We’d all like to think that every design project is completed without a hitch, and that every client-designer relationship has the making of a beautiful life-long commitment. However, we know that sometimes it just isn’t the case. Things can go terribly wrong, and it can start with something as simple as a miscommunication. The good news is, we can take some simple, yet important steps to avoid the worst and also get out of your designer what you have hired him or her to do in the first place (and possibly more.)

1. Be concise.
In the beginning of a project, details are outlined and discussed in order to provide an accurate quote on price and time required to complete the project. Be sure to lay all details on the table up front. Designers often come across a common–and frustrating–problem called “scope creep” wherein the project begins to require extra work as it evolves. Most designers will include a small amount of scope creep with no additional fee to you; however, if a significant enough amount of work is being added to the original project outline, your designer may deny the changes, or insist on adding additional fees to the project. I have seen all too often a client-designer relationship end because either the client misunderstood that any work added to the project is not free, or the designer didn’t ask enough details in the original meeting to provide a proper proposal. Both sides of this situation can avoid frustration by being absolutely forthcoming with all details and ask questions to anticipate any possible change in project later on.

2. Get everything in writing.
Your designer should always provide you with a detailed proposal package after your initial meeting. This package will reiterate everything originally discussed. It should include all of the details of the project, the process or execution, milestone dates, and the price breakdown for all elements involved. In some cases (and I highly recommend this) packages should also include an outline of all team members involved in the project, as well as their roles. This clarifies who will be responsible for what tasks and by what dates these tasks are to be completed. Be sure all team members have the same deadline dates.

Before any work is completed and a deposit is sent to the designer, the client should review this package and alter any details necessary. Both parties should sign the package and each have a copy.

This detailed package will serve as your agreement between both parties to ensure the project stays on track, and will hopefully eliminate any miscommunications that arise after the project has begun.

3. Provide all supporting documents and files in the requested formats, and on time.
You’ve agreed to certain deadlines. Those deadlines can only be met if supporting collateral is submitted to the designer on time, and in the formats required. If there is any delay in this process, your designer may need to charge you additional fees for any overtime or scheduling change incurred as a result. Be sure to give yourself ample time to supply these items and avoid a time crunch in the end.

4. Give useful feedback.
There is nothing that derails a project like feedback such as, “I don’t like it, do something else.” If you laid out your visions for the project in the initial meeting, your designer should be able to provide you with something very close to the mark. It does happen from time-to-time that your first draft will not be what you had originally expected. Perhaps your ideas sounded good but did not meet the requirements upon execution, or perhaps the designer has misinterpreted something. Either way, if an entire “redo” is required be sure to provide your designer with details about why it doesn’t work, or where the process went wrong. Never give empty feedback; if the designer needs to clutch at straws to find what you’re looking for, frustration will mount on both sides.

5. Collect your thoughts before requesting changes.
It’s a bit comical after the fact, but I cannot express how many times I’ve received emails from clients requesting changes, but they request them one at a time and send an email every time they think of something. While you may have a more casual and free relationship with your designer, this does actually cause a major problem in the revision process. Most designers juggle multiple clients with multiple projects. Imagine if every client requested changes this way. Designers would have to constantly open and close files, make the revision, save the file, create a new proof, email that proof, and record the time spent on that quick little change. What should be a committed process of thoughtful revisions turns into a muddle of administrative work. The best way to manage revisions is to minimize them by reviewing your project with focus, thoughtfully planning out the changes and making one request to your designer with all of the details. This way your designer can also understand your methodology and possibly make additional suggestions to improve the project. It also ensures your designer doesn’t lose hair.

6. Be honest.
We all know that sh*t happens. Perhaps you aren’t able to pay your invoice on time, or circumstances prevent you from meeting a deadline. By being honest and speaking to your designer about the situation, you are more likely to be able to work through it together and come to an agreement than if you fabricate the reality of it. Don’t ever tell your designer that a cheque is in the mail if it isn’t. We see the postmark when it arrives and if you have lied, we are far less likely to accommodate you in the future if you need a rush job, or if you need to be extended a courtesy.

