by Jen Pennington
Making Changes
How changes to copy and layout are communicated between client and agency has a dramatic impact on the success of the outcome. As with hunting and gathering, changes should be delivered “in bulk” rather than “drips.” We recommend assigning one person in your organization to be the point person and have all communications within your company sent to this person for consolidation. From there, all thoughts, ideas, changes, suggestions, and recommendations can be forwarded to the Project Manager at Rhizome at one time. This facilitates clear communication and ensures all requests for changes are received and responded to in a timely manner.
Technical Support
While we are always supportive of our clients, Rhizome does not officially provide tech support. We are happy, when time and expertise permits, to talk clients through problems, but for large, time-intensive issues, we recommend hiring professional help or researching issues via the Internet.
by Jen Pennington
The devil is in the details. Not enough can be said about the importance of proofing work that is designed, written, or programmed for clients. Once a client signs off on a project and the job is sent to print or goes live on the Web, errors found after the fact are the sole responsibility of the client. This is why we provide proofs and require sign-offs for all our work. In most cases we can fix errors that are caught after the fact, but additional costs might be involved. Therefore, please:
* Proof thoroughly
* Ask yourself if you are missing any part numbers, dates, credits, or copyright notices
* Check all phone numbers and addresses each time you receive a new proof!
* Have someone who knows nothing about the project proof for you-a pair of fresh eyes always finds something
* Double check to see if names are spelled correctly
by Jen Pennington
The difference between Web maintenance and a complex update relates to the amount of time the programmer has to spend working on the site. Site maintenance generally takes between 1 and 3 hours. A change that involves database programming, administration tools, form, etc., is considered a complex update. In all cases, the client is informed if it turns out that a “maintenance” request is actually an “update,” an estimate is provided.
by Jen Pennington
Flowcharts are charts that organize content into various categories and subcategories and the structure of a project is “mapped” out. This is extremely useful for the creation of Web sites when clients are not exactly sure how many pages or where certain types of content should go. Once a flowchart is approved, the designer can then use this input to inform the design he or she is creating. Generally these take the form of design comps.
Comps are generally design concepts that imply potential direction for projects. It’s a sampling of flavors, so to speak, where a client may choose ideas that appeal and resonate with their own vision. Once certain specifics become more apparent, the design is finessed over several rounds until final approval.
by Emily Corey
One of the best ways to stay organized is to name your files logically.
At Rhizome our system is a very simple 4-step process. (more…)
