Unit 4, 5 and 62 - Task 2

What is a design brief?

A design brief is a way to provide knowledge of what the specific project plan is which is done by series of different briefs. This involves an initial brainstorming session with everyone involved and interested with the project. In order to help describe what a brief is, the simplest way is to say it’s like a checklist. A brief help you to discuss the major issues and tasks in order to make the project work successfully. A brief isn’t a defiant plan on how it’s going to turn out it’s more like a meeting point where everyone involved sits down and has a talk in order to aim for everyone to have a general agreement and a vague idea of the plan. The brief would initially write up the ideas onto a document in order to show the start of the development.

Contractual

A contract brief is when it is between the client and employees. Contractual brief is when it’s already planned so the client tells the employees exactly how they want it to be done. In a contractual brief one thing that is needed within the brief is general liability insurance. Liability insurance is a legal contract for advertising companies and the client explaining the full duties needed as well the price and payment side to the brief. Contractual brief is more of a formal brief where a lot of businesses would use this type of brief. For example if the client decides to go elsewhere and want to work for another business they wouldn’t be allowed as they have a guaranteed signed document giving permission that this will defiantly take place so contractual brief is done so they aren’t wasting anyone’s time and that they know it’s going to go forward. The contract includes other things saying the idea is an original intellectual property of whoever the developer was and isn’t a copy or the same from an existing product. The contract says it’s ok for the company to change or develop upon ideas set out in the developer’s original idea, the purpose being that they want the product to do successfully as possible. This I mean future things towards it i.e. another series of it or merchandise to support the idea etc. This is mostly done to raise sales at certain times of the year such as

Christmas. A major point of the contract is that the developer is signing away his rights to personally advertise this game or place a recommended retail price upon the product which is the reason a developer would sign a contract with a distribution company right at the beginning as the developer would want to maximise the audience of the game and would want the business to do well was that means the profits would increase for the developer. The rest of the contract have small paragraphs which say in the contract about royalties and the contract makes it clear that the developer has no more input on the product except that they might make suggestions which may or may not be used.

An example of contractual brief would be in gaming. For example the game World of Warcraft would have had a contractual brief in which the game developer would have signed off his right where the business would have decided to make the decision to release a new game because of how successful the original idea was. Most gaming would have had a contractual brief as it’s something that takes a long series of time in order to create the game and if someone was to back out and cancel it would be a downfall as well as being time effective and a money loss project.

Negotiated

Negotiated brief is more of a sharing time where 2 different parties which have both came up with an idea and they all meet up and go to the brief in order to discuss the different ideas and how they both can come with a final idea between them all. They have valid discussions whether they combine the 2 ideas or pick 1 of the 2 ideas is completely between them in a brief. In most negotiation brief’s they either have a fully trained negotiator which speaks on behalf of one party which is used in a formal setting or an informal setting with just friends. Negotiation can be used with mediation where a third party listens to each side of ideas and helps make an agreement with them both. Negotiated briefs are used in order to make the most successful idea and outcome as possible in order for them to gain success so they decide to work

as a team in order for it to work. There are 2 types of negotiation, Distributive Negotiation and Integrative Negotiation. Distributive negotiation is when you’re haggling to other party to agree with your idea and won’t say no for an answer which is led by so many different kinds of skills e.g. guilt tripping which is only done in extreme cases but business negotiated briefs are called integrative negotiation. It’s an interest-based negotiation where the negotiation is purposely to attempt to improve the quality and take people’s ideas and make a starting point.

Examples of businesses which use negotiated briefs would be TV channels. They would have a negotiated brief as they would have to have a negotiation on which channels they would want viewing on their website. For example the BBC hasn’t created the programmes which are viewed, they have briefs with different programmes saying they will air their programme with their channel for X amount and X amount of years. One thing that has recently happened is BBC 1 stopped viewing Jonathon Ross after he talked of his regret over his 'crass and rude' comments made during the notorious Sachsgate incident involving Russell Brand on BBC Radio 2. This lead for him to leave to TV channel completely despite how successful his show was but because of how popular his show was Channel 5 decided to move the Jonathon Ross show onto their channel. Channel 5 would have had a negotiated brief on which channels they want and what channels they would like in the future.

