Ideally you'll have a brand guide documenting your logo, your fonts and colours, and anything else that is needed. We have many years experience in working within brand guides to produce beautifully consistent materials.

Don't have a brand guide? Never fear! Wwe're very experienced at extracting the key information we need from the existing materials you already produce and getting a strong handle on your brand style, as this testimonial from Lucy Blackmore of Marketivity demonstrates:

Pixooma are excellent to work with. I have collaborated with Mark at Pixooma on a number of projects and I thoroughly enjoy working with him. Mark’s ability to get his head around complex brand guidelines fast and deliver on brand is excellent. I also appreciate Mark's friendly and professional attitude and the care he takes to meet client expectations and deadlines - I have every confidence when working with him. Mark always communicates well about progress with projects and is always quickly responsive to communications and feedback. I very much look forward to our next project together.

One of the most common questions we get asked is "How long will it take you to design it?".

It'll vary with each project, but a good rule of thumb is to allow two weeks for us to create the initial concept for you (see the 'What's involved…' above). After that, allow two or three days for each new proof following amendments from you.

Actually though, what most people don't realise is that the biggest influence on the time taken to complete ANY project is you, the client. Clients tend to under-estimate how long they will need to check each proof and provide feedback, and their day-to-day work gets in the way and causes delays.

Therefore we generally do not give exact timescales because it's mostly out of our hands. However, if you had a specific deadline that MUST be met then we would agree milestones that you'd need to meet in order for it to be possible, and we'd agree our own to match.

The more our relationship develops though, the shorter these timelines can often become. This is because with your help and input, the efficiency of the process increases every time.

Given the number of variables involved there is no one-size-fits-all answer.  Every project is different and comes with its own challenges and specifications. 

Initially we'll provide you with a fixed-price proposal for every project – meaning there are no nasty surprises at the billing stage. However, over time we often find that as trust in the relationship develops, clients are less concerned with cost as they know the value we provide and will often ask us to just get started rather than quote for a project.

Eventually this can lead to a situation where a retainer is a good idea. It means we don't need to produce proposals, you don't need to approve them (and the invoices) and instead we can both focus our efforts on the work itself, and of course it makes budgetting for you much, much easier and predictable.

Our comprehensive process (see 'What's involved…' above) ensures that it's very unlikely that the concept we present is completely off-target.

However, even if it is, this isn't a problem. We simply use your feedback and our many years of experience to create a brand new concept that's much closer to your needs, and a better starting point for the project.

And don't worry, if we do need to start again, there is NO additional cost to you. The fees agreed at the start still apply, so you don't need to worry about escalating costs or nasty surprises in the final invoice. It's all part of our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee.

No. We provide a fixed-price proposal that includes ALL amends. That means we don't charge for 'additional rounds'.

The only exceptions are if the brief has changed since the project has started, or if you ask us to make major changes to parts of the project that were already approved. In these unlikely events we'd always tell you in advance the extent of the additional costs - so you'll never get a surprise at billing stage.

We find our clients are as keen as we are to complete the project so we've never had to charge extra.

1. 50% Deposit – before any work starts
2. 40% Interim – usually a key milestone such as delivery of first visuals or after an agreed time has elapsed
3. 10% Completion – Only when the project has been completed to your satisfaction do we issue the final invoice

Every Pixooma client is provided with a secure 'Client Portal' where you can find lots of useful content and links including all completed project files and your invoices.

Once your project is complete we'll add the final files (often a PDF) to your portal so you have them for future reference, and we'll also send them direct to your email.

No. And here's why…

1. We're creative consultants and we operate collaboratively with you to fully understand your needs and provide bespoke solutions. If you don't like our designs then we'll go back and create new ones and work with you until you are completely happy. Pitching for work reduces the design process to a 'Beauty Parade' with a simple 'like/dislike' for every idea presented from each party. 
2. We still have to take a lot of time and effort to create the design concepts and there is a possibility of losing all the time invested into it. And without the insights that a consultative approach brings (see point 1) this is much more difficult. Ultimately the odds of 'winning' naturally reduce with every new agency that's asked to pitch. Thereby increasing the chances that our investment in time and money will be lost.
3. The concept of pitching for work seems to be something that almost exclusively happens within the creative industries and it's a real problem, as it seriously devalues the work of a designer and agency. You wouldn't ask your car mechanic, your financial advisor, or anyone else to produce work entirely for free and in competition with several others. 

Most importantly of all - YOU lose out with this approach. On the face of it, it seems like a good deal – you get multiple ideas to review (and for free) and then can work with the agency that produces the design you like the most. BUT, what if you don't like any of them? What if, with more information and insight one of the other agencies would have come up with a much better idea that you'd LOVE rather than picking the best of 'what's there'?