The guidelines are not the handover. The handover is the afternoon the client's designer sets a real piece, on the grid, from the templates, while we sit beside them and say nothing unless asked.
Session one: the files
We open every folder on the manifest together. The logo suite, the type system, the color set with its codes, the grid files for each format, the templates. Every file gets opened, and every question gets answered on camera so the person who joins the team next year hears the same answer.
Session two: the first real piece
The team picks something they actually have to make that week, and makes it. A leaflet, a sign, a deck for a board meeting. We watch where they hesitate. Every hesitation becomes a line in the guidelines before the engagement closes, which is how a manual written by us ends up sounding like it was written by them.
Why the recording matters
- Teams change. The recording does not.
- The questions asked in the room are the questions the guidelines forgot.
- It keeps us honest: if a rule cannot be explained in the session, it is not a rule.
The recording is the last item on the manifest, numbered like everything else.