A bit of a side note to the honesty category: Don’t play power trips or make false accusations. Many designers learn in the beginning to record everything, not only to track time spent but also to ensure that they have a record of what has transpired. I had a client accuse me of withholding project files that had actually been transferred to them via DropBox, and he even accused me of never granting permission to the client to access the files. The great thing about DropBox is that it has a transaction history with no time limit, so I was able to go back and find the record of when that client not only accepted my access invitation, but downloaded the files in question. This kind of blatant lying gains absolutely nothing in your relationship, and is likely to sever the relationship completely, perhaps even mid-project.

7. Be respectful.
You care about your business, as does your designer. In the case of a freelance designer, most often we are a one-man show. We must juggle our multiple clients with multiple projects as well as answer our phones, do our bookkeeping, keep up with social networking and attend real life networking events. Our time IS our business, and it must be scheduled meticulously in order to succeed. Don’t call someone six times in a row just because he or she doesn’t pick up, and don’t leave multiple voice mails saying the same thing. The matter may be urgent, but there is a good reason the person didn’t pick up the first time. Be respectful of that and you will receive respect in return.

8. Be open-minded.
Our job as designers is to execute your vision. You know what it is you want out of your project, and you’ve expressed this to the best of your ability to your designer. A good designer, however, will make suggestions on how something can be done better, or differently. Be open to new ideas and fully explore the positives and negatives of these suggestions. Your designer should also understand that it is your project and your company, and every decision about your project should be made in the interest of end goals.

9. Pay on time.
I know this one can be touchy, but it’s one of the most important issues in question. I hear a lot from fellow designers that they struggle regularly to be paid on time, and sometimes they struggle to be paid at all. I’m not sure why this is so common, actually. Obviously clients believe in the need for the designer, otherwise they would not have hired one in the first place. But when it comes to the invoice, it is like the client shifts into the Bermuda Triangle and suddenly cannot be found or contacted.

Design is not free, and it is not “easy.” Design is a career and a way of paying the bills for most of us. A great deal of creativity, research and knowledge goes into everything your designer does. For every new client we take on, we must learn a new company in order to understand how our work can help your business flourish. How or why that doesn’t carry the same value as a plumber for your leaky faucet, I will never understand.

By paying your invoices on time, you are showing your designer you respect and value what they do. This in turn will pave the way for your designer to meet and exceed your expectations, and he or she will be more than happy to do so.

A note about deposit payments: If your designer requires a deposit up front (industry standard is 50%), then that deposit needs to be paid before any work will commence. If you have established a good relationship with your designer, he or she may be flexible with this and start work before the deposit arrives, but in most cases this deposit needs to be in the designer’s bank before anything begins. With that in mind, never delay a deposit and expect your designer to still meet the original deadlines.

10. Keep your target market in mind throughout the entire process.
By this, I mean don’t use your kids, spouse, or Grandma Nell to give you feedback on your project. While they may fall within your target audience, they are too close to the project and will not give you the proper feedback you need. Stick to the team members outlined in the original agreement. If further information is needed, hire a research company that specializes in this sort of thing.

CONCLUSION
A client-designer relationship is like a marriage: a certain level of understanding, give-and-take, mutual respect and integrity is necessary to make it work. Should you ever feel the other party is sliding in another direction, discuss it before it gets to the point of no return. With all of this in place your projects should hit the mark, show great success, and you will both benefit from growth.

Have you encountered any other issues in your client-designer relationships that I may have missed?

Is your website doing all it can for your business? If it is not situated with a Content Management System (CMS), perhaps not. A CMS has a great many benefits, but it can also play an integral part in attracting traffic.

What is a Content Management System?

A CMS is an effective tool for managing the content within your website. Without a CMS, you would normally need to contact your web designer to make any changes. This system allows you to tackle this process yourself without the need to know any code.

