It’s essential to understand the clients’ basic need from your design project and what kind of outcome are they expecting from your work. Having a deep and detailed discussion about the expectations, need and deadline can avoid any kind of confusion and miscommunication between client and the designer. And this result in a successful design project which will in turn help the designer build a good rapport with the clientele and make them keep on coming back to you for getting new designs made in the future. In order for that to be possible, certain questions are important to be asked to the client for the smooth functioning of the process and for a great collaboration.
Important Questions to Ask Client Before Starting Design Projects
So before you pick up your gear and get to work to make some designs for your upcoming project, let us look at some of the questions which will help you understand your clients’ needs.
Start by understanding your clients’ needs.
Budget
The most important thing before starting any project is to discuss the budget. Because it will give you an idea about how much time and effort you have to put in. You will also get to know how much the client is willing to spend. So this will help you in making the designs accordingly because if you don’t know the budget and you just make lavish designs then it will be a waste of time and energy for both, you and the client.
Deadline
It’s very important to know how much time you have in your hands. This helps you in determining how many efforts you need to put in. You will also get to know how much pressure of work you’ll need to handle. Large projects such as pamphlets and brochure need more buffer time and need to be printed days before in advance. So, discussing deadlines with your client will give you ample of time to work with ease.
Tell me about the company/brand
It’s important to know the background of the company so as to form the basic structure of the design. It will help you, as a designer, to also figure out the market and target audience in a way to establish the brand personality and connect to the viewers/customers.
What is your source of inspiration/idea behind this particular design project that you want me to design?
The backbone of the whole project is the inspiration which your client has gotten for the project. Ask them what their idea was behind the project. Know the back story of the same as it will help you connect the dots and will give you an insight of the clients’ mind and their thought process. This will intern help you make the design accordingly. The source of inspiration will help you form the mood board and art direction board for the whole process.
What do you want to achieve with the design?
It’s very important to know what your client expects of the design as it’s the basic requirement of any project. Ask them what they want the project to do for their brand/company and how do they think it will be beneficial for them.
For example, if you are preparing a website, you should be clear so as to how the client requires the visitors to interact with the website, meaning does your client want them to sign up for upcoming events or do they have to take a visitor survey.
All these questions are to be asked to the client so that their desired results can be achieved.
What did you find missing in your previous design?
It will further strengthen your understanding of the expectations and needs of the client. And this will let you know what worked for them in the past and what didn’t so that you can create a required result to the client.
Do you have any design in mind?
If your client has some design in mind then it will give you an idea of what they are seeking. This will guide how you should go about with the project as you will have the skeleton of the design which you will need to restructure and modify according to the requirement.
Do you have any colours/fonts in mind?
Colour psychology plays a very important role in advertising as it helps to connect with the audience and target the audience and illicit certain emotions and thoughts in their minds.
Let’s take an example of it.
If a company is of caregiver archetype or if it has gentle brand personality then it will be beneficial to use purple, pink or green as it creates a sense of comfort.
Who are your top competitors?
This question will give you an inside scoop of the industry and your clients’ expectations of the design. This will also make you understand what is trendy in the industry and why certain strategy worked for a brand in the industry. At the end, this question will lead you to the solution of how you can do something different than that for your clients’ brand.
Conclusion
These days, before starting any work, we research about it on Google for several days on stretch until we are sure about going ahead with it. So the same way, before taking up a design project, we should do thorough research and understand what’s going inside the clients’ head to have a better understanding of the kind of work we are required to do. This can be achieved by asking certain questions to the client and getting to know answers in depth in order to avoid any confusion or delay in the project.
About me
Tina Ratnoo is a final student of visual arts and photography who turned her passion into a full time job. She enjoys using different fields of arts as a medium of expression of her ideas and thoughts. With her work, she tries to blend emotions and art into one piece and portray it to the audience to interpret and absorb. Right now, she is also pursuing her diploma in graphic design from our Graphic Design Institute.
If you are interested in diving into this creative arena then going with top graphic design courses at our institute will be highly beneficial for you. Check out the courses and find out your favorite to join designers like Tina in the industry.
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