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A route

I want to run a client design project.

Brief, directions, review rounds and named files, without the chaos. 15 guides, about 53 minutes in total, in the order that gets you there.

The route, in order

  1. The four-stage process, what each stage must produce, and where projects go wrong.How to run a client design projectRun every client job through the same four stages and make each one produce something you can point to. Brief: turn the client's words into a checklist and a list of deliverables with dates. Directions: show two or three distinct ideas, not one design, and record which they chose. Review: number every version, pin every comment to the place it refers to, and turn their reply into a to-do list before you touch the file. Delivery: hand over every format at full size, named consistently, with a note that says what is in the box. Most client problems are one of these stages skipped.Beginner7 minStudio
  2. How a job moves through Studio: direction, design, review, delivered.Run a client job in Studio from brief to deliveryStudio keeps each client job in one place: the brief, references, directions, the key visual and its formats, review rounds and the final files. Here is how a job moves through it.Beginner4 minStudio
  3. What a brief must contain, a real example and the five-minute template.A design brief that starts the job (example and template)A design brief has done its job when a designer can start without asking a question. That takes six things: what it is for (the event, product or message, in one line), the words that must appear (headline, date, time, venue, price, contacts), what is owed (every format with its size and its date), must-haves (logos, sponsors, hashtags, legal lines), the brand assets (logo files, fonts, colours, any guideline), and tone and audience in a few words. Below is a real-shaped example, the template that gets those six in five minutes, and what a good brief looks like when it arrives as three messages.Beginner4 minStudio
  4. Paste the brief; get formats, deadlines and a starting design.Start a job from the client's briefPaste the brief as the client sent it. Studio reads the headline, date, venue, price, call to action, contact and must-haves, suggests the formats it mentions, and carries all of it into the key visual and every format built from it.Beginner6 minStudio
  5. Reference boards and palettes pulled from them, kept with the job.Collect references and pull palettes from themAdd the images the client sent and the ones you have in mind. Studio reads each for colour, light, composition, texture and lettering, gives you its palette with proportions, and lets you save its colour grade to reuse on your own photos.Beginner4 minStudio
  6. Two or three distinct directions, presented so the client picks one.Present design directions so the client can decideShow two or three directions, not one design and not ten. Each gets a name, the idea in one line, a palette, a type pairing, and references or a rough sketch; all three answer the same brief. Make them genuinely different (quiet and editorial, loud and graphic, warm and hand-made), present each on its own page, show one in context, and ask which direction fits the brief, not which they like. When the client picks, record it; that choice is what the design is built on.Beginner2 minStudio
  7. Present directions, record the client's answer, run review rounds.Present directions and run review roundsGroup references into two or three directions the client can choose from, present them as slides, a PDF or WhatsApp images, record their choice, then save each version you show them, pin their comments and turn their reply into a checklist.Intermediate5 minStudio
  8. Ask so the answer is usable, pin it to the place, turn it into a checklist.Get client feedback you can act onUsable feedback is specific, located and written down. Get it by asking against the brief ("does this say Harvest Thanksgiving to a neighbour?") rather than "what do you think?", by having one person collect the team's comments, by pinning every comment to the place on the design it refers to, and by turning the reply into a numbered checklist before you change anything. Give every version a number and a status, and send the next one with "changes in v3: 1, 2, 3". Two rounds of changes are in the price; say so before round one.Beginner4 minStudio
  9. Numbered rounds with a status, and written approval at the end.A design review process with an endRun review as numbered rounds, each with the same four steps: send a numbered version with what changed; collect feedback from one person, pinned to places on the design; turn it into a checklist and do it; send the next version against that checklist. Give every version a status (Draft, Sent, Changes asked, Approved), agree the number of rounds in the quote (two after the first version is usual), and end with written approval of a specific version. That version number goes on the delivered files.Beginner2 minStudio
  10. Send a link the client can review or download from, without an account.Send review and delivery links to clientsSend a client a link to a version. They pin comments, reply, and approve or ask for changes in their browser, with no account. Delivery links hand over the final files the same way. Everything is encrypted before it leaves your device.Intermediate2 minStudio
  11. The deliverables for each kind of job.What files to deliver to a client, by job typeDeliver what each use needs, named clearly. Logo: SVG (and PDF) for scaling and print, PNG with transparency in full colour, reversed (white) and dark mono, at a large size and a small one. Brand: the guideline PDF, the logo set, fonts information, colour values, and tokens or swatches if anyone will build with it. Social: a PNG or JPG per format at platform size. Print: a print PDF with bleed and crop marks, plus a JPG proof. Web: WebP or PNG at 1× and 2×. Editable source files only if the contract includes them.Beginner2 minStudio
  12. Every format, named and versioned, in one package.Deliver every format, named and ready for the printerThe Deliver tab renders every format at full size in the file types you tick, names each file by client, job, format and version, adds print PDFs with bleed and crop marks, and zips it all with a delivery note.Intermediate4 minStudio
  13. What each receiver needs, and the note that goes with it.Design handoff: what it means and what you hand overHandoff is delivering finished work so someone else can use it without you. It is done when each receiver has what they need: the client gets final files in every format, named so they know which is which; the printer gets a print-ready PDF with bleed and crop marks; the developer gets colours, fonts and sizes as values (tokens) and logos as SVG; the next designer gets the editable file, the font names and the rules. Every handoff also needs a note: what is in the package, which version was approved, the fonts used, and anything the receiver must do (like converting to CMYK).Beginner2 minStudio
  14. One naming pattern and one rule for when the number goes up.File naming and versioning for design workName every file client_job_format_version, all lower case, spaces as hyphens, underscores between the four parts: lekki-nights_launch_a3-poster_v2.pdf. The version number goes up every time anything leaves you, whether to the client or the printer, and never goes back down. "Final" is not a version. Versions themselves live with the design (restore points you can go back to), not as copies of the file with longer names. Studio names delivered files this way for you and uses the review version number, so the client, the printer and you are all talking about the same v3.Beginner2 minStudio
  15. Keep each client's brand ready for the next job.Save client brands and reuse them on every jobKeep each client's colours, fonts, logos, logo rules and voice as a brand in Studio. Pick it on a job and the Editor checks the design against it, flagging off-brand colours, wrong fonts, small logos and crowded clear space.Beginner3 minStudio