Questions to Ask Before Starting a Project

When looking at starting a new project, many details should be considered. We suggest addressing each of these questions, but feel free to ask more or less as appropriate. The great thing about working with us on retainer is that we get to know you even better and can skip over some of these questions and get right into the nuts and bolts of the project.

OVERVIEW

What is the project?

What are we designing and why?

Why do we need this project?

What’s the opportunity?

Has this project been done before?

DRIVERS

What is our goal for this project?

What are we trying to achieve?

How can we measure it?

What is the purpose of our work?

What are our top three objectives?

AUDIENCE

Who are we talking to?

What do they think of us?

Why should they care?

COMPETITORS

Who is the competition?

SWOT analysis of them?

What differentiates us from them?

TONE

How should we be communicating?

What adjectives describe our feeling or approach?

MESSAGE

What are we saying with the piece exactly?

Are the words already developed or do we need to develop them?

What do we want audiences to take away?

VISUALS

Are we developing new images or picking up existing ones?

Brand standards?

DETAILS

Any mandatory info?

List of deliverables?

Preconceived ideas?

Format parameters?

Limitations and restrictions?

Timeline, schedule?

What are the most critical aspects of the project?

PEOPLE

Who exactly is approving the work?