Lessons

Lesson Info

Take Control: Workflow Part 2

The reveal minutes it's greta go online but it's played at the reveal meeting this is the initial reveal meeting this is the first time they come back from the honeymoon we've got proof book in hand now we got the smugmug gallery link ready to go and we have call them our studio manager's called to are you ready? This is it I remember we're not going to be showing you photoshopped and finished images we've done a few to give you sample what that looks like but we have all your image is ready improved book felt form we have a slide show that really gives you just an idea of what your wedding look like through jim's eye and it's going to be wonderful they come in we get it charged up and I'm ready to see it we show it it closed the drapes really work on the tactile environment and hopefully they get so excited okay hopefully we see some tears member of pc tears she done your job tears come from the experience up to that point by the way not the actual slide show itself all right so we fo...

llow up with an email and here's where the documents come in image selection form image selection form is okay first the proof book here's your proof book from blurb who's outlooks get the special image on front their names and dates here's how they look inside okay, twelve up notice I want to make this less valuable and so we we don't even rotate the images you rotate the book I don't want it to satisfy them right? Think of the psychology behind this so looking the pages they have to rotate the book there's twelve upper side sorry, twenty four person double page it's a twenty four average experience it has nothing to do with the album we don't want to diminish the final beautiful product that we're making the album and here's the disc in the back with the proof pages themselves okay? And in the back of that and or there could contain in the folder we give this perfect are the order for course they're the order forms image number size, quantity color black and white comments how simple is that? We all need to have these order forms by the way discount fifty percent off we just let them know while we're working on the album. Okay custom order to feel special for clients to be better taken care of. We use fine art archival paper oh my gosh, I love that now use absent printers I've got a thirty eight eighty oh my goodness I love thee papers that we can get now I use archival maps, papers and we print these things they're absolutely just beautiful clients go oh my goodness love it are warranted okay, this is a real important one. This is the album image selection form we're going to give it to him at this point we're going to go through this proof book and I want you to pick a few images that you absolutely love that that represent the two of you on the feeling scale these air five on I only want a few I only want a few. So look pick up to ten shots of just you the bride that you really love pick up the ten shots for groom that you really love and then on the right to call him here you could see this favorites pick up to three absolute favorites were giving them involved but not much and we say trust us we've got a plan in place so allows client of almond while maintaining creative control used as a guide to understand client's image style and missile preferences is optional completely optional you do not have to do this you could just trust jim and and we had a plan in place you saw the way shots. Now you're seeing the images in these clusters of stores in your proof book just trust us you'll have an opportunity to make change it is okay it limits even selections my friends if you allow them to give you just us description of every image they like every picture they like in the proof book, you'll have three hundred, four hundred slashes. Can you ever make a book in store format with three or four three to four hundred selections? There's no way you're setting yourself up to disappoint your clients. There's, no question about it. If they want three to four hundred images, they like three or four of image, they want three or four hundred images in the proof book. You know our sorry in their album and it's going to picture book. So this is a very important document, by the way. Again, all these documents are in the toolbox. Ok? It really helps for storytelling format. All right, here's a big one. This is the specifications form it's. The sign off we've talked about this one earlier. Gave you a teaser into it. So sign off on expectations defines alum design process client's signature required. All right, it's alleviates confusion down the road. What you actually do its accountability document. These are the lines across the bridge I have for you. Okay. It sets up expectations before you do that before you move forward with it. Okay, gotta have it. Here's. Another one. Design guidelines. It's critical post wedding document to find studio design rules. This is what I was talking about, the reinforces design. Vision and process another time that signature is required just e mailed us back and forth you leave alleviates post production work like you wouldn't imagine if they know why you designed it that way because this is a design rules they're not going to say hey, I kind of put five more images on that page in that negative space maintains the art focus storytelling philosophy it's binding so do not start working on the album until you get this these documents back absolutely in fact yes, we have to have a back before we get started otherwise we might be city if they they have an opportunity to say you know what? I'm read your document I know I've seen your books but I really just want a book with all the pictures I like hey that's no problem I'll make you a picture book a picture book isn't is not that difficult to make I'll just put a cz many images I can't on that for you no problem yeah it's really just just communicating expectations and again it's a must because you're now a design studio to must you know we just want to make your client's happy we're just reminding them why they hired us with these documents, right? Well I'm happy okay let's continue so album design it's time to go there signed the documents were safe we know that what we're going to make for them they realised yeah, they're going to get some revisions in that documentation. Hey, you're going to allow it, you're going to be allowed to make for every spread that we make for you. We want you to feel free of changing at least one images