Design Work Proposal

Prepared By: Name ABC

[Street Address] p. [Telephone] [Email]

[City, ST ZIP Code] f. [Fax] [Web address]
Table of Contents

1. Executive Summary ............................................................................................... 2

2. Description of Work .............................................................................................. 2
3. Project’s Scope ....................................................................................................... 2
4. Competition ........................................................................................................... 2
5. Creative Strategy .................................................................................................... 3
6. Technical Strategy ................................................................................................. 3
7. Company Overview, Clients & Awards ................................................................. 3
8. Process ................................................................................................................... 3
9. Project Costs .......................................................................................................... 4
10. Billing & Schedule................................................................................................. 4
11. Development Schedule .......................................................................................... 5
12. Project Timeline .................................................................................................... 5
13. Ownership and Usage Rights ............................................................................... 5
14. Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 5
Executive Summary

Explain your understanding of the client, their business and the industry they operate in. This will form the
platform that is your starting point for a project so you need to show the client that their objectives are clear
to you. The Executive Summary shouldn't be more than about three or four paragraphs.

Description of Work

Contractor will create, (name and/or description of design project). Revisions or alterations to the scope of
work or schedule may obligate the Client to additional fees. These may include copy or layout changes made
after initial Client approvals. Extensive alterations, such as a change in marketing objectives or project goals,
shall be considered new work and will require that this agreement be amended with a change order to reflect
the revised scope of work.

Project’s Scope

Somewhere in your proposal you’ll include information about the scope of the project. Is this going to be a
simple brochure site? An online store? Will it have a blog? An intranet or members-only area? Community
features? There are tons of variables that go into the creation of a website, and it’s important to describe at
least the major ones here. Make sure you understand what your prospective clients are looking for before you
send a proposal to them (this should be done in a discovery phase, with either a formal or informal client
questionnaire).

Competition

Here's where you're going regurgitate all the stuff you learned doing your competitive spying... strike that...
research. You'll want to document what they're doing poorly as well as where they shine.

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Creative Strategy

Here's where you'll strut your stuff — without doing any layouts or other creative work. The idea here is to
explain what you plan to do — how you're doing to meet the project goals and make the audience drool,
while scaring the heck out of the competition. All this while keeping within the budget and on schedule. Boy,
are you good or what?

Technical Strategy

How technical you are here depends on how much you think your client will understand. Will the site's
content be dynamic? If so, then describe how you will achieve this. Will there be a members' forum? What
technology will you use? What type of server will the client need?

Company Overview, Clients & Awards

This final section is where you'll talk about your business' background, who you do work for, awards you've
won, etc. It's the final section, where you lay it on thick. Here's where all your experience comes to a head and
shows the client that you're the right person for the job. You may want to include some current client
testimonials to back up your ego-centric ramblings.

Process

This is where you explain all the stuff you have to do to make your client the bee's knees in their industry.
Detail each and every task you need to handle to get from the beginning to the end. It helps to justify those
high fees you're about to quote.

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Project Costs

Including project costs in your proposal in a well-outlined and well-explained manner can contribute to how
happy your client is and how long it takes them to pay their bills. You’ll want to break down the costs based
on phases or parts of the project. How you do this depends on how you normally bill clients and how
complex the particular project is.

Billing & Schedule

This is the area where you'll lay out the production schedule, along with how and when you get paid. Be sure
to give yourself some breathing or always under-promise and over-deliver. If you do this, you'll always be the
knight in shining armor. As a rule of thumb, add 20% to keep yourself covered. Things always take longer
than you expect.
You'll want to cover copyright issues here, too, what rights you'll be giving and what you'll retain. This
includes a line that says you can use the work in your promotional efforts and include it in your portfolio.
Reality check: Just because you did it, doesn't necessarily mean you can show it in all cases.

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Development Schedule

Provide a timeline for the project, listing dates for the various stages of delivery, how long the client has to
provide feedback, all the way up to final acceptance and sign off. This is important to show that you are
focused on reaching a goal and a deadline.

Project Timeline

Generally, web design clients want to know how long it will take for their website to be up and running.

Ownership and Usage Rights

Upon receipt of full payment, the Client is hereby granted exclusive and unlimited usage and reproduction
rights to the final designs prepared for the Client as part of this project. Contractor reserves the right to
reproduce any and all designs created in print and electronic media for Contractor’s promotional purposes.

Conclusion

This is the first cousin to the Executive Summary. It should be a recap of what you're going to do and why
your client was utterly brilliant in choosing you over your competition.

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