What are the general benefits to using a CMS?

1. Change your content instantly and from anywhere.
   Whether you need to make a small text change or add new pages, this system will allow you to handle such a change with ease. As a result, your website grows with your business without any additional design fees. And since the original design files are not needed to make a change, you are able to make the alterations from any device with a browser and internet access.
2. Add new features.
   Your CMS has the ability to work with a large selection of add-ons, such as photo galleries, voting polls, online forms, and other useful features to encourage interactivity with your visitors. These add-ons can be built into the initial launch or added at a later date.
3. Add a blog.
   Ten years ago, websites were simply informational and static. Today, viewers expect much more out of the websites they visit and interactivity is key. Adding a blog to your business’ website encourages contact between you and your clients/potential clients. There is no need to blog extensively; one relevant post per week is often enough to keep the interest alive. Allowing your viewers to comment on your posts also encourages communication. Setting up author profiles for multiple staff members can also keep the content fresh and satisfy different viewer interests, as well as distribute the responsibility.
4. Extend the life of your website.
   Probably one of the greatest features of a CMS is that it is a design template. The design of your site is separate from the functionality of the CMS, and thus changing the design does not instigate change of content. Essentially, if you are redesigning your website (as you should roughly every three years), the new design can be installed and changed with the click of a single button with your existing content fitting into place automatically.
5. Manage your own online store.
   Change your products, prices, shipping and manage sales with ease using a CMS-based online store. You’re in control.
6. Built-in search function.
   Most CM systems are constructed with a built-in search function. This allows your viewers to search keywords within your website and find exactly what they’re looking for.
7. Schedule future content changes.
   For many reasons, you may wish to plan changes to your content at some point in the future. If you change your store hours seasonally, for example, you can set up the changes in advance, and the content will update automatically when it is set to do so. This gives you more freedom to run your business, and requires less time managing your site.

So how can a CMS increase your traffic?

1. Updating your content on a regular basis improves your search engine rating. Search engines crawl websites looking for new content; therefore, the more often you update your site, the more often your listing will be refreshed and subsequently your rating will increase.
2. Because you have control over your content, you can add descriptions and tags to the images and videos you post within the site. Search engines look for content not only in the text on your site, but also the descriptors attached to media. Adding these descriptions will improve your search results.
3. Interactivity is king. By blogging on your website, keeping your content fresh and opening comments to your viewers, communication is open and viewers will have a reason to return to your site regularly. Your relevant blog posts can potentially be posted and passed around via social networks, also driving new traffic to your site.
4. Most CM systems are equipped with RSS Feeds. If your viewers subscribe to your feed, they will be notified instantly when you have new content, driving them to visit you repeatedly.

Conclusion
The above lists indicate a basic exploration of what a CMS can do to increase your website’s productivity. Every website is unique, however, and there is an effective solution for every need.

Call me! I’d love to have a chat with you to discuss how a CMS can turn your website into a successful part of your marketing plan.

Now available! Free eCards you can download and email off to your friends, colleagues and loved ones. Just in time for Valentine’s Day!

More eCards in new categories coming soon in the following categories:

• Holidays
• Coworkers/Business
• Birthday
• Thank You
• General

Click here to view your free eCards.

I have this thing: an uncontrollable need to scan my surroundings, assessing the logos I see on signage, menus, storefronts, POS displays. I mean truly, it’s a problem. I’d seek help, but I’m sure I’d even assess the doctor’s clinic logo.

The beauty of this problem, however, is that I see so many amazing logos that jump out at me and stick in my brain. Now THIS is the true purpose of a logo, a part of what makes a customer remember you.

What makes these logos memorable?
Parts of a memorable logo are color, unique icons, and sometimes the lettering depending on how unique. But the most important aspect is cleverness. Some of these clever logos are just really cool.

