MONK - Chatting to Mannie

During a workshop I received a text from Mannie asking if I was interested in doing a full rebrand of The Monk Bar. Of course I was delighted and I arranged to call him later in the day to discuss the job further.

I was a bit nervous because this is only the second live brief I've worked on and it's a much bigger opportunity to get some reputable design work for my portfolio. Fortunately Mannie is really easy going and comforting to talk to.

I had prepare a few points to go over and some questions before I made the call so I could get the most out of the conversation, I really wanted to create a strong dialogue from the start to be professional.


These are the notes I made to go over during the phone call:-


Rebrand

- why the rebrand? The bar was taken over about a year ago and it felt like it was trying to hard and it was too modern. The building is an old Georgian building and used to be an antique store so they have brought in lots of furniture all mixed matched and different to reflect the antique boutique that it once was.
- what do you want to say to your customers? - We are a crafted cocktail bar, no pre mixed drinks or alcopops. We stock good quality spirits and provide a high standard of service.
- how lenient are you with redesigning the interior in terms of applying the rebrand to the inside of the venue and the bar? - 


Printed collateral/deliverables

- scale?
- content? - date//prices//drinks offers//acts//DJ's

General print

- menu - quite and important piece for the bar - look at old cocktail books and the black and white drawings in them - opportunity for some illustration.
- stirrers - not a necessity but could be a nice touch.
- napkins - nice idea, would need to look into who can print them.
- placemats - again a nice touch and would need research into who can print them.
- glasses - not an essential deliverable however it would be a great idea to propose especially if they were crafted specifically for the new spirits and beers that are being made for the bar.
- vinyl's - for windows, walls and signage - at the moment the venue has Damascas wallpaper which is too modern and could be changed to something that coincides with the rest of the bars aesthetic.
- business cards - essential to the rebrand, specifically from Mannie, possibly for the bar managers and promotional managers if needed
- letterheads - not essential but would be a kick extra to add to the range
- invoices - no need for these

Online work

- social networks - Facebook page//Twitter Feed//Instagram - Monk already has a Facebook page which gets updated regularly which opens up the opportunity to design some digital flyers and posters as well as apply the logo for the rebrand to the social networks. I'll look into if there is a Twitter account.

I proposed all the above to Mannie to see what he was and wasn't interested in and It seems to be quite open in terms of the deliverables. I'll need to research into the costs of getting large orders of them because I can't have all of them designed to be made as it would be too expensive.
To begin with I'll create some mock designs for the essentials and propose the more obscure or less important ones.
Mannie did mention however that I shouldn't worry about designing an invoice sheet but the business cards and letterheads would be a nice touch. I'm going to focus on the rebrand on the venue more than the business collateral but the design will all follow on from one another as it develops.


Payment

- invoice
- hourly rate?
- fixed price?
- estimate?
(need to ask john about this)

I explained that I wasn't sure on how to go about this just yet but I made it clear that I'm not really doing this for a profit, however, I would need to be covered for any costs and expenditures. Mannie was very understanding and he advised me to keep track of any costs and we can discuss a proper payment at a later date and that if the branding goes well then he could pay some gratuity towards me. I'm going to email John about this to get some more advised on how to charge for such work in the future.

Deadline

- End of November
- leaves room for amendments

Mannie was pleasantly surprised when I said I was aiming to have the job done by the end of November so I explained thats I would need to have a completed brief for my module submission in December, and having the job done by the end of November would give me time to make amendments and adjustments. The brief may well continue after that point into the new year and I sincerely hope that I can see it through to production and application to the bar.