Taking an Order, or Collaborating on Projects and Campaigns
A project may require only scheduling and production, and we understand that in many cases early delivery equals good service. However, not every call is the same.
For someone who is ordering another in a series of similar renderings, they may call or simply send an email with the new source material and a requested delivery date. It is just that easy and fast to initiate a job.
On the other hand, for more involved projects – or for new clients who may have never ordered a rendering before – more collaboration is in order.
For any project, your vendor should be as involved in the process as YOU decide appropriate. Rendering support may include recommendations for any of the following:
ARTWORK
- Rendering Perspective
- Rendering Media
- Rendering Type
- Single Piece or Package
MARKETING
- Budgeting / component cost estimates
- Research and report on audience and competition
- Print ad layout and buys
- Collateral design and production
- Prequalification tools
- Brand integration / Continuity
ARTWORK
Rendering Perspective: Recommendations for the perspective of a rendering are based on the content and detail in provided source materials. For example,
- … if all of the selling points are included in the front facade, then there is little justification for the cost of a two-point or aerial rendering. In such a case an elevation would suffice.
- … if there are key architectural details on the side of a building, then an elevation would not include those features and a two-point perspective is needed to accomplish the purpose of the piece.
- … if there are lifestyle elements required such as cars in the street or pedestrians on a sidewalk, then a streetscape perspective may be in order.
- … if there are significant amenities on the lot or in the surrounding area such as water features or other buildings on a campus, then an aerial perspective may be the only viable choice.
Rendering Media: There are several choices in media for any rendering. Recommendations will depend more on use than other factors, although quantity plays a role.
- Graphite:
Advantages: Soft and impressionistic, providing an opportunity for the audience to use their imagination.
Best Use: Display boards or printed handouts to accompany floorplans.
- Pen & Ink:
Advantages: Crisp and explicit, high contrast. More dramatic than graphite.
Best Use: Newsprint advertisements, later conversion with digital color for brochure or web.
- Watercolor:
Advantages: Strong portrayal of natural materials and colors such as brick and stone, provides a range of choice in detail from explicit to vague and impressionistic.
Best Use: Presentation posters and binder covers, funding, preservation and other review meetings
- Digital Edit:
Advantages: Inexpensive and flexible, allowing greater degree of ongoing feedback and revision
Best Use: Rendering packages where there are a set of core model types, and several significant variations to each.
** This is one case that has served very well as far as providing a viable option for clients who are bound by conflicting marketing needs and tight budgets. We now have a standard recommendation of digital edits for any community where there are a few home types (such as five different models of single family home) and upgrade options offered for each (such as multi-hip vs single-hip roof or sideload vs front load garage). Providing the flexibility of creating a primary original watercolor, and then performing a digital edit to represent each major upgrade option, results in an overall package price that is a small fraction of the cost if a complete rendering were required for every iteration of all models. We have seen several cases where this made the difference between an affordable project and clients deciding they couldn’t afford renderings at all.
- Digital Composition:
Advantages: We have a large library of materials and environmental elements original created by our artists and scanned for the purpose of digital composition. This provides flexibility for more or less standardization across a package of renderings.
Best Use: Creation of a unique elevation and production across a standard environmental background lowers the overall package cost.
- Digital Elevation:
Advantages: Quick turn-around production and low cost
Best Use: Large sets of elevations with significant variation that prevents simple edits and requires unique originals for each elevation.
- 3D Computer Model:
Advantages: Easily editable and adaptable for any perspective.
Best Use: When project planning includes either several required angles of view, or a series of iterative versions, leveraging the editability of a 3D model means lower overall package cost.
- Photo Composite:
Advantages: A high quality digital photo can be excellent source to edit and combine with a 3D computer model element for a photo-realistic version of a proposed architectural alteration.
Best Use: Excellent for explicit depiction of changes in historic preservation environments, or planning settings where the rendering is used to make project decisions and several versions will result from iterative planning committee feedback.
MARKETING
- Budgeting / component cost estimates: There are a few cases every year where an organization must embark on a marketing plan with no previous experience. We are happy to offer our background as a resource in these cases. Our collaboration will include estimating costs for the various vending requirements of the plan (printing, ad placement, billboard rental, etc) and backing these costs out from an overall annual marketing budget to arrive at the funding level available for artwork. To the extent that a client has in-house resources to prepare each required element of a plan; we are used to working with client-side creative direction, and other outside vendors. Priority is placed on requiring as little homework and micromanagement by the client as possible. This reserves client time for quality control and overall project management. For clients who do not have every required resource in-house, we are happy to include print and digital design and production in our service proposals.
- Research and report on audience and competition: Often a client starts a project making decisions with their own “big-picture” in mind, but not necessarily the points of view of their audience. Effective marketing campaigns require research, not only of the competitive environment, but for the expectations and perspectives of the audience, as well.
- Print ad layout and buys: In many cases, there is only a minor edit to adapt a print piece to an advertisement layout – and different size options will be included as required. For cases where there is a significant new requirement for a particular layout, a design option will be included in the service proposal.
- Collateral design and production: It is easy for a project to get swamped with add-on costs and running billable hours. For this reason, all service proposals are fixed-bid with a defined Scope of Work, schedule and definitions of completion. In most cases, standard rates apply for print products from insert pages and flyers to full brochures, and from downloadable files to full website development.
- Prequalification tools: In response to client requests, we have developed several interactive online or kiosk tools that relieve pressure from sales center staff and guarantee company continuity and policies. From interactive floorplans and building exteriors, to full online learning tools, we offer a range of stand-alone products and database-integrated systems.
- Brand integration / Continuity: Even for standard-priced items, there are decisions to make. For each campaign that has an established brand identity, all new materials must comply with that brand. This actually reduces cost as a result of limited design time, and allowing production to be executed as a simple service-bureau task. In cases where an original design is required, that extra effort will be reflected in the price, though the proposal will still have a fixed-fee associated with each product or service.
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Initiate a new job, or send a request to: inquiry@architecturalart.com
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