for that purr purr spread so there's thirty spreads you get you know won't change. Thirty images up you're allowed to buy mohr spreads no problem. You can delete spreads we're going to get really clear to you that's perfectly ok, we just want you happy it's really good it's really good communication tool but now it's time to make the album designed my favorite part of the process I love designing our whole team loved designing we go into design. Okay? We're always at work very early. The music's jamming were created we start with a fun spreads so often I accidentally overdesigned say they have thirty spreads in their agreement in the contract hopes over designed I call that I made a mistake we shot too much that day. How do you feel about it? Let's? Find tune it. I don't want to not blow your budget, but it's my mistake, so I'm certainly going to take care of you okay, so I called them or communicating along the way we find two in the order we design review the story once it's in place and we viewed it as a team. Put it to music. We go that's it. Ok, now we retouch it all. We read that's when the retired to take place. That's usually forty five minutes. Okay, that's. Usually seriously, the forty five minutes to an hour of retouching is all that it takes for us to get through an entire with two of us with two of us retouching no problem at all. Forty five minutes to an hour. Um, okay. Where are we find to? The order of designer isn't retouch on their schedule. Reveal meeting. Okay, that leads to two very important tools. The album prove er on the album slideshow that are created. The slideshow is put to music as you talked about earlier and that's the big moment of reveal they see it, they're given a document, a change form it's called album score form in this work flow as their viewing it. We asked them for the second time we asked him as you do it again, we're going to ask you to rate this ana feeling skill one to five for each spread here's what it looks like spread number one I love it. It's a five feels so beautiful it's not do I like it or dislike it it's how do you feel about it? Do you resident? Does it resonate with you? A totally different way of selling spreads the agreement before we give them this document is every few everything above three. So foreign five is something we're going to keep in your book if it's three maybe one or two, we're going to remove from your books that's how good that sounds unthreatening and you're just tell us if it's working for you on a feeling level now, if you like or dislike it's a non threatening way to sell additional spreads so let's, check it out, here's how it works is an upsell as they're going through after they've seen it for the first time after they had perhaps a little coffee or champagne or whatever, and we charge them up with music tactile environments there that we've lifted it up, boy, they like a lot of it. They're really excited. So there you go through they go five for that first one for five, five, four this is what they typically looked like all the way down spread number seventeen is definitely a five kronor eighteen oh that's a three I rarely see ones and twos I've never seen a one three that's a maybe so we come back in the room when we go through oh, number eighteen or whatever I just said is a three talking about that oh, I just I love the design of what's going on here and it obviously has a reason for being here this spreads transitional but I don't like the expression on my face great proof book he opened it up well, there's where it's from do you like this next image? Oh, I really like that one. Well, if I put that in it instead without get you to a four five dot I definitely get me to a four. You just sold this bread soft sales that work for you that's why this album score form is awesome. Okay, they have an opportunity. Make the revisions. We used the album proofing uh, software from funding and this thing goes online it's online we'd throw the images online after we make through okay, we make the revisions, we give him a new slide show to music and then we go into revision phase. We throw it online to fund the software and it says at the beginning you were given up to a certain amount of changes, okay after that many changes its fifty dollars per hour our contract there's a couple documents back you get to revisions and beyond that we'll do anything you want but just keep in mind it's fifty dollars per hour also additional spreads costs x okay, so no problem you are now allowed to do whatever you want to do to this tell us where you'd like changes they comment and they're putting they're able to put a in the software ah comment and then x out of image can you change this with number fifty seven? No problem cool and at some point the software stop shoot says hey, you've gone beyond the mount of changes that they've set up in the preferences for you an additional retouch is fifty dollars per are so that's the fundi proof were very useful. Okay, once we get that we get final approval. This is an important document the album approval form you are ready to go you've communicated back and forth have had two revisions you were there. This document saves your tush. All right? Because you are now committing to spending a few hundred dollars maybe even ah, beautiful album from italy. The process takes a couple of weeks to get those that album back and boy you want to deliver that book is it's the best thing ever they have to approve the art and sign off on it they must. This document is critical so before you submit the design binding agreement outlined the books specifications everything that's in it signature required absolutely deuces room for error and saves your tush all right remember the story about I left a traffic cone in an image and that particular bright and she has an absolute right to be particular about her artwork, their archive artwork, generational stuff hey, I really can't believe you didn't take that cone out you're right we missed that that cost our studio okay, this saves us all makes everybody happy because all about their experiences experience enhancing documents I know we have some questions before we get in the next section of work environment so I want to start over here one quick question it was more of a clarification and anything else in terms of getting the spreads to the graphic studio the album may care today print the photos and bind him to bind the book together or is it go to a different lab and then they create the book okay say that