The Top 20 Questions to Ask Clients Before Any Design Project
The road to building a successful design project starts by understanding what your client needs. The purpose of every project is to fulfill the requirement of the customer by understanding their demands. The only way to make sure your project is satisfactory is by asking the right questions.
It’s better to have an in-depth discussion with your client before creating something so that you don’t waste your energy. The answers you receive will also give you a clear picture of what you’ll be working on for your client.
The Top 20 Questions to Ask Before Starting the Project
Understand Your Client
It’s essential to show your customer that you care about them. Talk to them about their aspirations and expectations from the project and walk in their shoes. Understand why they need a new design and what kind of services they’re looking for. The personal questions will help you know the challenges and what message they want to convey.
Understanding the motivation for the design project is important. The root of the motivation will help you understand why the client wants to start the project. You can use their answer to get a solid idea of what the project should be and start working from there. If they have trouble putting it on paper, show them some good designs, and take notes.
Before starting your design project, it’s important to set goals so that you can track the progress. Short-term goals will help you understand where the project is headed and how effective your design is. The goals can also be utilized as checkpoints to keep the client in the loop. For example, every three short-term goals that you complete, you can show the client what’s been done and use the feedback to make it more client-oriented.
The design project needs to tell the story of the company or brand. It will be used to deliver a message that the target audience can easily grasp. To incorporate the story within a design project, ask your clients about the products and services that they offer. The symbol should hold the essence of what the brand is offering.
When you ask all the right questions, you give the impression that you’re emotionally involved with the brand. It’s important to pay attention to every minute detail so you can clearly understand what the client is expecting for you. Additionally, you can also ask the client what they’re expecting to get a clear picture of what you should deliver.
Understand the Brand
The design project should revolve around what the brand represents. Getting to know the brand, it’s mission, and the aim will help you in making a design that reflects their story. Use those ideas, emotions, and ambitions to start creating an extraordinary design. You can also ask questions about who did the previous logo, and what they would like you to do differently this time.
A brand’s mission says a lot about their values and future goals. It helps you understand what your client stands for and believes in – that information can be used to create designs that showcase that. Some companies may have a political or more cultural approach, which would be needed to portray uniquely. So, understand the foundation of the brand to incorporate it into the design.
Your client’s biggest worry would be the competitors. Every client aims to be one step ahead of their competitors. Often competing brands have similar design elements, colors, or styles, which means you need to make sure that your client’s design is unique.
The best way to start designing a new project is by asking the client what they don’t like about their current or previous design. Clients feel the need to change their design elements for two reasons – it’s time to upgrade, or they’re rebranding. Ask your client the troubles they have with their previous design and then work from there.
Ask and understand the strengths of your client’s brand. Most clients want their strengths to reflect in their design to be recognized through them. It helps their brand get some positive recognition and gain a good image. Highlight their strengths into their design project, and that can also be the core of your creation.
Most clients have a slogan that they would like to keep or change, depending on the requirements. Ask your customer what their slogan is and if they’d like to showcase that in the new design. The slogan can be used to reflect as elements in the design or be used as it is under a brand-new design or logo.
It’s essential to understand the kind of client you’re dealing with because there are two kinds – modern and traditional brands. Let’s say your brand is from the 80s that’s been using the same design for a while. You’ll need to present them something similar yet unique to their current design for them to like it. To make it more interesting, try to create a traditional design with a hint of modern. Finding the current fusion is on you.
Get to Know the Target Audience
You can’t just start designing with the information you have until now. You need to familiarize yourself with the brand’s target audience to come up with a design that the customers find relatable. Keep the demographics, age, gender, and psychographics in mind to create exquisite designs.
To understand the target market, ask your client who they deal with regularly. Ask your client to describe their customer’s age, demographics, psychographics, behavior, and interests. Use the information as elements that can be incorporated into the overall design. For example, a kid’s clothing brand would want a design that has exciting colors, cartoons, etc. Such elements will help the brand’s target market identify the business as a kid’s clothing brand.
There are three kinds of brands – ones who cater to women, ones who cater to men, and one who is gender-neutral. Make sure to ask your client what gender they serve, too, and incorporate that gender using the elements. However, don’t go overboard. For example, just because their target audience is women, don’t just create something too pink. The trick is to use a color palette that women can relate to, and that is pleasing.
Different ages in the target audience react to different designs and elements. Analyze the design, colors, elements, and font you’ve chosen against the specified age group. Do you think the age group will respond well to it? Will the target audience like the new design? Are the elements in harmony with the target audience?
There are often concerns with the target audience specified by the brand. Mostly these constraints occur due to the difference in demographics. If the brand has customers belonging to different religions, then, as a designer, it’s your task to create a design that isn’t offensive to any of the sects. If you end up offending a single sector, your client’s brand could lose customers and sales.
Note Down their Design Preferences
As a designer, when you know the brand’s story, ambition, and target audience, you have enough material to start creating a design. However, it’s a good practice to ask what your client is expecting from you. Ask them their preferences, make a list, and try to create something around it.
Ask your client what kind of elements do they want to incorporate. Do they want more gender-based elements? Would they like an illustration or gradient design? Are they aiming for a sleek design or a loud design? The questions will help you pick the perfect design trends to create a great design.
There is a reason why your client has decided to change the design of their brand. So, question them about what they don’t want to see in their new design. For example, for years, Coca Cola has used the same color palette. The brand has managed to work around the colors red and white and come up with new designs by changing the font, symmetry, or packaging.
Maintain Professionalism
Start the design project with the utmost professionalism and keep up with the etiquette. Set boundaries and establish a communication channel because this way, you can tell the client about your expertise and the limitations of your skillset.
There are two kinds of clients – the ones who like constant updates and the ones who prefer timed updates. Your job is to understand what kind of client you’re dealing with and offer them updates according to their preference. You’ll be working together, so ask them what communication channel they prefer and make sure you’re on time.
Some clients can become double-minded with multiple options, while others would prefer several options. However, before you start making multiple options, and waste your time, ask your client what they would prefer. Make sure the designs are not entirely different from each other, play around with colors, and move the placement of certain elements so that the client doesn’t get confused while picking an option.
Communicate clearly with your client and ask them their deadline for the design project to make sure you have enough time to create a masterpiece. Don’t give the tight deadlines yourself, because you will also need time to rework on designs in case there are revisions.
Ask your client, who will be the primary contact for the duration of the project. Request your client nicely that you’d prefer if it were just one or a maximum of two people dealing with the design project. If you receive more than one feedback, you can get confused about who to listen to. So, ask your client to narrow down any revisions from two people. Limited feedback will make it easier for you to make changes.
Great Designs Start with Homework
The reflection of a brand is a great design. Being a designer, keep in mind that you take your clients’ needs into account and then create an attractive and intricate design. Ask the right questions and try to satisfy your client to the best of your abilities. Good luck!
This is quite an interesting post. Yes designers need to consider everything that their clients’ wants from them and then make an attractive and intricate design.