What You Should Discuss With Clients Before Starting A New Project

Congratulations on getting a new client! You’ve put your work out there, shown off your best design skills and landed a new client. That’s a major accomplishment. Often times, getting the client to agree to work with you is the most difficult part of the design process. Now that you’ve gotten the client, it’s time to get to work! Wait, wait, wait! Don’t even think about opening Photoshop! Click close on that bouncing Illustrator icon in your dock! You’re not ready to design anything in InDesign! You’re skipping over a crucial part of the design process: discussing the project with your client. Not sure of what to discuss with your clients? Have no fear! I’m here to give you an overview of what’ll you’ll need to be discussing with all of your design clients before starting a new project.

First impressions last a lifetime, so you’ll want to make a good one. Before meeting with a client, be prepared for questions they may have, and topics they’ll want to discuss. Preparation is the primary key to success, no matter what industry you’re in. If you need some ideas on how to best prepare for your first client, check out my past articles for new designers here on the Freepik Blog.

After your preparation, it’s time to meet with the client and start discussing the project. Great designs meet the needs of the client perfectly. Spend some time talking with the client about what they would like to accomplish with this design project. It’s important to focus on the desired outcome of the project, rather than what the final project will look like. Beautiful design is important, but a beautiful design is useless if the project doesn’t meet the expectations of the client. Form and function should go hand-in-hand. You can’t create a functional design if you have no idea what the client needs the design to accomplish.

To aid you with correctly identifying what the project needs to accomplish, here are some questions you should be asking your client:

• Has the client worked with a professional graphic designer in the past? If so, how was their experience with the designer? If not, what are some expectations they have in terms of working with a designer?
• What are the overall goals of the company or organization? What is the company mission statement?
• What exactly is the client trying to accomplish by creating this project? How does the client envision the final project? What does it look like? How does it fit with the overall company branding and mission statement?
• What design projects has the client had created for them in the past? Were these projects successful? If so, what made them successful? If not, what could have been done differently?
• What does the client expect to gain from this project? Are the gains from this project long-term or short-term gains?
• Besides graphic design, what other elements are required for this project? For example, will the client be hiring other professionals for the completion of this project? Will there be models, actors, photographers, videographers, other designers or staff members? Will you need to work directly with anyone to complete this project?
• Does this project consist of a single design, or will this be an on-going project? If it’s an on-going project, how does it connect with previous and future projects?
• Does the project require skills that are outside of your typical design skills? If so, what skills are required and who is responsible for training you on those skills?
• What type of deadlines are associated with this project? Are there certain milestones you need to reach or is there one general deadline for the entire project?

There’s more to a project than just designing something. Depending on the type of client, their experience level, and the size of the company, a design project can be very complex. It’s important to have an understanding of exactly what you’re getting yourself into. Having a well prepared, frank conversation with your client can remove future frustrations and miscommunications.

These are some general guidelines for questions and topics you should discuss with your client. As you continue to ask questions and gather information about the client and the project, more questions will arise. This is a natural part of the process and you should embrace getting to know your client.