This week, we were told to begin researching proposals, why they are used and how to go about writing one. To kick off my research, I read chapter 3 ‘Proposals for Consultants and Freelancers’ of the book ‘A Project Guide to UX design’.
What is a proposal?
A UX proposal is a document you would give to a client outlining the project. It’s an agreement on how the work will be done involving, timelines, design process, goals etc. You do this before you start designing for legal reasons. It can also show the client why you are the best person for the job.
Why have a proposal?
Not having a set agreement in place can create uncomfortable situations between you and the client. Instead, setting clear terms and agreements in a written contract will prevent disagreements further down the line. It also provides a sense of stability and protection for both yourself and the client. For example, if you don’t have an agreement, the client may not provide you with the essential time or resources. Whereas, if you have a proposal set in place, they will know what they are obligated to do.
Creating the proposal
Core Components
- Title page: Includes things such as: client company name, project title, submission date etc.
- Revision history: This shows how many times you have updated the proposal since the original one.
- Project overview: This gives the client a clear overview of the project and the goals.
- Project approach: This tells the client how you will go about completing the task. It will include deadlines, expectations from the client, rules throughout the project etc. PURITE Process: This process is found in many proposals. It stands for Prepare Understand Render Iterate Test Enable.
- Additional costs and fees: This makes clients aware of any additional services or resources they may have to pay for. For example, photography.
- Project pricing: After estimating how long you will spend on the project as well as your hourly billing rate, you decide on an overall price. It is much easier to go back and lower your rate rather than increase it.
- Scope of work: Identifying what elements of the project you and the client are responsible for.
- Assumptions: These are you expectations of the client throughout the project.
- Deliverables: This will tell the client what type of work to expect from you.
- Ownership and rights: How much you allow your client to use the work you produce. This keeps everything in line in terms of copyright etc.
- Payment schedule: There are many ways to schedule payments. For example, you could get paid bit by bit as you hit milestones. This can help clients track how much work you have done.
- Acknowledgement and sign-off: Once the client has read and agreed to the proposal, they sign it off.
Overall, this book was very helpful. I find it useful having a list of everything that should be included in a proposal as I can refer to it when writing my own. It also gave me lots of examples on how to go about writing different aspects of a proposal.