Formal

A formal brief is when it’s very professional for example you wouldn’t see someone wearing casual clothes e.g. jeans and a t-shirt. A formal brief are the most effective kind of brief when it comes to communicating within a large group when a lot of key information is being shared. A formal briefings are commonly implemented when a new employer orientation by large

companies. They are used because it saves the main speak repeating themselves load of time so it’s time efficient as it saves time by making sure everyone hears it the first time around. The formal brief always includes a written document which contains specific and precise information about the goals that needs to be achieved within the business in order for it to work successfully. The brief gets straight to the point and doesn't contain any unnecessary at any detail or information. This type of brief is used for groups

of people as it’s a bit pointless if having a client brief to 2 or 3 people. The formal brief isn’t always a legal document as changes can be made within the original plan/idea.

An example of a formal brief will be in businesses, for example a company like a restaurant will have regular formal meetings where 1

person speaks (usually the boss) and sits the employers down for a brief to inform them on the changes being made, the finance which are used for discussions and a informing the staff on the business and what problems have occurred and what their plan is to up sell and how they will improve the business by making new changes.

Informal brief

This type of brief is a laid back brief which is done face to face. Normally an informal brief is done with people who appeal to the brief not unrelated people. They usually do it in a more relaxed and calm environment for example a coffee shop instead of the work environment.

The brief is done face to face through a meeting. With an informal brief you have to make sure that all aspects of the brief must appeal to all members from the client list. The advantages of doing an informal brief is that it can create a relaxed environment and for it to be created a lot quicker, the disadvantages of an informal brief is that it can be seen as unprofessional and unclear.

Tender brief

Tender brief is a type of brief that you would have if you were a new employer to a business. Therefore if you were a new employer you would have to have a meeting in order to develop your ideas among other workers and from there the company would decide if you were the right one for the job and if you should be the client or not. The advantages of having this brief is that it isn’t too serious it is relaxed and easy but on the down fall you may not get the job and that is the risk you have within this brief. An example of a tender brief tends to run in the model agencies. When a person wants to because a model

for a specific model agency they would have to do shoots and training before they even get the job so all the work and photo shoots that you do could still be used but wouldn’t be paid as it’s not official that you are going to model for them because they have a wide selection to pick from

Commission

Commission brief is a type of brief which is used when you decide on the client just by looking at their previous work. Not that they have been recommended or that they are the most popular client so you need them too. It’s basically chosen on the fact that you really liked their previous work and that you want that for your client. For example if BBC saw something an animation from a movie they really liked e.g. Toy Story and the BBC would want to do a short film using animation from the animated product tea, Pixar. They would ask

them to be their client based on previous work. They will have to sign a form displaying when they will be working with them and then until the finish date as well as putting their names down, signature and plan.

Competition

A competition brief is a type of brief which is to compete to who wins. For example competition brief is

a document that includes information of all the instructions to be needed for competitors for taking part in a competition. In order to prepare to make a competition Brief there is two different types, an endorsed competition which is when a professional advisor does the competition brief and that you might have to request help of others to assist with certain parts of the competitions, this is different depending on what the exact competition is. Another type is non-endorsed competition this is when you most likely need a sponsor in order to engage a professional advisor for the brief it needs good management. For a competition brief you need a series of things to include when it comes to planning for example you'll need a table of contents so you know what’s going to be involved, an overview of where the competition is going to take part in, the purpose and other important factors. A good set of rules and term and conditions on the competition so people have to agree and play fairly. Sponsor is needed in order to help manage and help the organization. Eligibility is something to consider as you needed to know if the competition is open, limited or invited and as well the main factor is the awards and payment to the competitors, this is if the competition has an award at the end of it all and if the competition takes money from the competitors to attend it.

An example of a company that does competitions are charity events such as Cancer research which do charity runs which has a competition to see if people can run a certain distance which is has a load of sponsors help raise money for the charity which will go to the award of helping people.

Cooperative Brief

Co-operative brief is when more than one person, either a couple of people which is in the business or large group sat down which are members in the business. This is a specific type of brief because it’s said to be shown that group decisions is a lot better than just one person. The people that could be sharing their opinions could be customers, employees or residents. By having it in a group it allows members an equal, fair chance to say and share their profits on how successful they have done asleep as not making it exactly right. Cooperative Brief basically means the plan gets resolved in a fair and calm manor. This is done by allowing everyone to have an equal say and having open discussions which allows having the result in a fair and well thought out.