This is a very rough guide for producing a project proposal ( or concept ). A proposal refers to a project that has not been realized but is already in the state of research, experimentation, and eventually already in the state of production. What follows is a listing of helpful questions, ingredients and tips. Not all ingredients are necessary for all projects but may act as a guideline, starting point or default.
A project proposal ( e.g in the form of a presentation, PDF document, or video ) is an essential tool to communicate and discuss a project’s concept and its potential implementation. In professional contexts it is a medium that is crucial for example for applying for project funding in commercial or in the public cultural sector as well as applications for grants, calls for stipends, pitches but also for more novel formats like crowdfunding projects.
Note: A Project Proposal is in constant flux. It develops and becomes more precise while the project develops. Actually, it will help you to understand your project much better. Designing it flexibly allows you to use it for different occasions (e.g. funding applications, class presentations, individual critique, etc.). Ideally, in the end, it becomes the documentation of the project.
Ingredients
- Description of the Concept / Idea
- Sketch and Visualize
- Implementation / Production
- Current State of the Project
Form
Additional Ingredients (toppings)
- How does the Audience/Visitor/Recipient/User experience your Installations/Software/Artifacts/Performance/Product?
- Schedule/Timetable
- Budget
Concepts are not in your head: they are things, peoples, zones, regions, thresholds, gradients, temperatures, speeds, etc. { Gilles Deleuze, Desert islands and Other Texts 1953-1974, p 312 }
A project description's preferred medium is text. Text is probably the most precise medium to express the core idea of your endeavor and allows you to answer the essential questions relating to the project. This text, which starts in a preliminary form, eventually becomes the accompanying text for the final documentation on your website/portfolio. Try to answer the following, for your specific project relevant questions:
- How is the concept? How does it work? How is the narrative? (Describe its concept and function.)
- What was the (initial) impulse for the project?
- What is your motivation?
- Is there a questions that the projects tries to answer?
- What is the problem and who cares about it?
- What is the context of the project? What makes it important? Why is it necessary?
- How does this project relate to previous projects or interests? ( maybe it is connected to research that reaches back to some of your previous projects or to projects of others )
- Name references and existing work from Design, Art, Media Theory, Science, Philosophy etc. Be knowledgeable about the field where you are working in. (This might not be relevant in professional proposals but in the context of University projects very helpful.)
- What form/media does the project have/use? e.g
- installation
- digital object
- physical object
- object series
- machine
- book
- website
- series of experiments
- performance
- body extension / wearable / cyborg organ
- interventio/Aktion
- video
- game
- What form/format are you using for publishing? e.g
- exhibition
- performance
- commercial product
- blog-o-sphere
- Go from the general to the specific! Working about a wide and abstract topic is difficult if not impossible. Try to make a case out of a more general questions.
- How does the used media/technology/material transport or reflect the subject matter?
- Consider what you as a designer/artist can contribute to this question/field with the specified forms, methods, knowledge and languages of art, design and technology?
Visualizations can be a central part of a concept/project proposal. It is especially important for (interactive) installations, machines, and applications but also for more complex conceptional arangement. Try to visualize the core idea, so they become immediately readable/understandable for the reader/audience. Often a visualization becomes the main medium to think/imagine/discuss the implementation of the work.
- Sketch and visualize in your preferred medium or software e.g
- blender
- processing.org
- photoshop
- montage
- illustrator
- pen&paper
- materials
- Simulations and/or renderings / screenshots
- Photos of physical models ( drawing into photos can help as well )
for further information and inspiration see Directions_for_Visualizing_Concepts
The implementation/production (designing, experimenting, engineering, building, installing, filming, ...) will finally take most of the projects time. It is the central part of every project. Try to be as detailed as possible about it. In professional contexts (commissions or call for stipends) this part is often looked at with special attention. (Is it realistic and well thought out?)
- How will it be realized?
- What technologies/materials are you using?
- What fabrication technology/methods are you using?
- What workshops and tools do you need?
- What technology exists already? What do you have to design/buid yourself?
- Is there something unique about the used tech?
- How are you using technology?
- What machines do you need for production?
- Is it a hack or maybe a re-appropriation?
Give us an idea how far the project development is already:
- Show what you have discovered!
- Documentation of experiments and prototypes.
- What did you try already?
- What did you learn through the experiments?
- Did the result of the experiment change the direction of the project?
- !! Feasibility Check !!
- Is the project really feasible? in regards to ...
- available time
- financial resources
- skills
- collaborators
- Be true to yourself!
- Is the project really feasible? in regards to ...
- default: Well prepared slide-based presentation presented on a projector
- but also take a minute to consider alternative forms of presentations? e.g:
- performance
- lecture performance (lecture that includes performantive elements)
- recorded video
- text reading
- An appealing presentation helps to communicate your point!
- presentations also always set a mood or atmosphere
- design it consistently
- how does the theme/project topic translate into your design?
- use another medium to communicate your point!
- KIS ( keep it simple )
Additional topics or questions to consider while planning or sketching a project ( some of these ingredients become especially important when a project exceeds a certain level of complexity ):
How does the Audience/Visitor/Recipient/User experience your Installations/Software/Artifacts/Performance/Product?
- Describe the audience/visitor/recipient/user’s perception/experience ( with words or in other forms )
- How is the final setup?
- What is the context?
- In what situation will perception or experience happen? e.g:
- in a gallery/museum
- at home
- in space
- Try to also visualze such experiences ( e.g "hello render ghosts ;)" )
Carefully plan the different steps of the project implementation, keeping in mind that plans a subject to change. What follows are a series of more or less chronological steps for an installation work:
- research
- experimenting
- prototyping
- production
- testing
- transport
- installation
- exhibition or presentation
- documentation
- dissemination
- Make a precise calculation of the planned project
- consider using a spreadsheet program
- make the calculation fine grained
- include contingencies
- research or query actual prices for actual components and materials
- make sure to watch delivery and lead times ( "oftentimes you can save money by ordering early" )
- Assess whether the project fits in your budget? if you foresee budget problems, consider e.g the following:
- apply for funding ( e.g HfK student project funding, HEC Sponsorship, HfK Freundeskreis )
- sponsoring: ask companties that produce your desired techonlogy/material/product to support your project with the donation of the specific material.
- ask your professor to buy some components for general use afterwards
- ask your grandma for some cash! ;) ( @RB "really?!? this is how you did it?" @DPP "no, I didn't. but its an option" )
- Sometimes a project is not that clear yet.
- Sometimes we don’t know where a project is leading to. Do not make it a problem but a feature. but also make sure to communicate your interests and reflect upon why you want to embark on such exploration. Trust the process!
- Sometimes it is difficult to prematurely visualize a project. Try it anyway. It will help other but also youself to unterstand what you are onto. use all sorts of different tools or media e.g:
- physical models
- sketches
- collages
- renderings
Find further help at Theory and Design-driven Artistic Practice with, about and through (new) Technologies and Media or at Directions for Visualizing Concepts.
This document is available as a public document at Directions for Concept and Project Proposals.