Working to a Brief

LO1
Abby Downing
Contractual Brief
Definition
The media company signs an agreement which contains a with a set brief and
fee and also to be completed in a specific time period. When they have
signed this agreement theyre agreeing to everything in the contract, so if
they break any of the contract the client or company that has done this will
face legal action. As this is called breach of contract. This is why it is very
important to read a contract properly before signing it, because if there is
something included that you wouldnt like to do then you have agreed to do
it.
Advantages
Likely to be completed for when you need it
Easy for the client to complete and gives them control over the process
Disadvantages
Could be faced to legal action if the company/client do not do as the
agreement says.
Formal Brief
Definition A client will provide a media company with a brief that simply tells
you what product they want making. The brief will only contain the
necessary information that will be needed to make the product. If there is
any additional information then they will need to be discussed during a
meeting with the client. Similar to the contractual brief, the people involved
will agree on the project, also the brief will not always be legal.

Advantages Positions and communications are clearly stated in the brief. It
allows the client and company to understand the brief better which will
help to create the product quicker.

Disadvantages Once the contract has been decided, its very difficult to
change or add things to the brief as this will cause disruption.
Informal Brief
Definition
An informal brief is where a company and a client sit down and talk about the
project together, coming to an agreement with what theyre both happy with.
This agreement does not involve any written documents or contracts, it is a
verbal agreement.

Advantages
It is not as stressful as sticking to a contract.
It allows the company to be more creative with what they think suits best, because
theyre not stuck to a contract
Disadvantages
Not having a contract could also count in not having a deadline date, which could
upset the client because they could need something completed for a set date.
The company may do something wrong, which will not be their fault because they
have no contract, but this also may upset the client.
There is no document stating people are agreeing do something, which could lead
to a very bad outcome
Co-Operative Brief
Definition This is where two or more companies are hired to work on the
specific brief set. The companies will have to work together in order to
complete the project. If there happens to be a disagreement with the brief,
a negotiated brief will have to be made in order to satisfy both companies.


Advantages
Having several people working on a project means that a variety of ideas
will be contributed, which will result in a final decision being made quickly.
Would decrease the workload one company would have to do.


Disadvantages
There is always going to be some disagreements and this will cause the
production to slow down. The profit wont be as high as you have more
than one company working to the brief, so the money will be split.
Negotiated Brief
Definition
A negotiated brief involves two or more companies working together on a
brief but have different contrasting ideas. They would have to sit down and
negotiate the ideas they have for the project, they are not allowed to carry
on until all parties agree on the same things (this also includes the client)
This could lead to changing a lot of things within the project like changing
the style and content.
Advantages
Brings both ideas of the client and companies together, which will bring
them into one. This gives a brief that both client and company are happy
about, which will cause less conflict in the future when it comes to legal
agreements.
Disadvantages
The decisions the client makes might be declined by the company, of which
the company will loose money because the client will turn to someone else.
The idea is opened to be discussed which can lead to strong disagreements
and aruguments.

Commission Brief
Definition This is where a large media company hires a smaller independent
company to create a product for them. The brief is negotiated between two
companies rather than a client. The product can then be used by the larger
media company to sell to the client. The smaller independent company will be
paid for helping to make the product, but they can sometimes get profit when
the product is sold or published.
Advantages
The smaller media company will get a profit whenever the product is sold or
published. This helps them to become a larger company as they will be
recognised for creating the product
The larger company do not have to do that much work other then find the
independent company, and the money is still split equally.

Disadvantages
As the brief is discussed between the companies rather than a client, there is no
set view from the beginning and the companies will have to negotiate with each
other which will go into their production time, slowing it down.
Because the product is not negotiated the client could change their mind on it
because it doesnt meet their expectations, which leads to both companies
making no money from it.
Tender Brief
Definition
The client publishes that they want a media product to be made. Different
media companies then create a proposal, which includes a budget to show
to the client. Sometimes a lot of media companies pitch their ideas. The
client then has to make a decision to whos proposal is the best and most
beneficial, with the right sort of budget and will choose that company to
make their product.
Advantages
The receiving party has a variety of choices to choose from
It will get several different ideas to put into perspective.

Disadvantages
The client may not choose the best option
It will Take time to construct
The client can back out of this brief very easily without any notice which will
leave the companies set back from work.
Competition Brief
Definition A brief is set which is made available to a range of production
companies. Then each company will then complete the brief and send it to
the company who set the brief. All of the completed projects will then be
judged and the best one is awarded the project or will have theirs
published.

Advantages
They client will only have to pay the winning company which saves them
money.
opens up a range of different products that the client can choose from

Disadvantages
There may be a lot of projects being submitted which will take a while to
get through, which will slow down the making process of the product whilst
you chose a winning company.
Companies who do not win would have wasted a lot of their time and
money
My Brief
Which type of brief is being used in the recipe card project? Explain your
response.

The type of brief which is used in the recipe card brief is both formal and
contractual.
It is Formal because it is all written out formally and it does not contain legal
binding. The brief is also been given in writing, which is formal. Informal
would mean this it is given to you by word, which is not necessarily a good
thing.

It is contractual because it involves a set fee and a set deadline date. There are
signatures also required to state that you need to do as the brief says. A
contractual brief is so that the Client and Company both know what is
happening and nothing is going to change about the project.
Reading the Brief
Why is important to thoroughly read your brief?

