the client and accordingly fill the task list. These are extreme cases, and in life there are a lot of intermediate situations, therefore the job descriptions of managers and designers should be formed depending on the level of services provided by the company at this stage of its development. A hybrid situation is possible when both designers and managers can deal with TK design.

Electronic TK

All that is described above is an ideal situation when they communicate with the customer, as they say, face to face. However, there are still such ways of receiving orders, such as email and skype (generally any messengers).

Ordering via Skype should be avoided in every way. This form of communication relaxes the client, and the flow of information from him becomes free, uncontrollable and timeless. If communication with the customer occurs electronically, try to move it to the mail plane. A letter is almost a document and the attitude towards it is appropriate.

E-mail, in turn, has its own subtleties: so that tasks from the client do not arrive in the form of a letter "to the grandfather’s village", but have a certain structure, the manager or the designer himself must send the client a TK form at the stage of placing an order. This form, first of all, will save time for the client himself, as he will not need to think about the content and amount of information that he must provide. The client will simply fill out a form and send it back. The designer, however, is faced with the task of compiling the form so that the person at that end does not have any difficulties with filling out.

The responsibility of the person responsible for receiving the order should include verification of the forms received from customers. If there are no questions on the ToR, it is printed, signed and transmitted to the designer.

Appendices and additional project materials

Many projects cannot do without additional information materials, which must be systematized in some way. Paper materials should be teased with TK, and their presence should be mentioned in the corresponding section. The location of the electronic materials required for the project should also be described in the corresponding section of the ToR.

Technical task example

Below is an example of the form of TOR for the development of the logo, which I use. This form is my development, so you can use it without fear of violating someone else’s copyright: modify, edit and create forms based on it for other types of services.

The form (like the whole article) does not pretend to be complete, but is only a model, the purpose of which is to show the main sections of the ToR necessary to obtain comprehensive information on the project.

Terms of Reference for Logo Design

Service information

• Order Date
• Name of the ordering person
• Signature
• Name of company representative
• Position of company representative
• Company representative coordinates
• Signature
• Deadline

Applications

• Company website address
  - other links
• Branding or branding elements currently in use
  - names of attached files
• Annexes to TK
  - notes on paper applications
  - file names of electronic applications

These two sections are common to any type of service and are present in each TK. All items of the first section are required.

Information about the company

• Title
• Occupation
• Competitive advantages
• Consumers
• Partners, suppliers
• Competitors
• Goals and objectives (prospects for the development of the Company in the foreseeable future)
• Additional information about the Company (not included in the previous paragraphs for some reason)

Product (service) information

• Title
• Description
• Competitive advantages
  - unique selling proposition
• Price segment of the market
• The target audience
• Competitors
• Additional Information

Sections are necessary for drawing up the general picture about the client. They must be present if a new customer or old customer is contacting you with a new product.

Existing Corporate Identity Information

• Logo
  - note about the attached file
• Brand colors
  - in Pantone or CMYK
• Company fonts
    fonts
• Graphic elements, images, characters
  - note on attached files
• Modular grid
  - note on attached files
• Other corporate identity elements
  - note on attached files

Like the previous section, this one should be present if a new client is contacting you or if you have not worked with the old one for a long time. But in this type of work, it is also necessary if the logo is not developed from scratch: in the case of a redesign or adjustment of the corporate identity.

Logo Design Information

• Title
• Logo status bar
• Color Suggestions
• Wishes on the style of design (classic, modernist, grunge, humorous, etc.)
• Examples of successful logos (according to the client)
• Use of the logo (mark the most common areas of use)
  - Business documentation
  - Polygraphy
  - The Internet
  - Outdoor advertising
  - Transport
  - TV
  - Packing
  - Other __________
• Additional information useful for logo design

The core of TK. All items are highly recommended. Only one is really needed - the name.

Conclusion

Design is order. A designer will only be the bearer of this order when the order is in his head. If in the designer’s head there is chaos and a mess caused by the illiterate organization of the production process, this will largely affect the result of the work. Therefore, before embarking on a global improvement of the environment - start with yourself.