Design Karma

One of the most powerful ways to generate new business is to network. If you can develop an outstanding relationship with business owners, than they will be more likely to refer you to friends. Building a portfolio of clients and what you have produced for them, under what circumstances, shows your versatility as a designer.

Client Meetings

Brainstorming is critical, and I like to pick at the reasons first for client requests. This helps develop a sound understanding for company vision and values. It also gives the client a chance to unload all their initial ideas- helping them feel validated for meeting with you in the first place. Listen to them. Then, when they are finished they’ll meeting can go in a number or directions, but chances are you have a greater breadth of knowledge about marketing and design that they do (that’s why they’re coming to you).

Constraints and Creative Direction

During the initial meeting you will find that, although your ideas seem “better,” the clients may still have reservations or guidelines they would like you to follow- they are, after all, the one who is hiring you. Sometimes, you may be the champion of their marketing and design understand, but generally speaking you are given some parameters that you have to orient yourself to in order to deliver the desired product. Do not be constrained by these rules mentally, they are a framework for innovation. Part of creation is working with what is already there to make it better.

When the Dust Settles

After the initial meetings you will find that your solutions vindicate your business and image suggestions to the client. Try not to gloat, you’re working with them as a partner- it shouldn’t be one-sided. Remember, that this is their investment and probably reflects a great deal about who they are. So, be gracious and constructive when preparing arguments and solutions to them. You now settle on some really good ideas after about one-hundred (napkins) from a coffee shop somewhere, and have the basis for selection of your great ideas and images. Basic selection and fine tuning are the next critical point.

Fine Tuning

Time is critical when designing multiple projects simultaneously. So, budgeting your energies is important, and by now you have created some concepts, that if chosen, will need to be polished up. I like to sketch my ideas about tweaks to clients on paper while meeting with them- it serves as a visual description that is easier to follow. But, most of all it takes much less time and sugar to produce. I like to get the frame work for the design printed generically, and then tweak things with an ink pen to present conceptual ideas and arrangements of the basic design. Then, smooth sailing. Don’t let the process and the involvement in development of your piece take away the magic of what you have done. If you have confidence in your work, then the client will as well- and, you won’t go gray as quickly in this line of work.