A Blog by Linda Darlene
“A happy client makes for a happy designer — and vice versa.” ~ Linda Darlene
As a freelance designer, I bend over backwards to provide my clients with their desired outcome. Plain and simple, I want happy clients. 🙂 But achieving success for you does not just happen; It takes a few vital working-relationship ingredients.
I decided to put together what I consider to be crucial relationship guidelines for a client when working with a designer. Taken seriously, good working relationships are built. Let’s get started!
Happiness Guideline #2. Keep Your Design Changes to a Minimum.
Professional designers can work around last minute changes, but at what price? I’ve had clients bring significant change requests to me when the website design was complete and the site almost ready to go live. Yikes!
It is critical that multiple discussions occur early on so that your designer can design. Requesting significant additions truly affects the overall design in substantial ways. While we are happy to try to accommodate these changes, your overall design may suffer. Not to mention your pocketbook.
What are significant changes? Let’s list a few major changes:
– Changes in the site’s color-palette
– Re-formatting of the landing (home) page
– Font changes: style, color, size
– New banner or header design
Here are some changes, that while seemingly minor, can also affect the look and feel of the overall design.
– Photos in significantly visible areas with colors that differ from the theme design
– Word changes that may affect spacing in small column areas
Another major change is a personnel change. It is important for a designer to work with the same client contact throughout the process. It is very difficult for your designer to have to start over with a new contact or contact team…along with all of their new ideas – and the need of the new person or team to be informed on what has gone before. Save yourself and your designer headaches. Just don’t do it!
Ask your designer if something you want will significantly affect the design, depending on where you are in the web design process. He or she will tell you. Where possible, we are always happy to please, but not at the risk of negatively impacting the previously planned design and the current creative process.
The best way to make sure that you get the site you want is to be very specific about what you want…ahead of time. Show your designer sites that you love. Tell your designer what you are expecting the site to look like. If a special picture or color palette is important; tell your designer. If you just want a beautiful and or functional site, then by all means, go ahead and give your designer carte blanche. If important, however, give instruction as to whether the site should be aesthetically pleasing, easily functional, up-to-date stylistically with all the bells and whistles, educational, or even all of these.
Designers always aim to please YOU, the client. So for the best results to meet that goal is to work with your designer ahead of the design process.
I can guarantee you that if you follow these tips — and I’m your designer — you’ll be one happy client — and you’ll have one happy designer! 🙂 Give me a call. I’m Linda Darlene.
Stay tuned for the next Happiness Guideline.
THE AESTHETIC 美 WEB DESIGNER is a subsidiary of Aesthetics Designer Consulting.
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Linda Darlene
AestheticWebDesigner@gmail.com
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