By OCI
Getting a new client is an exciting experience for any designer. Everything is fresh and exciting! I’ve compiled 10 basic questions to ask all clients so that the shiny, new project actually stays shiny AND new.
1. How do you describe your company/product?
This gives designers a little insight into your company and how you view it. Nothing is better than seeing someone talk passionately about their company/product – it gets us excited to start designing!
2. Who are your customers?
Just knowing the average age range of your target audience is incredibly important. It can dictate the ways you communicate with the audience (i.e. printed materials vs. social media), the colors, and even the size of type and fonts that you use. Of course, there are many more factors than just age that you’ll want to know about your customers. Those can include include: income, location, and education.
3. Who are your competitors?
Yes, we do actually check them out. We need to see what they’re doing so we can determine what’s going to set you apart from them.
4. How are you different from the competition?
Maybe you pride yourself on excellent customer service, are open more days of the week, or have a great discount program for repeat customers.
5. What have you tried before?
This can help the designer stay away from previous flops or maybe there was a successful design that just needs some creative updating.
6. What’s your budget?
Any designer should realize that not every project can have an endless budget. I personally like the lower budget projects sometimes because they force me to be more creative and think of alternative ways to get your company/product into the eyes of your audience. Although, I would never turn away a high budget project! They can be equally as challenging as the lower budget ones because the project may be more complex.
7. What do you need?
Not that you need to know everything that you possibly need upfront, but it helps to know what you’re expecting. A good designer will always suggest other options when necessary.
8. What’s your deadline?
Always, always ask about the timeframe! This helps the designer create a schedule for all of the materials needed. And if there’s a tight deadline, it can help determine what needs to be done first and what can be scheduled for a later date.
9. What are some companies that stand out to you? Anything that you dislike?
Even if your favorite example is from a completely different industry, it still helps to get a feel for what you like. You might not think that this is an important question, but I have personal experience with presenting a logo to a client and getting it denied because it was in their favorite football team’s rival colors. Yes, it was random, but it didn’t help my logo presentation any!
10. What feeling or message do you want to convey?
This helps determine the overall look of your work. If you say that you’d like a playful look with a kid-friendly feel, the designer would probably focus on bright colors and photos of happy kids and stay away from neutral color palettes.
Being a designer means doing more than just playing with pretty colors! We’re here to help solve your problems and increase your company’s customer base.
What are some questions that you ask your clients before starting a project?
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