What to Include in a Brand and Web Design Project Proposal

I love teaching other designers what I wish I knew when I was first growing my business. One of those things is the importance of your design process and how you present that to your clients. 

If you want to charge higher-end pricing, you need to have a stellar proposal and design process from start to finish. 

By having a really streamlined process you give the client confidence in you AND in their investment they’ve made in their brand identity.

Before I share my advice on project proposals, I want to give you just a little overview of my overall project process. 

The Branding Process

Onboarding

Onboarding includes the lead inquiry, discovery call, proposal, contract + invoice, and a brand questionnaire. This takes the client from a potential lead to an invested client that’s ready to start their project - so it’s super important that your onboarding process is solid!

Brand Foundation

Once the client has been onboarded and completed their branding questionnaire, it’s time to build their brand foundation. I do this with a 1:1 consultation with the client. Then we create their brand strategy, nail down creative direction, and begin designing!

Brand Presentation

The client is presented with their branding concepts (or multiple concepts) in real time so they can ask questions and get clarification on the intention behind their designs.

Fine Tuning

If revisions are needed, they happen in this step, along with creating/providing any additional collateral that comes with their brand package. 

Launch

When everything is approved, it’s time to launch! The client receives their final files and style guide so they can begin using their new brand identity.

Now let’s take a deeper look at the proposal part of the process!

What to include in the project proposal

To dig deeper into each of these elements, check out this blog post on creating proposals that convert!

Client’s goals

After your discovery call you should have a really good idea of the goal that the client is hoping to achieve. 

Whether it’s a rebrand or a custom website - think beyond just deliverables in this section. This helps your client understand the value that you're bringing to the table and will make it easier for them to justify investing with you because you're providing them with a solution to their problem.

Project Scope

Next, you will want to outline what's included in the project. Rather than list a set of deliverables, talk about the goal that each deliverable will help the client achieve.

In this section, it’s also important to provide your client with options. Option one could include a pared down scope with some of their bare minimum needs.

Option two (and maybe even option three) can have expanded deliverables from option one.

Payments

In this section you will outline your invoicing and schedule. If you have different options for each scope you offer, be sure to outline those details as well.

Additional Fees (if applicable)

This next section is optional based on the services that you’re offering. Occasionally there are additional fees that are not always included in the investment that the client is paying.

It's important to outline those additional costs in the proposal so the client isn't surprised by them when they do come up.

Timeline

With any larger scope project you will need to outline your process for the clients. Typically there are deliverables that the client needs to provide, as well as deadlines for concepts or revisions that you will need to adhere to.

I use the One Concept Method in my branding process, so I use this page as an opportunity to go over what that is, why I use it, and remind the clients that they're only going to be getting one concept during the project.

Working with us

Another important section to include is what your clients can expect when they work with you. This may vary depending on your industry or services that you're offering to your clients, but consider including information on revisions, written content from the client, and your communication boundaries.

Next steps

Finally, you want to include a next steps section. This will let the client know what action they need to take after they read through the proposal and want to move forward.

Brand Process Savvy

Now that you have the foundation for creating project proposals, you need to incorporate them into your overall project process. 

My new course, Brand Process Savvy, will teach you just that!

The course is packed with resources to set you up for success in your branding process so you can spend less time going back and forth with clients on design revisions and spend more time designing brands you and your clients LOVE.

Check out the details here!