Here are a few examples of what I mean by cleverness. I’ve seen these throughout the internet and around the real world:

1. Yoga Australia

Look closely. It’s a woman doing yoga, yes, but check out the space inside her arm and bent leg. It forms the shape of Australia.

2. Elefont

Is it an “e”? Is it an elephant’s trunk? It’s both! Negative space is prime real estate in the logo design business.

3. Food Writers

More negative space: a spoon forming the inkwell within a fountain pen.

4. London Symphony Orchestra

This is one of my favorites. A graceful swoosh is a combination of the initials of this organization, formed seemingly by the fluid movements of a conductor.

5. Handydog

Now this one looks like it was fun to create. A classic use of hand shadows.

6. Alberta Land Trust Alliance

An organization dedicated to environmental conservation, this bird icon was formed out of water, land and trees. Can you see it? (Designed by Urban Creative Co.)

7. Australian Pork

Another from Australia. The pig snout forms the shape of the continent.

Conclusion
A logo doesn’t need to be simply an icon and good lettering, or even the right set of colors. Finding some clever twist that makes your logo as unique as your company can be incredibly fun, and also make people remember it well after they’ve seen it.

Do you have a clever logo, or have you seen one that you found particularly memorable? Tell me about it; make a comment below!

There it is: the glorious signed contract for a fresh, new project. Assessing the work ahead, it’s like waiting to take a bite of your first ice cream cone of the summer: a fear of it being over too soon. I want to make the most of it and enjoy every sweet, delectable bite.

In this case, the contract is for a new logo. The company has used their previous logo for more than two decades. For a while, it worked. However, it was beginning to look dated so we decided together to freshen it up. What we wound up with was a complete metamorphosis (which, in this case, is a good thing.)

I have a process when developing a new logo (if you can call a truckload of notebooks, nubby pencils and a sketchbook a process.) I take notes. I list attributes of the company. Who are they and who do they want to be? Will the owner laugh if I toss a talking noodle into the first set of drafts? (Speaking of noodles, watch this.)

The Sketches
I sketch a lot. I sketch the name and relevant icons searching for some clever twist. Maybe it’s in the negative space between letters. Maybe it has nothing to do with the company name at all, but who they are. Sometimes I get completely off track and start drawing scrolls which have absolutely nothing to do with the drafts I will present to the client. I’m just loopy that way.

In most cases I can find what I’m looking for within one Moleskine sketch page. In this case study I am about to demonstrate, however, it took me THREE pages and several late nights to find what I was looking for. The company name left nearly nothing to imagination, so I was searching for some icon that would represent them and yet still be clever enough to make you go “ohhhhhhhh neaaaaat” when you figured it out.

Sketch page #1: (click the thumbs to see the large version)

These sketches were the beginning stage of this particular logo. I got nearly nothing out of them. Some of the rough lettering was refined digitally in the end, but most of this was bunk.

Sketch page #2: (click the thumbs to see the large version)

These sketches got me a bit closer to where I wanted to be, but as you can see in the top right, I became over-tired and distracted by curly things.

Sketch page #3: (click the thumbs to see the large version)

And there it is! You can’t see it yet, but it’s there. The clever twist I was looking for.

The final logo:

Do you see it? Look back at the last batch of sketches. It’s that strange angled shape that ended up reversed in the final logo. What the heck is it, you ask? It’s the use of negative space. If you look closely, it represents a cabinet door that is slightly ajar. This millwork company produces custom cabinetry for commercial businesses.

Of course, there are a zillion steps between sketch and final digital copy, but the birth of the logo really begins with how much graphite I can smear on my hands, face, dog…

Your brand is important. Even if your logo is established and memorable, it should go through a refresh at least once every five to ten years. Don’t let it go more than twenty years if you care about your business persona. Would you invite people to your home if you were still displaying army green paisley curtains and a deep red shag carpet?

Well, maybe.

Do you have any stories about a rebrand you have completed? Was it successful? Was it a struggle?