It is very important to thoroughly read the brief so the company know exactly what
theyre doing. This will then make sure that the project does not go wrong. Because if
the project is not how the client asked and a contract has been signed then the
company could potentially get sued, which is the most likely case because it involves
breach of contract.
Reading the brief thoroughly and properly leads to the project being successful, which
means the company will gain a good reputation, leading to more clients hiring them In
the future.
Another good reason for thoroughly reading your brief is so that if there are any specific
requests or rules to follow then you will know of them straight away, without wasting
your time completing things that are not required of going against the contract
without realising.
Reading the Brief
What is the nature of the Vegetarian Recipe Cards brief?
The nature of the brief is that we need to create 8 recipe cards that are required to be
Vegetarian or(&) Vegan friendly. They also need to have a theme running throughout them.

What is the demand of the Vegetarian Recipe Cards brief?
The demand of the brief is to create Recipe cards that have the same layout and theme
running through the recipe cards that are going to be published by the client, this is so that
theyre easily recognised throughout the cards and people can find matching sets of
different recipes.
What the brief states:
We want to see interesting and creative designs for a new series of recipe cards. We need
designs on both the front and the back of the card. There should be a clear theme across all
the cards so it is apparent that they are a set.
For most recipe cards we'll get 3,500 of each type printed and see how they go from
there.
We print the recipe cards on 100% recycled, FSC approved stock
We tend to use 350gsm paper stock as this is quite stiff and similar to the thickness of a
good type of card.
As a general rule we give strong preference to recycled paper and vegetable inks


Negotiating a Brief
Why is it important to discuss the brief with your client prior to production?

It is important to discuss the brief with your client prior to production because then you
can clear up any uncertainties and also any issues you have with the set brief that you
can inquire. This will lead to success when completed. It gives you a chance to ask any
questions that you are wanting to, and maybe add suggestions if required.

It gives a chance for the client to clear up any information theyre wanting to share, it
also allows them time to add ideas if they have thought of more.

The brief may be very short and not in depth, so they client will feel more at ease when
they have explained exactly what they want doing and what to happen with the
employee.


Negotiating a Brief
What are the advantages and disadvantages of employing discretion with a brief?
Advantages:
Encourages them to be creative by discussing the brief
Gives freedom with colour scheme, font and the layout
it also gives it a lot of freedom to be different because it combines a lot of ideas into
one.
The producer can come up with more good ideas that the client also like to add into
the product

Disadvantages:
it is too open with the amount of ideas
you can miss interpret the ideas
also you cant put meat into the food so people could miss interpret this
The producer could be given to much freedom that the client doesnt like the
outcome
Could be wrong to the product visualised in the clients head
The producer might get over paid/under paid
Negotiating a Brief
Are there any potential legal/ethical/regulatory issues with the Vegetarian Society briefs
proposed product?

An issue that could be brought up is if a meat replacement was used (Quorn) that is
positively meat free.
There is potential religious conflict, because they have different religious views on what
you can and cant eat.
There is a potential copyright issue, which could be from the design in which you do your
recipe cards, or the photographs you use.
This could link to the Equality Act to make sure that all aspects of the cards are friendly
and fair to all humans.

We also need to follow The food safety act, which is also linked in with the health and
safety at work act 1974 which encourages that an organisation has a duty to protect
its employees and non-employees from the risk of ill health arising. The food safety
legislation also applies to food hygiene.
Negotiating a Brief
Amendments you have considered to;
The Product
We have thought about how much it would cost overall to create the recipe cards and because
in the brief it needs to be environmentally friendly they have required the use of
biodegradable laminate, which is expensive to buy, to work out way around this we have
thought of making the recipe cards a little more expensive, only by 50p or so, this way it will
overall overcome to cost of the laminate. We have thought about taking the laminate out
but this would cause problems of the recipe cards not lasting long.
The Budget
The Budget for this project needs to be in consideration because is hard to work out because
of all the potential costs that are going to be involved and the amount of free things we can
get hold of. I need to work out how much paper and ink I need without going over the
budget so I can print of all of our recipe cards. A lot of things that include the budget need
to be well thought about to ensure we do not go over.
The Conditions
The amount of money spent on the project depends on how much the company are getting
paid, because if they arent getting paid as they are planning on for the production theyre
doing, they may use materials that are not as good. This is important to be discussed before
the contract is signed to avoid problems.
Planning out time is also a big consideration because we cannot have to much time or to little,
because this could cause big problems for the final outcome. It is important for this to be
discussed because the product might have to be finished for a certain time.
Opportunities
What opportunities could this brief allow you to explore? Be specific with your responses.
This brief is quite different to others you have come across and offers lots of new experiences. Check the unit
overview to help you with this.

Self Development
Working together as a group and negotiating different ideas. This will help me in long teamwork and being fair to your
opposing partner.
Learning new skills
we are currently working on how to use in design a new adobe software we didnt use on previous units. This will
help me develop a range of skills in this, as it is a long project Im sure their will be a lot of skills and knowledge I
will get from it. My skills will also develop in photography if we decide to take the photographs, because we have
already done photography, I will be able to practice to skills I have already learnt. Which will then help me to
continue gaining skills from Photoshop, the software I use to edit the photographs I have. This will help me in the
future if I were to get a job within design.
Multi-skilling
In this project there is more then one job role that we need to know to complete the project. Usually in a project like
this there is more then 2 people working on it and professionals are hired to complete their jobs. The skills that
are involved in this project are layout skills, photography skills, and Photoshop skills. I believe me and my partner
are both capable of doing these things because we already know how to use Photoshop and what all the tools are,
we have practised on InDesign when we did page layout and we have practised photography in the photography
unit.
Contributing to a brief
When we have contributed to the brief we have discussed with the client what were going to do and how were going
to present the recipe cards. We have talked about the layout and the photography and also what the recipe cards
are going to be printed on. Also the laminate etc.