A Client’s Guide to Working with Designers

I wrote this for the maxiwill blog, you can find the original post here.

Ask yourself what your problems are, not what your solution is

Designers provide a service, but in many ways, they are problem solvers within their field, just like you are within yours. Offer an expert your problem, and if they know how to, they’ll to solve it. Offer an expert your solution without making them aware of the problem, and they’ll either not solve it at all, or create more problems for you.

First off, know what you want to achieve, or what problem you have that needs to be solved. “I want a logo and a website” is not a marketing strategy, and nor is it demonstrating awareness of your business. “I’d like to raise brand awareness, and I think we should develop and expand our customer base” is more like it. “Customers don’t seem to respond to our marketing, How can we improve sales?” is also better than “We need a logo”. Decide what you want to achieve, identify your problem, and you’ll make your designer’s job a whole lot easier.

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This entry was written by xander, posted on March 10, 2010 at 6:21 pm, filed under Words and tagged business partnership, design, design techniques, entrepreneur, professional practice. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

Illustrations are just ambitious doodles.

Doodling is a wonderful source of relaxation. It’s escapism, therapeutic distraction, and a very instinctive time-killer. When it comes to drawing, my sense of depth or perspective is pretty limited, my aptitude for anatomic proportion is childlike at best, but when it comes to abstract, organic shapes and modular forms, I like to humour myself by entertaining the idea that I’m not that bad.

“Anyway”, I tell myself, “If I was any good, I’d call myself an Illustrator. I don’t lay claims to that level of greatness. Doodling isn’t even a real hobby, I don’t have to be good at it, I can just scribble away and hope it looks nice”

Whether it’s to kill a half-hour waiting for a train, to clear my mind of the busy busy to-do list at work, to zone out for ten minutes, or simply as a brainstorming aid, doodling needs little more than a pencil stub and any sort of paper…and even that’s not strictly necessary. Doodles are time-fillers, little visual panaceas, and the catalysts for countless unborn inspirations. (more…)

This entry was written by xander, posted on April 7, 2009 at 9:24 pm, filed under Images and tagged design, doodle, draw, etch, illustrate, Inspiration, scribble. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.