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.