Workflow

Overview

Workflow

Workflow is what moves us from an idea to a live product. It’s important that all the parties in the process understand where the bottlenecks are and when their input is required. Some things just can’t be hurried and there will be awkward moments when we wait on a third party and their expertise.

C.R.Visuals is a content development firm. We do the design work, write copy and develop ideas. But we don’t host websites and we don’t print brochures, posters or workbooks. To work with your webhost or printer, we need information from them to help us set up the files for their use. Unfortunately, there are no rigid standards, especially in the world of print and we may need to pass files back and forth with the service provider before we get the quality you need.

There are some steps we can take from the beginning to ensure the speediest and most efficient flow of work from you, through us, to your service provider. As a quick review of some of the issues, look at the following Five Steps and be sure to discuss your concerns with us at the very start of the project.

Step One
Think through your project. Who are you trying to reach with your message? What is the dominant thing you wish to tell them? How should that be supported in terms of quality, technical information, and style?

Just as you wouldn’t send wedding invitations on cheap paper, you probably wouldn’t send your annual report in workbook format. What is the right feel or lookfor your project?

Step Two
Consult with us and we will help you make decisions now that will benefit the outcome. The choices you make at the beginning affect the way your files are prepared and the cost of outputting them. We can help you decide whether to focus on price, quality or speed.

If we are only part of your team, if you are also working with a marketing agency, ad agency, consultants or others whose work aligns with ours, then set aside time for team meetings. We need a schedule that suits everyone and a plan that allows us to integrate our work to your benefit. Decide before we meet, whose initiative must decide the calendar and what the parameters are around each team’s work. No point in each group separately designing your new logo.

Step Three

Get us the content asap. The sooner we have your content, the sooner we can finish the design. Your design may be affected by the final content. If the text is longer than will fit in a standard 6 panel brochure, we may need to consider an 9 panel or a larger format. Decisions like this affect the layout of the file.

Step Four

We will set up a schedule with you and you can count on us to meet our deadlines. But we need your help. There are steps along the way when your input is needed. Please try to respond quickly, especially if there is a deadline looming.

Step Five

Remain calm and be patient as we finish the design phase and move to the third party services. If we have had all the information we need from the beginning, this stage should go well, but there is room for glitches.

Printers will tell you to expect turnarounds of 6 weeks or more on quality print jobs. The printer and the designer need to get their files co-ordinate to ensure correct colours, fonts, margins, etc. There are a series of possible proofs to review. If you need to correct the file at this stage, you could miss your print run and be forced to wait for another opportunity to go to press.

In the area of websites, we need to know your domain name and where the site is hosted. We often find that these decisions haven’t been made and that clients who expect to go live, haven’t purchased room on a server. Or they’ve bought the wrong package and can’t run forms or other programmed elements. Or they don’t have 24-7 support and the server is down so we can’t load the files…..

For interactive media and videos, we need to know if the piece plays off a CD, a PC, Mac or DVD player. This affects everything from the height and width of the file to its colour, compression and format.

Web Process

We build websites that use

  • clean, clear layouts
  • designs that reflect your corporate brand / corporate culture as you define it
  • navigation that allows visitors to do what they need to do in only 2 or 3 clicks, and
  • robust coding and scripts.

To help us, we ask you to provide

  • relevant marketing research
  • URLs from 2 or 3 websites that you like
  • copy, photos and your logo
  • the name and contact information of one person who will have the final authority to approve the design and sign the checks.

The best way to pull your information together is to use our free website planner.

* If the photos need to be retouched, or copy extensively rewritten, we charge an hourly rate ON TOP of the basic cost of development.

NOTE: No more than 3 designs will be offered, and after the draft has been approved, only one further set of changes is permitted under the contract.

1-2-3 Steps to Completion

  1. Your point person sits with our designer to build a wireframe that determines the functionality on your website or layout.
  2. Choose a colour palette.
  3. Working from the wireframe and design selections, we draft 2 initial directions for your design, then work the chosen direction to completion.

NOTES:

  • Concepts are presented via email and / or other specified method. Please feel free to make an appointment to discuss the concept and its refinement.
  • You can expect to see initial directions within 2 weeks.
  • Final art is provided to you in on CD,  is posted to the server of choice, or is emailed as a file to your point person.
  • Rush prices are available.

Please review our pricing policies below.

* Pricing Policies:

We want your business and we want you to enjoy working with us. We’ll work hard to ensure you get your money’s worth. You can email us at any time to find out how your project is progressing.

  1. Price scales reflect amount of conceptual design, type of illustration and detail of illustration used.
  2. All prices are in Canadian dollars.
  3. Coding begins only after approval on the selected direction is provided to us in writing (by letter or email).
  4. If you choose to proceed with us our payment terms are 30% (non-refundable) retainer before we start, 30% due on approval of concept, with final payment, including all HST, on completion and before the final project is released.
  5. After 30 days, a late payment charge of 2% per month (26.82% p/a) is applied to all delinquent accounts, without exception and retroactive to the date of invoice.
  6. Any and all revision requests or project additions / alterations, including those that have been discussed verbally, MUST be submitted to the project manager in writing.
  7. Major changes or reworks requested after an approval, are subject to an hourly rate of $90 per hour. Revision work is done free of charge ONLY if arranged, in writing, in advance, and then is based on an average reasonable number of revisions. In situations where the number of revisions is unusually large, revisions may be subject to additional costs.
  8. All draft concepts previewed by the client are for client review and comment purposes only. Until final design balance is received by C.R. Visuals, all logos, artwork, concepts and designs remain the copyright and exclusive property of C.R. Visuals Inc.
  9. All quotations given are estimates only, unless otherwise negotiated and noted in writing on your quotation. Final invoices will reflect actual hours worked on your project which may or may not differ from your quotation. The final invoice will not exceed the quoted amount by a margin of over 10% without prior notification and written authorization by the client.
  10. Preferred clients requiring long term and ongoing design work will be placed on a monthly billing cycle, which will allow said client to skip the quotation/retainer phase. Clients on monthly billing will be invoiced on or around the 22nd of each month.
  11. If you abandon a project by way of negligence (e.g., cutting off contact, refusing to respond to emails or phone calls), an invoice shall be issued for the full quoted amount, regardless of project status on abandonment. Abandoned projects are also subject to an accelerated collections policy, and will be submitted to a third-party collections agency if not paid or addressed within 90 days.
  12. YOU MUST provide the retainer and sign a contract before you will be added to our schedule.

Payments may be made via cheque, Paypal, or cash.