Design intensives : Is it a right fit for you?
Have you ever heard of the term design intensive? If not, don’t worry, you’re probably not alone. In fact, most people have no idea what this term means—or if it even exists at all! What is a design intensive? To put it simply, it’s a type of project structure.
Fully built out design processes can take 4-8+ weeks and involves a lot of steps, research, presentations. An intensive structure is short and sweet! This project structure allows us to work closely with a lot of back and forth during our time together. It’s fast-paced, fun and a great way to get a lot of work done in a small amount of time. I offer Design Intensives that are either: 1 Day, a stack of days (2 is the most popular stack), 1 Week (my personal favorite!).
WHY I LOVE DESIGN INTENSIVES 🖤
The beauty of a design intensive is that it provides a brand identity or website (or both) much faster and it's also generally a lower rate, too. My intensive rate for a day is currently $700 and for a week it's currently $2,500. So if you're a brand just starting or you're ready to upgrade from your DIY level, this can be a great fit for you.
I have clients who have started with an intensive and come back later when they have more capital to expand their brand or website. With the relationship that we build allows us to pick up where we left off.
HOW DOES A DESIGN INTENSIVE WORK?
If, after talking, we feel like Design Intensive is the best place for you, then here's what you need to do next:
Our first step is to formulate a light strategy. You fill out the same questionnaire as my full-service clients and we decide the priorities for our time together: our time together is divided between what we must accomplish and what would be nice to have.
Using your questionnaire, I will draft 2 visual directions with mood boards, color palettes, and explanations (and site maps, if we're doing a website). We'll decide on a visual direction and make sure everyone is excited and confident before our Intensive.
During the intensive, I share what I am working on so that we can be sure everything looks just how you want it. During intensives, I will give my undivided attention to you.
Final designs or launches will be available by the evening of the intensive or the following day. Afterwards, you have 14 days of email support. Rather than keeping the interaction purely transactional, I like to keep the lines of communication open. That's what I'm here for - to help.
WHO IS A GREAT FIT FOR A DESIGN INTENSIVE?
THIS IS WHERE WE CAN DIVE IN INTO AN EXAMPLE OF AN INTENSIVE: BEND & STRETCH
Kateryna was a great candidate for a Week Intensive because:
She’s decisive
She has a clear vision for what she likes and what she doesn’t
Ultimately she likes my design style and trusts me
Through our Intensive, I was able to create her new Brand Identity, including: a color palette, typography selection, a full logo suite, and brand style on how to use the new brand elements and a semi-custom Squarespace website.
THINGS TO NOTE ABOUT DESIGN INTENSIVES!
The first and most important thing to keep in mind is this: a Design Intensive is based on time, not deliverables. So, we spend as much time designing and when our time is up, the designs are complete. I don't say this to sound unfeeling. And, should we require more time to wrap things up or make more edits, we can always book another half day or whole day.
One thing we do ask our clients before you sign on to do an intensive is that you take our pre-work together seriously and come into the project with trust, excitement, and a clear idea of what you like and don't like (it's also true that you probably won't know exactly what you want everything to look like upon coming into the project so don't worry).
To wrap things up, I want to mention our Design Intensive can be the beginning of our relationship together (if you desire it). I will still be standing by your side to cheer you on after the project is done. My hope is to be able to join you when you need more design help at some point (a new website, an expansion of your brand, print materials, etc.). being a small design studio, I value relationships with our clients, not just transactions!
If you think that an Intensive might be a great fit for you, please feel free to fill out the client application! We’ll get on a call together and go through everything together :)
