BSBDES403A - Exercise, Deadlines

Exercise 2 – Deadlines

1. What is a Deadline?

A deadline is a time limit on a payment of a debt or completion of an assignment. It is a point in time at which something must be completed. It can also be referred to as a time limit, which generally depicts a narrow field of time that some sort of objective or task must be accomplished by. It can also be associated with milestone goals.

2. Whats involved in meeting a deadline?

In meeting a deadline means that you need to take care with the clients product, meaning if they are a major company or a private company making them priority as their business and your good rep is essential in creating a successful design business. By creating a list of deadlines and project gives you the scope to look at which projects are coming up and which ones you need to focus on. But also the ability to multitask is essential in the design industry. By creating a clear deadline with the client it gives you as the design the ability to meet the clients needs and wants on time without any confusion on when the project is needed by. Time management is also a key element in meeting deadlines on time, planning out how long each step to completing the project will take can help in completing the assigned project. Making sure that as a freelancer for instance that you don’t over commit to one project, causing all the other projects to be left unfinished.

3. What are the consequences of breaking a deadline?

The consequences of breaking deadlines in a business or as a freelancer for example could create a bad reputation for your name and the business name in the designing industry. By breaking deadlines the client will lose trust and confidence in the product you give them, thereby loosing their business as a client. This being highly unprofessional as a designer, breaking deadlines is something to be avoided at all costs.

4. What can you do to better meet deadlines?

To better meet deadlines it’s all about prioritising your work and harnessing time management as a vital skill. By processing how long each project is going to take and the steps needed to meet the goal deadline, it gives the designer time to create the best work for each client or business.

5. How do you prioritise deadlines?

Deadlines can be prioritised by making the decision as to which will take the longest to complete and which project deadline is approaching the soonest. By doing this and creating a timeline or recording important times and deadlines on a calendar deadlines are much easily meet. Depending on your relationship with the client as well depends on how you will priortise your deadlines. For example, if you know that the client is a demanding person who needs things to be on time and done to perfection each time then maybe a designer will make the decision to prioritise that project first. Or if you know that a client is a bit more relaxed about deadlines then maybe negotiation about a longer time limit on the project is needed to prioritise a more demanding cliental.

6. How do deadlines alter the perception of businesses and individuals?

By meeting deadlines as an individual freelancer or in a business, the cliental will find that they can rely on you as a designer to help create whatever they need to help better there own business. By meeting deadlines and producing decent designs and products word of mouth is a strong asset in the design industry and can help you as a designer create a better name for yourself in the industry and create a strong business.
By not meeting deadlines it can cause you to longer get any business from clients as first impressions and a good reputation is the key to creating a good graphic design business.

7. How do general business deadlines differ from Graphic Design deadlines?

General business deadlines are more to do with payment of money and can be a bit more flexible. In the Graphic Design world if a deadline is not met accordingly then that could be the make or break for a company or business, it can cause all sorts of problems for both the designer and the client as they both need the finished product to meet the deadline so they can support their businesses. A design deadline is probably more stressful as it needs to be perfect and precise as it affects everybody around them.