Working
with the studio.
What the studio needs from you before a build can start, what you get back at the end, and an honest picture of how a studio this size actually operates.
What we need from you
Chasing assets is where timelines actually die. Not the build, not the amends: the two weeks spent waiting for a vector logo. The exact list depends on what is being produced and is confirmed in the production brief, but the shape of it is predictable enough to share with a client up front.
Timelines start when the brief is complete and every asset is in the shared folder. Not when the project is agreed, and not when the first email is sent.
A ten-day build that waits four days for a logo is a fourteen-day build. Sending this page to a client at the start of a project is the cheapest way to avoid that conversation later.
Assets by format
What each format needs. The production brief will confirm the specifics for your project, but this is what to ask the client for on day one.
Static display
- Master design, layered, in PSD, AI or Figma. Not a flattened JPG.
- Logo as vector, AI, EPS or SVG.
- Imagery at final size or larger, never upscaled.
- Copy for every size, including the short version for mobile banners.
- Landing URLs with UTMs already applied.
- Any legal or disclaimer line that has to appear.
HTML5 animated display
- Everything from static, plus:
- A view on the animation: what moves, in what order, and what the end frame holds.
- A reference if one exists. A link to something you liked is worth a paragraph of description.
- Confirmation of the maximum file size the platform allows.
Dynamic and DCO
- Master design in one size, approved. Everything scales from this.
- The variable list: what changes between versions and what stays fixed.
- The content matrix: every market, audience or destination, with its copy and image.
- Source data for the feed, or the person who owns it. Prices, dates, availability.
- Fallback content for when the feed returns nothing.
- Image assets for every variant, named so they map to the matrix.
CTV and video
- The finished video as MOV, 1080p minimum. We do not shoot or edit.
- The required durations. 15s and 30s cut already made if both are needed.
- Brand assets for the frame: logo, colours, any QR destination.
- Confirmation of what the frame should carry and whether it animates.
- Platform specs, since CTV varies more than display.
Audio
- The proposition, the audience and the tone. The studio writes the script.
- Any mandatory copy, legal line or pronunciation guide.
- Brand assets if a companion banner is needed.
- Note: the spot is produced by AdOps or through platform tools, not the studio.
DOOH
- Master design, layered.
- The exact screen specs from the media plan, including file size limits.
- For variation sets, the full list of what changes per screen or location.
- Confirmation of whether screens are portrait, landscape or both.
Tell the studio rather than sending an incomplete set and hoping. Knowing an asset is three days away is workable. Discovering it mid-build is not.
What good assets look like
The difference between an asset that works and one that costs a day of someone's time is usually the format it was saved in.
| Asset | What we need |
|---|---|
| Logos | Vector only: AI, EPS or SVG. A JPG or PNG logo will not scale and will look soft at large sizes. If a client sends a JPG, ask again. |
| Imagery | At final size or larger, never upscaled. RGB, not CMYK. If it comes from Shutterstock through the MMGY account, note the licence covers it. |
| Design files | Layered PSD, AI or a shared Figma file. A flattened export cannot be edited, resized or adapted. |
| Video | MOV at 1080p minimum as the source. MP4 is a delivery format, not a source. |
| Fonts | Named, with confirmation they are licensed for digital advertising. Print licences do not cover ad serving. |
| Copy | Final and approved, in a document rather than in the body of an email thread. Include the short version for small formats. |
| URLs | With UTMs already applied. Adding them later means re-QA across every size. |
What "done" means
Done means QA is complete and the files are handed over. What handover physically looks like depends on whether the studio is trafficking the work or delivering files.
| Format | What you receive |
|---|---|
| Trafficked builds | HTML5, dynamic and rich media units are uploaded and named in Google Studio or Campaign Manager. The names are there for you to check. Preview links are in the production brief. |
| Flat display units | Static JPG or PNG sets, delivered as a ZIP through the shared folder or an agreed transfer link. Named per the convention below. |
| Video and CTV | Adapted files at the required specs and durations, delivered as files. Not trafficked by the studio. |
| Audio | Script delivered by the studio. The spot is produced through AdOps or platform tools. Companion banners come from the studio as flat units. |
| DOOH | Files built to each screen spec, at or under the file size limit, delivered as a set. |
The QA the studio runs on everything
- Every size renders correctly, on desktop and on mobile.
- Every dynamic variant resolves, including the fallback.
- All links work and carry the correct UTMs.
- Tracking and click tags are in place.
- File sizes sit inside the platform limit.
- Animation ends on the correct frame and holds.
- Copy matches the approved version, including the legal line.
- Creative meets the brief and the client brand guidelines.
- Logos are correct, correctly placed and not distorted.
Trafficking, tagging and go-live sit with AdOps. The production brief's handover tab carries the notes they need. If something needs changing after handover, that is a new brief.
Naming and versions
Unglamorous, and it is the thing that stops a folder filling up with files called final, final v2 and final FINAL use this one. It matters more the moment more than one person is touching the work.
| Pattern | client_campaign_format_size_market_vNN |
| Example | stex_fasterbytrain_html5_300x250_uk_v03 |
| Case | Lowercase throughout. Underscores between parts, hyphens inside a part if needed. |
| Versions | Two digits from v01. Never "final". Version numbers go up and never come back down. |
| Dates | Only where they carry meaning, and then YYYY-MM-DD so files sort correctly. |
| Never | Spaces, ampersands, slashes, apostrophes or accented characters. They break ad servers and transfer links. |
Nobody follows a naming convention perfectly. Getting the client, the format and the version right covers most of the value. If you only remember one rule, it is that "final" is not a version number.
Capacity, honestly
Worth being straight about how this works, because it explains most of what the process is protecting against.
The studio is currently one person, supported by a network of specialists engaged per project. That network absorbs volume very effectively. What it cannot absorb is simultaneity, because every project still passes through one person for scoping, briefing, quality control and delivery.
Which means three briefs arriving on the same afternoon is not three times the work. It is a scheduling problem, and it is why lead times are stated as minimums rather than aspirations, and why "before the proposal goes out" matters more here than it would at a bigger studio.
Escalation when the studio lead is unavailable: Emre Ozen first, Peter Kelly second, for live campaign issues and urgent cost questions only. Everything else waits and needs extra lead time.
Joining the studio
For anyone new to the studio, or picking up production work for the first time. The aim is that a first fortnight is spent producing rather than being explained to.
Read the three references
The studio mandate for what we do and do not do and how it is priced. This page for what comes in and what goes out. The brand guidelines for how everything should look and sound. In that order.
Set up the tools
Plus Jakarta Sans installed locally. Access to the shared drive, Google Studio and Campaign Manager. Google Web Designer. The template set from downloads.
Read three finished projects end to end
Pick a static build, a dynamic build and a one-pager. Read the production brief and the delivered files together. It teaches the process faster than any document can.
Shadow a live brief
Sit on the email thread for one project from proposal through to handover without owning it. The relay between client, studio and specialist is the part that is hard to describe and obvious to watch.
Take a small one
A static set or a document. Full ownership, with the studio lead reviewing before anything leaves.
Take a build
An HTML5 or dynamic project with the specialist network. QA reviewed jointly until the standard is consistent.
How pricing is constructed, and why specialist costs never reach the client. Those two are the easiest things to get wrong in front of a client and the hardest to walk back. Both are covered in the studio mandate.