Thursday, January 28, 2010

Creative Project Management

To be effective and successful, creative project management must be anti-traditional.

The kind of challenges a creative project manager regularly encounters include:
  1. Scope creep and project scope changes. Many of the best ideas will develop during the creative process - so be prepared for this. It is impossible to predict at the outset where all of the twists and turns will be.
  2. Working quickly to ride each projects' momentum, while at the same time incorporating breathing room for the designers. The clients also need time to try on the ideas and make sure they are a good fit for them, their employees and clients.
  3. Having to work within inflexible budgets.
  4. Having to work to strict deadlines.
Here are some tips on how to make your creative project management style anti-traditional!
  1. In your estimates, lay out each proposed project separately, and, if possible, each project should be then broken down into individual steps.
  2. Work step by step, and have your clients agree to working step by step. So if the project scope changes, you don't have to reconsider an entire client-approved proposal. You can easily incorporate scope changes mid-project.
  3. Bill step by step, and/or incorporate progress billing into your system. I used to bill 50% up front and then the other 50% upon final project completion. And each project actually incorporated several mini projects. Unfortunately, by doing this, you run out of $$ to finish the last half... and may not get paid for it up to 6 months upon final project(s) completion! It's hard to run a business like this.
  4. Work quickly on each step within a project like you have just procrastinated for a month on a project due for school tomorrow. Seriously! Some of your best work is produced when you are late and will have to face the consequences :) The time to rest is after certain steps are completed 100%. And be sure to reward yourself for a job well done.
  5. Meet with your clients in person and have telephone meetings. Miscommunications are avoided this way, even though you may think email communication is quicker. Miscommunications can take longer to clear up so don't be shy, call your client and be a pain!
  6. Use 37 Signals' Basecamp to manage your creative projects. I'm not sure what I'd do without Basecamp.
  7. Eliminate needless paperwork and administrative steps.
I would love to hear any of your tips for creative project management!

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Why I Hate Burgundy

Colours... the foundation of our world. Who would think it's so complex? Designers know better!

One of the first things you learn in life are colours. "What colour is this circle?... red", "what colour is this square?... that's right, blue!"

But the range of different colours is exponential. And the name that you call a certain colour depends on your experience, teachers, and geographical area in the world you grew up in. Not only that, but men and women see colours differently. Their eyes are actually built differently. And you throw in various intensities of colour-blindness, and all of a sudden a simple subject isn't simple anymore.

So, when a client asks me to try out the colour burgundy, I have to overcome my urge to puke burgundy chunks into the toilet. What's burgundy to one, may be maroon to another, may be red to another, may be pooh brown to another. It's a very difficult colour to pin down and reach consensus on.

Web Colours vs. Print Colours

Colours, for design purposes, have all been assigned a number value. This insures you have the EXACT colour. However, printed colours use a CMYK value and web colours use a HEX value. I'll spare you the boring details! So, when you want to take your web/monitor colour and have it printed, you have to either convert it to CMYK, or actually colour match with your eyes.

Graphic designers and professional printers have CMYK books showcasing all of the colours you can choose for your print job. What you may have to do is hold up the colour book to your monitor and pick the printed colours by hand.

Insist on a Proof

This is a very good reason to insist on printing a proof of your business cards (or whatever you are getting printed) before printing off an entire batch and realizing the colours aren't correct.

Think Again!

So, next time you think about colours - especially if you are in the middle of choosing your branding colours, think twice before settling on burgundy :)