Feb 20 2009
Wouldn’t if be perfect if your clients all knew what they wanted? If they could tell you what they like about your design, but what they wanted to change and how they wanted to change it? Sometimes I have fantasy dreams of being called and told something like, “Hey Shid man, You know I reviewed the design and I like it! The color scheme is nice, and I see your overall idea…but I wish there could be just one more column of information you know? Like a news ticker, or something else that gives the users a bit more context…I’m thinking about 290 pixels wide with a silverish gradient that is more white than grey? Yeah, oh and also too I wanna give you a bonus couple hundred…”
Lol. This isn’t’ the case. While I know you can never have exactly what you want…it’s nice to dream, right? So what do you do? You communicate. What I’m starting to learn is communication with your clients is key in getting a project that they love, and that you’re proud off.
The problem comes in with different communication styles, and when a client wants something super specific, but can only communicate to you what they don’t want. So what do you do?
I just started using really detailed questionnaires that are helping a bit. They get at the very least the structure out of the way, so you can base your look and feel around something. I’m also asking clients to give me some of what they see, so if you have a website in mind that you like the look of, show me and we’ll dissect why you like it together. Another cool thing I’ve been doing is asking clients to send my anything that reflects the visual style that you like, so brochures, landscapes photos and magazines, which are the best because you can often mock the layout.
But sometimes that isn’t enough. I’m honestly not that good of a designer, nor am I formally trained, so I’m still learning how to communicate visual styles to clients. Something that I’m working on is developing a sort of modular system of design that clients can take elements from each category of site and use it to create their own template style, so that is then the baseline of their site.
Its a lot that can be done, but the most important thing is to realize the type of client you’re working with. There are a lot of clients that don’t care what the end product looks like, as long as its polished, professional and functional. I like them, since that lets me flex my muscles a bit and try some new things. Then there are those who go as far as to make a template for you and say, “make this!”. Depending on their competency, I get frustrated with these types, since they often hire you because you’re good at something they’re not. Whats best to do is to extract what works from what they give you, and “educate” them on what works and what doesn’t…and why. These people are very often impatient and didn’t spend a lot of time filling out their questionnaire. They don’t know what they want exactly, but they’re so used to just making it happen they usually don’t end up with a great final product.
I’m learning more and more that people are impatient. They want what they want when they want it, and expect you to deliver. Its like I said in one of my earlier articles, you have to have realistic expectations for yourself that you can translate over to your client. This is often the only way that they’ll understand why they hired you and the time and energy it takes to do your job.