OK, you've decided to go for it and contact Dreamhand. How does the process work? What happens next? The following assumes a print project, but any project or combined projects would follow the same basic course.

PART I — DESIGN

Step 1: Contact Us

The first step doesn't cost a thing. You call or write to us or use the estimate form. Then we communicate a little by phone or email to hear about your needs and to schedule a first meeting if things sound good.

Step 2: Have a Preliminary Meeting

The second step STILL doesn't cost a thing. We meet and discuss in detail what you'd like us to do for you. We find out what your business is, and hear about where you want it to go. Maybe we look at your products, and hear about how they were developed. It is at this meeting that we would get a budget from you to begin to estimate costs.

Step 3: Decide to Go Forward

Sometimes some days will go past while we figure out if we can meet your budget, though it's possible a deal could be struck at the preliminary meeting. So, either at the meeting or in a communication sometime after we've both had a chance to think about it, if things look good to us, and we look good to you, we will decide to go forward. We would schedule a contract meeting.

Step 4: We Sign the Contract

How vital is the contract? Well, it's vital. Contrary to what many think, it's NOT all about you agreeing to pay a certain amount to us. More importantly, the contract is the end of a conversation about what you want, when you want it, what you should expect in the way of results. It's so easy to have misunderstandings when cell calls and e-mails are swirling around a project: Didn't they promise this? Wasn't this supposed to happen a certain time? Wasn't this supposed to look like something different? You see. That piece of paper helps us all to focus our thinking by cutting away the underbrush of misunderstanding. At this point, we would receive a start-work fee.

Step 5: First Design Meeting and Communication

Usually, after the go-ahead to start work, Dreamhand would produce a design document or creative brief. This document lays out the job and a strategy to work through it. At this meeting, using this document, we get down to brass tacks about the job, and talk over some ideas. As we get deeper into the subject, we designers get closer and closer to actually hitting the drawing-board. We start having a pretty good idea of what sort of direction Dreamhand will take. Often there will be some phone calls and email messages back and forth firming things up.

Step 6: Presentation of Preliminary Designs

At this stage, you actually get to look at initial design ideas. If you've chosen a simple design process, what we have at this point should be right on track for a final design (skip to Step 7). If you've chosen a more traditional process, at this stage we would review several directions and choose the one that seems most promising.

Step 7: Presentation of Refined Design

If you've chosen the full process, at this point you review a spread of options, usually three, for the direction we agreed on in the last step. When Dreamhand leaves this meeting, the final design has usually been decided and is ready for completion. In a big job, this step might be repeated.

Step 8: Presentation of, and Sign-Off on, the Final Design.

This is it, this is when you see what the finished design looks like. Because we would have been through the other steps and in constant communication, what you're seeing is not a surprise, but a final, formal look at our work. At this point, the design work is done, and this part of our relationship is over. You sign off on the design. It is at this point that we would prepare an invoice for the agreed-upon amount.

PART II — IMPLEMENTATION

Are we done, just because we've got the design completed? No, the design has to be realized, and this may mean shepherding the design through the print process and/or seeing to it that the site is up and functioning properly. What good is a beautiful design if it shows up in public looking bad or visitors to your site can't get to the information they need?

Printing: If your design is to be printed, we will see it through to the end, that is to that moment that the label and the capsule are on the bottle or the box comes off the line, or the brochure is delivered.

Web: We usually will arrange effective hosting for your site, with an emphasis on choosing a Web host that offers you easy-to-understand access. We don't make our money from selling you hosting, so we believe in showing you how to use it yourself, to create mailboxes for yourself and your staff, to check the number of hits per day, and so on. When the hosting is secured, we will mount the site on the server and see to it that its functioning. Usually when this is done, our work is finished — unless you want to enter into a site management agreement.