The document discusses different types of briefs that can be used for media projects, including contractual, formal, informal, co-operative, negotiated, commission, tender, competition, and my brief structures. It provides definitions and discusses advantages and disadvantages of each brief type. The document also covers reading the brief, negotiating the brief, potential issues, and opportunities the brief allows.

1. WORKING TO A BRIEF
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Ellie Dawson

2. CONTRACTUAL BRIEF
Definition – In a contractual agreement a media company will sign an
agreement to complete a specific task within a specific time period for a set
fee. If either the media company or client do not stick to what was agreed in
the brief they would be in breach of the contract and could potentially face
legal action.
Advantages – If the client or media company do not stick to what was agreed
you can potentially take legal action, this means that you can almost
guarantee the work to be completed by the company or to be accepted by
the client. Another advantage is if you have a certain date/time you need
the task finished by you can stipulate this and have it for when you need it.
Similarly, if there is a set budget you have for the project this is included in
the project so you won’t face any extra costs and you can pay them what
you can afford.
Disadvantages – With a contractual brief I would say that the client has the
biggest disadvantage, this is because the end result might not turn out how
they wanted it to, if this happens the client cannot do a lot about it and they
will still have to pay the company.

3. FORMAL BRIEF
Definition – In a formal brief a client provides a media company
with a brief that simply establishes the product they want to be
made. This is similar to a contractual brief in the sense that the
parties involved will formally agree on the project however a
formal brief is not always legally binding.
Advantages – Because a formal brief is not always legally
binding, in this case if your client turns out not to like the work
you are not liable and do not have to make any alterations,
because you have not necessarily signed any contracts.
Disadvantages – If your client has not signed a contract to agree
to use your work, you as the producer could have made it
hoping it gains you credit and notice and it could end up being
wasted and not put to its use as there was no legally
binding/contractual agreement.

4. INFORMAL BRIEF
Definition – An informal grief is more of a verbal agreement with no
contract or written documentation involved in the process. The
client or company discuss and agree upon the project, and as it is
informal they will not have a set completion date.
Advantages – As the producer of the work the advantages of this
could be that you practically have as long as possible to work on
your pieces.
As the client this contract could be an advantage to them because
they are not legally obliged to use the work or pay the producer
because no contracts have being signed and there is no
documentation.
Disadvantages – A disadvantage for the person producing the work
could be that they risk not getting paid and it is a risk in general
not having documentation or any signed contracts.
A disadvantage for the client could be that they may not receive
their work for the time they would have preferred, because
although there is not always an agreed upon time for the work to
be completed, they will still have a preferred time in which they
would like to receive the work and they run the risk of waiting a
long time without a deadline in place.

5. CO-OPERATIVE BRIEF
Definition – When two or more production companies are hired
to work on a specific brief. The companies then have to work
together in order to complete the project. If by chance a
disagreement occurs a negotiated brief would have to be
submitted to suit both companies.
Advantages – The advantages for the companies completing the
work could be that if they both come up with good ideas and
product good work together the project and its work could end
up very successful. This could also be an advantage for the
client because they could end up with really good work which is
successful.
Disadvantages – If a disagreement occurs this could be an issue
for both the producers and the client, it could cause disruption
in the project and make it easy to get work completed.

6. NEGOTIATED BRIEF
Definition – If two or more media companies are working on a brief
together and have conflicting ideas regarding a project they would
have to negotiate the brief. Through this negotiation the brief
would be changed in order to suit all parties including the client.
This could involve changing visual style, changing content or
ensuring the product stays within the boundaries or a legal or
ethical obligation in the brief.
Advantages – This is essentially like creating your own brief
between parties, which means that you have quite a lot of
allowance for your own ideas and stipulations between parties,
which is also an advantage for the client because they will get a say
too along with other ideas to help the brief and project along.
Disadvantages – A disadvantage for this could be that certain
parties may not find it easy to compromise on ideas, causing
conflict and disruption to the project making it difficult for the
people producing the work and for the client.
Another disadvantage of a negotiated brief is that you have strict
boundaries to stay within, a legal or an ethical obligation, meaning
in certain areas and ideas you are restricted, and you have to
ensure your content is appropriate for all audiences and not
offensive/harmful in any way to anyone.

7. COMMISSION BRIEF
Definition – A commission brief is when a large media company
hires an independent media company to create a product for them.
This brief is negotiated between two media companies rather than
an external client. The product made may then be used by the
larger media company for an external client.
Advantages – A big advantage for the independent production
company is that they will be paid for making the product and
potentially part of the product’s profit each time it is
sold/broadcast/published.
Another advantage is that the brief is negotiated between two
media companies rather than an external client, this may mean that
the companies have similar ideas and goals meaning it is easier to
reach a negotiated and agreed brief.
Disadvantages – A disadvantage to a commission brief could be that
if the product is not as successful as they planned it out to be the
independent media company could be getting paid commission
which is a loss of profits everytime the product is

8. TENDER BRIEF
Definition – In a tender brief is when a client publishes that they
need a media product to be made. Then a production company
creates a brief, proposal and budget that is then pitched to the
client. Several production companies may enter a brief to the
client to try and secure the project.
Advantages – An advantage to this is that first of all the client
has a choice between a number of different production
companies and briefs, and rather than stipulating their
thoughts and coming up with their own brief, the production
company does it for them and they get to choose between
ideas which makes the process easier for the client.
Disadvantages – A disadvantage of this method of brief could be
that the production company has less of a chance of getting
the project because they are competing against others, whereas
with for example a formal brief you get the job/project and you
are given a brief.

