Costs? What costs? Why are they important?

They are. They just are.

The process of delivering digital content propositions - in my limited 12-year experience - is rarely as simplistic as it may seem. There are always complications, there are always more tasks to complete and there are always more things to think about.

In short, there are always costs. However hidden they might seem.

In a triumphant nod to this rather boring, but necessary truth, @OlThompson's bought an orginial copy of this as a gift to the Product Development department:

Those of you who 'know' will instantly recognise the Peter Saville-designed die-cut sleeve for the 12" release of New Order's Blue Monday for Factory Records - which, although obviously wonderful (and in many ways successful), didn't come without its issues - as Saville explains:

 Q: You designed the UK’s biggest ever selling 12” vinyl sleeve with New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’, a statistic that is certain never to be beaten. The die cut design meant that New Order lost money on every sale. Would you go back and change that?
 

Peter Saville: “Well, because of the way that Factory didn’t really function properly nobody costed the sleeve before allowing a wholesale price to be set. At Factory, no-one really did costings. 

"Often the artwork went directly from me to the printers. So the standard profit margin on a 12” single would not have covered the production of that design."

A good lesson. And to keep this as a constant reminder, we now have an original copy on the wall - just next to the Gantt charts, project plans and lists of deliverables...