1. Working together
The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.
Organization
We assemble multi-disciplinary teams based on your project's specific requirements, meaning you get access to a personalized “share” of all the talent and expertise that Timelapse has to offer. Of course, our team members are usually assisting multiple clients at once. This makes clear communication and planning essential for delivering the best quality work, on time and on budget.
Your primary point of contact
Every client has a dedicated point of contact at Timelapse—someone who essentially takes on the role of Account or Project Manager. If you need to check the status of a deliverable, request a new project, or adjust priorities, sync-up directly with your point of contact and they'll coordinate with the rest of the team, internally.
A two-way street
Naturally, we need to understand who we should communicate with on your side (and when). Please dedicate a primary point of contact at your company, giving us a go-to person and avoiding long email threads that drag along "everyone".
Direct access
In addition to your primary contact, you still have direct access to all team members working on your account. If you have a specific, urgent request, don't hesitate to contact the most relevant team member directly. Our goal is striking the perfect balance between clarity, coordination, and openness.
Meetings
We typically schedule weekly or monthly check-in meetings on Zoom. Weekly meetings are mostly for newer clients, with the switch to monthly conferences happening once projects are well underway. Beyond formal meetings, we pride ourselves on our responsiveness and love to communicate through Slack or email. We've learned that projects flow best with a clearly-defined scope, helping everybody coordinate and work their magic.
Brief
If you're partnering with us for a new project, a detailed creative brief will help us better understand our role and how to exceed your needs!
Some clients swear by a certain creative brief format. If you fit that description, please stick with the style you like. All we ask is that the following items are addressed:
The project
Describe it, give us some context, explain the overarching purpose, and tell us who the target audience is.
Deliverables
Describe the types of deliverables you expect: PDFs for print or web? Banner ads, videos, ebooks, or all of the above? The more specific you can get, the better. Please also include required file formats, sizes, technical/printing specs if applicable, the number of copies needed, etc.
Timeline
Do you already have a deadline in mind for the V1 and/or the final deliverable?
Budget
Let us know if you have a planned budget, or an upper limit on the number of allotted hours. This part is optional, but it can help us better design our workflow and align with your vision.
Creative
If you're coming in with creative ideas, references, or inspirations, please share them with us!
Copy
Oftentimes, placeholder content and copy already exist on your side. To avoid unnecessary bottlenecks, please let us know if you're satisfied with the existing work, or if you’d prefer we refine it and/or create new messaging.
Resources
Anything else we might need before we begin? Typically, this category includes brand guidelines, color codes, fonts, clearly-labeled images, vector logos, videos, background documents, etc.
Reviews
A well-oiled review process is essential to keeping your project on track.
One-off projects
We typically offer two rounds of review. Please make sure to consolidate your feedback if multiple people on your team will be making edits/suggestions! We also appreciate when clients deliver feedback on our work in a timely manner, typically within a few days or a week of its presentation, to avoid overruns and maintain momentum. Simple changes can be suggested via Dropbox comments, email, or Slack. More involved revisions call for meetings, which we'll schedule according to your project timeline. If three or more rounds of review become necessary, we typically ask for a change order. This scenario is rare, especially if the scope was clearly established at project outset.
Monthly retainers
We don’t limit the number of review rounds, as long as we stay within the allotted hours that we initially agreed upon. If we notice a project drifting, we'll bring it up ASAP so we can course-correct together.
Hand-off
Before we call a project complete, we want to make sure you're 100% satisfied. When we do pass the final deliverables on to you, we like to ask how everything went. Please don’t hesitate to highlight specific areas of improvement. Hand-off is also the perfect moment to think ahead and plan future projects with us!
Confidentiality
Whether you’re in the business of spaceships or life insurance, we handle your information, intellectual property, and data with the utmost care and take confidentiality extremely seriously.
All of our team members and contractors sign an NDA when they become part of Timelapse. Please read more about our data security policy here.