9. COMPETITION BRIEF
Definition – This is a brief made available to all participating
production companies. Each company then completes the brief and
all completed projects are then judged and the best is awarded the
project/has the project published. This is often used as a free to
enter competition.
Advantages – The main advantage of a competition brief is that as
many production companies as they want can enter for free and be
in with a chance of winning and being paid.
Another advantage for the client is that because it is free to enter
they may possibly get a lot of participators meaning quite a lot of
choice for their project.
Disadvantages – A disadvantage of a competition brief is that again
there could be a lot of production companies enter the competition
which could mean it may be quite a difficult competition to win
with a lot of rivalry/challenges.
A disadvantage for the client could be that if there are a lot of
contestants to choose from this could be very time consuming and
take quite a long time to be processed and decided.

10. MY BRIEF
Which structure/structures will your client brief use?
Reference your reasons for choice/choices
My client has given me an informal brief. I have chosen this
structure because it is the most fitting to my brief that I have
had because it is a verbal brief with no strict boundaries or
rules, and my client has not given me a deadline date.

11. READING THE BRIEF
Why is important to thoroughly read your brief?
It is important to thoroughly read a brief so that you ensure you have
covered all basis of the brief, including the right content, using the
right structure, tools and equipment. Also ensuring you are able t
complete all of the work within the set deadline you need to complete
it by.

12. READING THE BRIEF
What is the nature and demand of your client brief?
My client has requested that I make a logo, menu, cocktail evening
poster and a relaunch flyer for their café.
Although the café they have bought does currently already have some of
these following things, (logo and menu), I am re-designing them
because they are not happy with them and have requested a new colour
scheme and design;
The colour scheme is dark grey, white, mustard and a slight amount of
blue. For the style of the pieces I am making they have requested them
to be a ‘simple yet crisp’ design, along with making it clear their café is
based on coffee and homemade cakes.

13. NEGOTIATING A BRIEF
It is important I meet with my client so that I can discuss
work that needs to be completed and any boundaries
that are within the brief. In my case my brief does not
have many constraints apart from copyright, I need to
discuss with my client copyright and privacy laws to
ensure that all work I produce for them is their own and
they do not run any risk of being sued for copyright.

14. NEGOTIATING A BRIEF
What are the advantages and disadvantages of employing discretion with a
brief?
The advantage of employing discretion in a brief is that if you bend the rules
a little because you were restricted with rules and stipulations from your
client or they did not give you enough detail, working with a few of your
own ideas too and improvising could mean you end up with better work and
the client may actually end up preferring your input in the idea even though
it is not what they specifically requested.
A disadvantage of employing discretion in a brief is that you could stretch
the rules a little too far so much so that it is totally different to what the
client had requested and it could end in them disapproving of the work.
In my case my client provided me with a brief that was very basic and not
clear enough to a certain extent, instead she requested I work with the few
ideas and outlines she provided me with and requested I come up with
some of my own ideas which made it so that I could employ discretion
within my work too because my client was happy to accept my ideas.

15. NEGOTIATING A BRIEF
Are there any potential legal/ethical/regulatory issues with the brief’s
proposed product?
There are not any potential issues with the clients brief and products
produced because everything is my own work so I would not be subject
to copyright. Also the fonts I have used for my pieces are all owned by
Photoshop which I have bought so therefore I have the right to use
them as I have purchased Photoshop.

16. NEGOTIATING A BRIEF
Amendments you have considered to:
The Product
I have considered making amendments to the menu as my client has
contacted me and said that they have made some slight changes to the
food options on there so that is an amendment I will be carrying
forward and completing.
The Budget
My client has not given me a budget as our agreement and terms were
that my work was free so there would be no costs that she would have
to consider. The only costs involved in this project were ingredients for
the cocktails I made which I covered myself as part of the agreement.
The Conditions
There were not any conditions agreed between me and my client
because it was an informal brief and it was a verbal agreement with no
contract or documentation.

17. OPPORTUNITIES
What opportunities could this brief allow you to explore?
Self Development
I certainly think this brief could really help my self development because
it gives me practice completing work for someone with strict
instructions, guidelines and requests to be completed at a certain time
for my deadline. This will help my self development because it is
experience with clients and the general public as that is who is going to
see my work, and it will give me confidence for future briefs and
projects.
Learning new skills
I think this brief will help me learn new skills especially in Photoshop
when creating the menu and editing the cocktail photos, this is use of
cutting out images and editing them in a certain way, and it will help
me to learn how to align text together and position it proportionally to
the space given on the page, without too much white space left over.

18. OPPORTUNITIES
Multi-skilling
This project is definitely multiskilling as I have to produce a production
schedule so that I can produce physical pieces of work that I have
planned in an idea development PowerPoint, then alongside this I have
to track my progress and ensure that I will get all the pieces of work
completed in time. Whilst also keeping in contact with my client for
certain queries I have and letting them know about my progress and
seeing how my pieces are coming along to make sure they are happy
with the way they are heading.
Contributing to a project
This brief is also giving me the opportunity to contribute to a real-life
project and deal with a professional client which means I can create
work that may possibly be used for an actual business which may help
with other opportunities in the future as a starting point for experience
with real work experience.