Briefing a Creative® Contractor

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Have a bump, good sir. I too am interested in the subject matter of this thread lol

>>1645281
Wow this is pathetic.

Just call them up and say

"Hey, I remember you asked for a creative brief.

Specifically, what do you need from me to get the ball rolling?"

...

Ok great. Let's meet at XXX time to discuss."

>>1645499
/thread

Just give him a starting point. Go to Lowe's and pic out some color swatches from the paint Dept and a theme or somethingYour going to be paying him. It's his damn job to impress you.

>>1645281
>Are there really any absolutely concrete rules to this or am I overthinking it?
You're not overthinking it. But there are no concrete rules, unfortunately there's a huge divide between "creatives" and "business" people, usually in vocabulary. It's like any other collaboration, the one that works is the correct one.

As a creative, what I would like from a customer is:
Who is the audience and where will this work be shown?
>Hugely important for a graphic designer, is this a advertisement on a bustop aimed at career women aged 34-47; or is this a logo for a mobile facebook page aimed at fathers aged 26-38?
What is the "ethos" of the brand: logical and scientific, brash and unconventional, or cozy and motherly etc. etc.
Is there a preferred color scheme? Any logos, fonts etc. which are "on brand"
Is there a vocabulary or works commonly used in copy for this brand?

Most importantly be clear about your OBJECTIVE. if they are good at what they do, you don't need to give them any details, any color scheme, any references, they'll just come back to you with something that does the job you need.

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>>1645499
>pathetic

Rude, I'm l*terally shaking right now!

>Specifically, what do you need from me to get the ball rolling?"

Fair enough-it's not that I hadn't considered that myself, but begging to be spoon fed doesn't exactly aid in my attempt to project the confidence and competence I dearly lack to this person. I was kind of taken aback with the request to begin with-I thought I was just going to be able to get away with relaying instructions verbally through skype and then go do my own thing pretty much exclusively.

>>1646139
Thanks for the response. With regards to vocab you're definitely right. I dabble in art myself which will help with actual art direction, revisions and the like, but the formal business of hiring someone else and directing them "the professional way" is still a bit intimidating.

>>1646172
>but the formal business of hiring someone else and directing them "the professional way" is still a bit intimidating.
I can understand that, when I'm finding people to work with me on projects I keep it as informal as possible, especially during the hiring stage. Like I said, the most important thing is to be clear about your objective, enforcing milestones and discipline might be something you're uncomfortable with, but that's why when you first meet a prospective artist you really got to keep an ear out to see how time-poor they are and how eager they are to do what the work entails.

It's a whole lot better to have them sending you facebook messages at 1 am of new sketches (hey, you don't have to respond immediately), than be chasing them up after 3 days of them not picking up their phone.

The Objective, man. Communicate what you want it to be at the end, and since you're doing a game explain to them the purpose, how it fits into the process.

As a "creative" there is nothing more annoying than employers who don´t know what the fuck do they want and expect you to come up with everything. (unless of course that is the point of that specific job)

Just put yourself on their shoes man, okay so you want to make a game, what kind of game? what´s the audience? Do I get complete liberty on art style or do you have something in mind? How much stuff am I expected to make?, what is the deadline, how much cash are we talking about?

There is nothing more frustrating than being given no info and complete freedom because you know they will bitch about things at every step, help them by narrowing down the possibilities and give them clear guidelines within which they can do whatever creative thing you expect them to make.