Before You Start That Design Project
“Write a book that you’ll love to read” — Austin Kleon.
If I had come across this article or something like it during my early months of transitioning into product design, I probably wouldn’t have made so many careless decisions back then.
At first, I was so eager to start new projects as soon as I was contacted, I didn’t want long talks! I offered my flat rates and started my engines as soon as we concluded.
However, I soon realized that my method of rushing to conclude on projects without basic clarifications always led to conflict with clients, unfinished, and unpaid projects.
I had to retract my steps and figure out where I was going wrong and what I could be doing differently. After some serious retrospection, I realized I needed to probe the potential client more before starting my creative process so I could deliver a great job and be adequately compensated and more respected as a designer.
After some trial and error, I was able to truly understand the business of design and I now know what to ask my clients before I begin any new project.
Everything I’ve learnt has helped me in creating a balance and agreement between my clients and me before the start of a project.
Before you start that design project, here are some things you should know.
1. Know your client: When contacted for a job, you should do a little background check on your contractor.
For a job on twitter, I check the handler’s posts and media to have a sense of the persona I’ll be talking with; the same applies if I get contacted via mail or referral. After our introductions, I do a little digging on LinkedIn or Twitter or I visit their website or check whatever online presence they might have.
There would be times the businesses are new and do not have an online presence, that’s okay because you can get to know about the business from the client.
2. Understand the scope of the project: This should come after all introductions between you and the client.
I can’t emphasize this enough but make sure you know and understand the width and breadth of the project.
What am I working as? UI designer? UI and UX designer? Who would I report to? How many stakeholders are in on this and how often would I get to report to them? Who has the final say on this design project? Can I have access to them?
What are the research constraints? Will I be responsible for carrying out user research and organizing workshops, will there be incentives for recruitment? If yes, will there be a budget to recruit? What are the technical constraints? What platform would I be designing; iOS, Android, Web? What program am I required to use for my design process and what framework will the developer be operating on? What’s the proposed timeline for this project?
These questions might seem a lot but they need to be asked and sorted out so you as the designer and your client don’t get tangled up once the project commences.
3. Outline Deliverable: I once got in a messy situation during my early months of designing, I thought I was done with the said project, till the client asked: “when will I be getting the android screens?”; then I was like “say what?”
The summary was, my client thought I’d be delivering more screens than I thought. The client assumed, I assumed and that didn’t turn out well. Once bitten twice shy, I never start a project until I know exactly what I’m delivering.
Now I’d ask, due to the timeline, when would the wireframes be expected? Will I deliver both iOS and Android screens? Will I be delivering web screens?
P.S — I do not expect you to bombard your clients with these questions, but as the conversation goes on, make sure to be clarified in these areas. Some clients will have the project process mapped out already while some will want to develop that with you as the project progresses.
4. “Design for Money, Work for Love”: This has to be one of my favourite design quotes ever, taken from David Aires’s book called ID. The first thing I wished someone had told me when I was setting out in the creative world was to “never start a creative process without a down-payment”.
Here are my suggested tips to help you with pricing:
Tip 1: Let pricing/money talks be the last thing to finalize with your client. This is because you’ve known your client, understood the scope of the project and outlined your deliverable. That way, you know exactly the complexity of the project and then can set your price to an equivalent.
Tip 2: It’s advisable to not mention a price just immediately. You can take a creative break or sleep over the previous meetings before you charge. By doing this, you’re sure you’ve considered all factors the project entails and you have thought through the entire project sweep.
Tip 3: Ensure to always ask your client about their proposed budget. When your client has a clear idea of what they need, ask how much they’re willing to spend. This way, you can evaluate their price and yours with the project.
Tip 4: When setting your price, estimate the time you’ll need for each phase of work. You need to also consider the resources you might need for the task (icon sets, illustration sets e.t.c.) and costs for workshops and research (if you’ll be handling them).
Tip 5: Don’t be put off by clients that want to negotiate your price, it’s normal. When negotiating, imagine you have two boxes — one that holds what’s open to negotiation and one that holds what’s not. This helps to not negotiate the same amount of work for less instead, you remove some deliverable.
Tip 6: Agree on how payment will be made. Would it be every month or an upfront percentage? Will payment be tied to specific deliverable?
Tip 7: Never start a creative process without a down-payment. This applies to projects spread monthly, you could either ask to be paid the monthly payment at the beginning of the month or split the month’s payment in half, but do not start a project without a down payment. A lot of things can go wrong when you entrust a client with your creative capability.
Tip 8: Do not release any final files to your client till full payment has been confirmed. Only release deliverable paid for; that way, you safeguard your intellectual property and maintain your mental peace.
These are just a few things I’ve learned from both my experience and that of others as a designer. It’s very important to have these things at the back of your mind and go into a meeting well prepared not leaving anything on the table.
I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I did while I was compiling it. If you need to talk to me, you can via mail or tweet at me. I’d love to hear from you!