again do you do they print the photos is yet they do all to do from super from start to finish do they create to the photos ended? You were all at all way to the end or sword that's because sometimes I'm having a squirrel moment on you right now I'm just getting up ok? So drafty studio just does the album printing got it right here in our lab is the photo lab so you're asking about the process with the printing you know what the printing out the spread like showed the photos itself and getting it into the books because I know in the there's some labs that they would send it to it like a photo lab to get the national yet for the mat style yeah, ok, good good I'm understanding ok, so matt style printing is when you print photos out and then they're laid behind a map and that's what you're talking about so for the most part with the graphic studio designs are all done digitally and then sent entirely so it's called a digital matte you could do digital matter album it's and it's a wonderful technology that they're doing now but a lot of these designs are flush mount albums where you're designing the whole page and so he doesn't need to go from a lab to be printed in the album later it's one stop shop for active super easy it's one click and it returns to your home beautifully bound yeah so I throw it to you for a couple questions because we may have a few I think we could take one or two here we have a visitor wonders when do you ask for payment beginning middle or end when you delivered the album before you send out the album where where when you get the money yeah sham create questions and the best that the answer to that question is as many time is it possible? Yes. So it's not just the fifty percent deposit at booking it's the continued full payment on the contract price before the wedding starts and then oops! I made some mistakes along the way over designed our do you have a budget for a few extra spreads? Okay, you have budget for three. Okay, perfect. I'm gonna make seven for you. You might listen to slice you just run your credit card just so I could pay for the cost of producing us three extra spreads for you. Okay, way now have ten extra spreads that just looks like you want from the album approval form. Looks like you've got fives everywhere. Only deleting two of the additional ten I made for you tell you what if you want to buy two more, I'll throw in the rest. Swipe your card again, okay? So it's after they're paying it's the consideration of some cost that is gone. I've already spent that money but just know there's not going to be ever, ever, ever, ever a big giant sail after the wedding day when they're moving into their their married life together, you have to do it in little baby steps unless it's something like that in the case of a parent album purchase now those are big ticket items they you know a choice between eight hundred dollars copy of the main album or they could do twenty five hundred dollars copy that's the exact same size and shape and then wait we don't want don't want just one both sets of parents want one okay there's a twenty, five hundred another click of the maid alba there so you're just putting three instead of one on your order form and you just made additional five thousand dollars it's unbelievable unbelievable what this has the upside of potential for you and that would be one last swipe and it's often from the parents that give you a card for that one great um a cm eighty three asked for his proof book who is his lab? I believe he said blurb just remind everyone dot com they do great work and what size are the images you're showing to the client should know that there are a lot of images on a page but how big our reach of this? Yeah, I want to say they're uh about a two inch on its on its longest it's probably about two inches two inches no two and a half inches I'd say I could put it into metric I don't know four five, six seven centimeters it's like eyes it's like they're twelve proof book is this big and there's twelve up her page unr otay did okay so each image inside this fairly small when we want it that way remember it's just a tool it's just a tool to communicate images you'd like to see in the album but it's so wonderfully satisfying for the clients sometimes foursome upscale clients will just say hey can we make you some extra proof books one for each family member remember they pay for itself every single time because we have order forms in the back and it's fifty percent off any time you want to order you wouldn't believe that the orders we get but instilling a little urgency into the process and saying hey guys you're about to come see your album designed don't forget fifty percent off tell your friends and family were going to give you that discount because we really want to do that and we do that because at this moment our entire studios focused on your images and we don't have to pull him out from archive okay fifty percent off it's still urgency in yourselves process you'll see great results just uh just one quick clarification if you don't know from fico mahia and lima when the client scores a spread with the three you charge the replacement or you just do the replacement because they're not happy with it okay yes uh do I replace the spread is the question yes correct okay, so a three okay means that there needs to be a change and we visually just said I wanted to selling process by scoring each each spread so we get a three or even a two okay two you could pull you could pull out and put him into fourth by just changing one image or what? What changed economic you're allowing them to tell you so that means before I get all these subtle changes they make during that soaring process, we will do immediately burn anew slide show using photo magico to music and they will post it on our smugmug site provide for them awake to see it ok, many of you are asking about you a few questions in the audience how do you do it if we already covered this? Actually, how do you do it if they don't even live in your city and that is through controlling the experience the same way? Uh, sending them a leak at the moment they're drinking, they're champagne, controlling their environment from afar it's really, really important tio say ok, let us know you know, we talked about shipping a bottle of champagne and arrives hey, don't open this until the moment that you guys were ready and city together because I'm about to send you a link to your slide show posted on smugmug put to music so we can control that