12th Grade — Closing the Loop: Presenting Finished Work Back to the Client

⏰ Do Now — Start Here

Have you ever wondered whether the poster, sign, or object you made actually got used the way you planned? Today you find out.

This is a real client, not a hypothetical one

Treat every request the same way a professional studio would treat a paying client: confirm the brief, communicate proactively, and get sign-off before production. The staff member's satisfaction is part of the grade.

🎯 Today's Big Question

What happens to a client relationship after a job is delivered -- does it just end?

📈 By the End of Today, You Will Be Able To

Identify a completed Phase 2 studio job and the staff member or client who requested it.
Present the finished, installed, or in-use piece back to that person and collect real feedback.
Document the client's response as part of the job's portfolio case study.

🧰 What You'll Need

A completed Phase 2 studio job
Contact with the original requester
Camera or recorder for the follow-up

📋 Your Plan for Today

Day 1: Reconnect

Do Now (5 min, above).
Independent work (35 min): reach out to the original client, ask how the piece has been working for them, and document their response in writing or on video.

Day 2: Add to Portfolio

Independent work (35 min): add the client's real feedback (a quote, a photo of the piece in use) to that job's case study in your portfolio.

🖥️ Today's Slide Deck

Short, on-the-board pacing slides — project these to follow along. (The full details are in the handout above, not here.)

Day 1

⬇️ Open / download this slide PDF

Day 2

⬇️ Open / download this slide PDF

📚 Key Words

Client Retention: Keeping a good relationship with a client after a job is done, so they come back with future work.
Testimonial: A client's own words about the work you did for them -- real, first-person proof for a portfolio.

✅ What Your Finished Work Should Include

Client follow-up completed and documented; portfolio case study updated with real client feedback, not an assumed response.

Exit Ticket: Did anything the client said surprise you about how the work actually got used?

📊 Before You Leave

Quick, anonymous class check-in -- takes less than a minute.

Class Check-In

📁 Portfolio Update — Once a Week

Once a week, add your best finished or in-progress yearbook (or, later, studio) work to your portfolio with a 1-2 sentence caption -- and once you're in the Design Studio phase, a photo of the piece in its real, installed location if possible. This is the same evidence trail you'll use for Archive & Portfolio and any PBAT/portfolio review.

✍️ Example description for your Google Sites portfolio (fill in YOUR blanks -- don't just copy this):

For this piece, I made ______________ (name what you made) for “Closing the Loop: Presenting Finished Work Back to the Client.” This project asked: “What happens to a client relationship after a job is delivered -- does it just end?” I used Client Retention by ______________ (explain how you used it in THIS piece). The hardest part was ______________, and I solved it by ______________. I'm proud of ______________ because ______________.

🔗 Want to Learn More?

No extra links for this lesson.

🚀 The Extra Mile

Cross-Class Connection: The same customer-service and relationship-management thinking a Business class covers.

Career Connection: Client retention is named directly as a skill on the Advertising & Marketing career page.

Go further -- turn this into a portfolio piece:

Ask the client if you can use their feedback as a public testimonial on your portfolio site. Start here: ask in person or by a short message right after they've seen the finished piece, while they're still pleased with it.
Write a short "what I'd do differently" note based on seeing the piece in real use. Start here: note the one thing that looked different once the piece was actually in use versus how it looked on your screen — that's where the note starts.