Presentations & Pitches
How-to
Open with Vision: Begin with a high-level, future-focused statement that resonates with your audience’s aspirations (e.g., “Imagine a world where your brand story evolves daily—just like the people you serve.”).
Address Needs: Quickly ground the vision in the client’s or audience’s specific context (e.g., “For your upcoming product launch, let’s explore how a user-centric narrative can drive loyalty.”).
Offer Empowerment: Insert a “Here’s how we can help you shape your future” moment. It positions CDA as a partner ready to collaborate rather than dictate.
Stay Approachable: Keep a “What’s in it for you?” mindset. Show the practical benefits and next steps.
Example
Opening Hook: “We believe your brand can do more than just stand out—it can lead the conversation around innovation. Imagine engaging new audiences by speaking directly to their evolving needs.”
Transition to Specifics: “You mentioned wanting to break into new markets. Let’s walk through how we’ll refine your current story so it resonates with diverse audiences.”
Reinforce Collaboration: “Our approach? We’ll co-create a roadmap that merges your unique assets with emerging tech solutions, ensuring you stay ahead of the curve.”
End with a Question or Next Step: “Ready to see the next concept? Let’s explore some initial ideas and gather your feedback.”
Internal Communications
How-to
Maintain Courtesy & Clarity: Use a friendly, positive greeting, but get straight to the point to respect colleagues’ time.
Encourage Dialogues: Demonstrate willingness to learn from peers. Pose questions, request feedback, and show curiosity about others’ expertise.
Be Concise: Slack updates, emails, or quick check-ins are short and direct, reinforcing our straightforward & warm attribute.
Adjust Tone by Audience (DM vs. Public Channel)
In a direct message, you can be more candid or personal.
In a public channel, be mindful of entire team context: “@Tai just wrapped up user testing—nice job!”
- Tie Back to Values: If relevant, highlight how the task or update supports CDA’s mission (e.g., “This iteration brings us closer to a more inclusive user flow.”).
Example
Direct Message to a Teammate:
“Hi Tram, hope you’re doing well! Quick update on the design system: we’re refining color palettes to enhance accessibility. Could you check the new swatches in Figma and let me know your thoughts? Thanks so much!”Example: Direct Message to a Teammate
"Hey Minh Do, hope you’re having a great day! Quick heads-up: I’m finalizing the homepage copy. Could you take a look at the final draft in Figma and let me know if anything feels off? Your eye for detail is always super helpful—thanks!”
Open Message to a Teammate in a Public Channel
#project-A Post: “@Tin and @Viet just finished optimizing the code for the new microsite—amazing job! This should speed up our load times significantly. If anyone has a moment, please help QA by clicking through the test environment. Every detail counts!”
Team-Wide Email:
“Hey everyone, great work at yesterday’s brainstorming session! The next step is a user-flow refinement for the client portal. I’d love your insights—especially on possible friction points. Please drop your comments in our shared doc by Thursday. Appreciate your input!”
Celebrate Wins & Congratulate Each Other
“Shout-out to An for refining our design elements—it looks amazing.”
"Hey Daisy, thanks for your input today. I think the client loves it.”
Don’t
1. Overwhelm colleagues with unnecessary details—prioritize top bullet points.
2. Forget to mention how an update ties into broader team goals.
Social Media & Blog
How-to
Short, Engaging Hooks: Capture attention with forward-thinking questions or statements (e.g., “Is your brand future-ready?”).
Highlight Quick Value: Provide a concise piece of insight or advice. Keep the tone empowering and imaginative.
Invite & Encourage Readers for Exploration: Link to in-depth resources, success stories, or relevant articles.
Invite Dialogue: End with a question (“What do you think?”) or prompt (“Share your biggest challenge below!”) to drive engagement.
Example
CDA Social Post:
“How can a single design tweak increase user engagement by 20%?
At CDA, we believe it starts with placing real human needs at the heart of every interface.
Read More on our blog and let us know: what small (but mighty) change could your brand make this week?”
Personal Blog:
“When I think about brand storytelling, I’m reminded of how we, at CDA, pivoted a client’s entire go-to-market strategy with just a few data-driven insights.
It taught me that sometimes the smallest changes spark the biggest shifts.”
Blog Opening Paragraph:
“At CDA, we often ask: How small can a design improvement be while still sparking big impact? Today we’re exploring how micro-interactions can guide, delight, and empower your customers at every step.”
Don’t
1. Sound overly salesy or self-congratulatory.
2. Use dense paragraphs with no line breaks—especially on social.
Client-Facing Documentation
How-to
Structured Guidance: Break down materials into clear sections (objectives, next steps, timelines, deliverables) to streamline reading.
Encouraging Tone: Show optimism about solving challenges, e.g., “We’re excited to walk you through these recommendations.”
Actionable Takeaways: Provide bulleted steps or checklists so clients know how to proceed.
Reinforce Empathy & Expertise: Communicate that you understand the client’s perspective and have the know-how to address it.
Example
Proposal or Project Plan Text:
“Below is a breakdown of our suggested approach for your brand refresh. We’ve organized this into four clear phases—Discovery, Strategy, Design, and Launch—so you always know what to expect and how it will help meet your goals.”
Email Follow-Up with Next Steps:
“Thanks for reviewing our proposal! Based on your feedback, here are three quick action points:
- Let’s finalize brand voice attributes (see page 2 of the deck).
- We’ll prepare initial wireframes by next Tuesday for your review.
- We suggest a call next Friday to align on final targets.
We look forward to taking these steps together to build a future-ready brand for you!”
Response to a Bad Feedback
“Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We’re sorry the deliverable didn’t meet your expectations. Our goal is always to craft solutions that reflect your vision, so we appreciate your candid input.
Here’s our plan to address these points:
1. Revisit the design elements to match the exact style references you provided.
2. Schedule a quick call this week to confirm we’re on the right track.
We want you to feel fully confident in the final product, and we’ll work closely with you to ensure that happens.”
Response to a Rejected Proposal or Lost Project
“We appreciate the opportunity to share our ideas with you and completely respect your decision. Thank you for your time in reviewing our proposal, and for the thoughtful feedback along the way.
Should your needs evolve or if you’d like to explore a different angle in the future, we’d be delighted to reconnect. Best wishes on your upcoming initiatives—our door is always open if we can help in another capacity.”
Don’t
1. Sound defensive or abrupt if feedback is negative.
2. Use vague statements—be direct about next steps or possibilities.
Remember
No matter the medium—whether presenting, chatting internally, posting online, or preparing client docs—our Tone of Voice should consistently embody CDA’s values: straightforward & warm, forward-thinking & empowering, imaginative & precise, and confident & human.
