As some of you may know, I am a new web/graphic designer. There are many interesting and exciting things I’m learning in this new career of mine and one of the most important things I’m learning is that not all clients were created equal! I’m sure that could’ve gone without saying, but you’d be surprised at how much of an understatement that is. I have been working with a client where communication is inconsistent, I don’t get what I need in time, and we didn’t start out with a clear concise plan for the project. There have been changes from week to week and there appeared to be no end for awhile.

It all comes down to us designers being prepared and communicating what we need from the client. We also need to carefully outline what we actually can do for the client to avoid getting in over our heads. This is a common mistake for beginning designers: we’re so eager to please the client that we promise things that we may not necessarily know how to do, yet, or we tell them we can get it done sooner than we actually can. Don’t be embarrassed if this has happened to you, I’m guilty of it, too! It’s all a part of the learning process.

Clients, especially if you’re doing free work, will not look at you as any less credible if you let them know there’s a limit to what you can do. They’d rather have you be honest than promise something you can’t follow through with. In some cases, it may be a deal-breaker, and the opportunity may have to go to someone more skilled, but don’t fret, it happens to the best of us. As beginning designers, we will face a lot of criticism and be turned down for certain work. Don’t worry, though, these criticisms and failures will help us to learn make us into better, more professional designers in no time!

Let’s discuss what I did wrong with the client I mentioned above. In our first meeting, I thought I was prepared with a short list of questions. Y’know? The basics: What will be the purpose of your site? Do you have any colour preferences? Are there any websites you’ve seen that have an element you would like incorporated into your site? And a few more vague questions. As a result, the answers I got were also vague and they might as well have said,”We’ll leave it up to you.” I also was not clear in letting them know EXACTLY what I needed from them. I just told them to send me any graphics and text they would like on there website. Let’s just say it took me a while to get what I actually needed from them. Communication was another issue. I was basically getting different ideas and opinions about the site from three different people. I should have established one point of contact to keep everyone on the same page.

Looking back, I have to admit that I was ill prepared for this task, but I learned from my mistakes and have done my research. Here are some great links for checklists and questionaires for you and your client:

And here are some EXCELLENT examples of highly detailed client questionnaires:

Don’t forget about preparing a thorough contract, which states the terms of the agreement between you and your client for the project at hand. Here’s a great link describing how to put together a killer contract:

As the designer, you must establish yourself as the leader of the project from day one. Don’t settle for vague answers; convey to the client that giving detailed answers will help them to get what they want. Just about all of the above resources feature long, detailed questionaires and/or checklists, which don’t leave much room for ambiguity. As a designer, that is what you must aim for: a clear, concise plan, which will give you and your client confidence before, during, and after the project.

I hope this article has helped to ease some of your woes (if you had any) and encouraged you to be a better designer. Please post any helpful links related to client interaction in the comments of this post. Thanks for reading!