⏰ Do Now — Start Here
What do you already know about communicating with a client professionally? Jot down 2 ideas.
Learning to Explain Your Work
Making something is only half the job -- a designer also has to be able to explain it: what you made, why you made the choices you did, and what problem it solves. This is its own skill, separate from the design itself, and it's just as important: it's how you'll write portfolio descriptions all year, defend your work in Grade 11's PBAT presentation, and talk about your skills in a real job interview. Start practicing it now, in small ways, every time you finish something -- don't wait until it's being formally graded to try putting it into words.
🎯 Today's Big Question
- How should designers communicate with clients and co-workers?
📈 By the End of Today, You Will Be Able To
- Identify at least 3 habits of professional communication with a client.
- Draft a short, professional email or pitch-meeting script.
- Explain how tasks should be divided when more than one designer works on a project.
🧰 What You'll Need
- Printed "unprofessional vs. professional" email examples
- Blank email/script template (paper)
- Pencils
📋 Your Plan for Today
- Do Now + review of Unit 1 so far (purpose/audience, copyright, project management) (5 min).
- Mini-lesson: compare an unprofessional vs. professional client email side by side -- what makes the difference? (10 min).
- Guided writing: as a class, draft the opening lines of a professional pitch-meeting introduction (10 min).
- Independent practice: students draft their own short professional email responding to a sample client request, using the template (15 min).
- Partner share: read your email to a partner and get one piece of feedback (5 min).
🖨️ Print Your Handout
Word, picture, and definition for today's vocabulary, plus a place to write and draw. Available in English, Spanish, French, Arabic, and Chinese.
📚 Key Words
- Professionalism
- Conducting yourself and your communication in a way that builds trust and a good reputation.
- Co-Worker Communication
- Clearly defining who is doing what on a shared project, ideally before work begins.
✅ What Your Finished Work Should Include
Emails collected and checked against a short 'professionalism checklist' (greeting, clear ask, polite close, no slang).
Exit Ticket: What is one thing you would NEVER say to a client, and what would you say instead?
📊 Before You Leave
Quick, anonymous class check-in -- takes less than a minute.
🎓 ACP Exam Prep
This lesson connects to the Photoshop Adobe Certified Professional exam: Domain 1: Working in the Design Industry
🔗 Want to Learn More?
🚀 The Extra Mile
Cross-Class Connection: The same tone-and-audience skill your English class calls "formal register" — but for real client emails instead of essays.
Career Connection: Every one of the twelve careers on this site depends on this — a brilliant designer who can't communicate loses clients fast.
Go further -- turn this into a portfolio piece:
- Draft a real, professional email requesting feedback from a teacher or club advisor on a design project — and actually send it. Start here: write the email as plain text first, read it out loud, and cut any line that sounds like a text message before you format or send it.
- Write a short "how to talk to a client" one-pager for younger students entering the program. Start here: list your top five do's and don'ts from class discussion in plain text before you design the page around them.