The success or failure of a project, no matter what industry you are in, often hinges on how effective the communication is between all involved parties. When speaking specifically about web design/development, this doesn’t just refer to communication between you and your client, but also between you and your team.

As freelancers, and even small firms, you are often not only the designer or developer but also the project manager. The following are a few things to keep in mind to keep the communication channels as clear as possible and help keep your projects moving smoothly.

1. You need to plan

There is nothing worse then being in the middle of a project and realizing that you didn’t plan well enough for your clients needs, or they didn’t communicate them to you clearly enough. You end up with wicked scope creep, timelines getting pushed back, and both you and your client getting grumpy.

The best way to prevent this is tons of upfront planning. Brainstorm all of the potential features and content, identify the purpose and goals for each, and sketch out an initial concept on a piece of paper.

Some clients are very specific about what they want and have a very clear vision…but most are not. It is a dangerous game to start a project that you only have a vague sense of, so depending on the size and scope of the project, consider having an additional planning session and getting client approval of the results. These sessions can be part of your quoting process or integrated into your quotes as a paid service.

2. Don’t over plan

This might seem counter intuitive to the point above but the idea is to ensure your plan covers as much high level ideas as possible, but not to get caught up in very specific details. Don’t fall into the trap where excessive planning leaves you with no flexibility to change and adjust as the project moves forward. It is impossible to prevent change: something will come up, the client will change their mind, a new feature will be added or removed. If you get to caught up in the initial plan, it can be restrictive and actually cause more harm then good.

3. Have a detailed contract

So, you have had an awesome planning session with your client, you feel comfortable with the project, and have a good understanding of what your client wants. Write it down, price it out, and get them to sign off on it.

If things turn sideways you need to have a contract outlining exactly what you agreed to do (and more more importantly, what you have not agreed to do) so that you are protected. This is also a good way to control scope creep as you can reference the contract when your client requests something that is not part of your initial agreement. What is the price to add a feature during the design phase? After the production phase? When will new features be delivered? When do design revisions start costing more? Your client will have these questions, and if you educate them in advance, you can have a major change to the project without damaging your relationship.

4. Build wireframes

Lots of designers/developers use them, lots don’t. I think they are vital and save a lot of time/aggravation in the long run. The benefit is that you communicate structure to the client, giving them a much better idea of what they will be getting before a design is completed. A wireframe can be changed quickly and at a significantly lower cost than a full design, and it will need to change!

5. Meet throughout the project

Now that you are working away on the project, schedule a weekly or bi-weekly meeting with your client to keep them up to date on progress. This keeps the communications lines flowing so you don’t get too far on something only to find out your client doesn’t like it. It also helps keep you goal oriented and on schedule.

This may seem excessive for smaller projects, but your client will feel more involved in the process, which means they are more likely be more satisfied with the end result.

Make sure you account for meeting time in your project quote!

6. Set communication expectations with your team

Communication with your team is just as important as communication with your client. Finding out that your developer went on a 5 day camping trip in the middle of a project without telling you makes for an unhappy relationship, especially if you have deadline looming. The client isn’t going to care that your developer is suddenly incommunicado. All they know is that you missed a deadline, and they don’t like it.

This might mean that you require your contractor to check in every two days with a status update. It might mean that you have a weekly Skype video chat. It might be a 15 minute daily morning project review. You could share Google calendars, or chat through the day on instant messenger, IRC, or Campfire. What ever it is, establish your communication expectations early and work at it.

Summary

No project ever runs perfectly smoothly; there will always be something that throws a wrench in it. However, if you consider some of the above methods and integrate them into your project process, you will likely help prevent some of the major issues that can come up in a project due to miscommunication.

What strategies do you use to ensure a smooth-running web design/development project?

What Do You Mean?

If we treated our own business (and business related projects) like we treated client projects, we would practice proper time management, hit deadlines, have a consistently fresh portfolio, and budget for the time needed per week to make these things (and more) happen. But we don’t – and maybe you don’t either. It’s tough sometimes – client projects pay the bills, whereas business-related projects have a more indirect benefit. Clients often give us some much-needed motivation, through phone calls or emails (hopefully motivation of the non-threatening kind), whereas we’re the boss of our business. Thus, we’re often putting client projects in front of our own, time and time again. If this stays consistent, however, our portfolio, print materials, blog and more will be an outdated reflection of our business. That’s bad news.

As graphic and web designers, there is little that can hurt your future business more than having outdated materials. It’s a slippery slope. I mean, if you position yourself as a forerunner in the race to modern and cutting edge design/development, your own materials should reflect that, no? Plus, what if your competitors are being smart and putting the time in to keep their bodies of work up to speed? In the blink of an eye, you’ll be behind the 8 ball and your potential clients will be clicking away to your competitor’s updated, fresh site.

How Do You Keep Fresh Shoes on Your Design Business?

In order to avoid becoming the design equivalent of the shoemaker’s son, we need to start treating our own design business like a client. Figure out areas of weakness. Propose solutions and timelines to implement those solutions. Hit those deadlines by scheduling your business into your workload – even if it means not taking on a paying client project. I know: scary talk, especially for freelancers, and advice that we would do very well to heed. But if you want your business to be around for the long haul, then you need to put the work in. Put in the upkeep. It’s easier to fix a small leak than it is to put it off and overhaul the whole ruined bathroom, right?

Think of it like so: if the clients always come first, you will forever be second & behind. Then you will be an outdated agency/freelancer. Book in time to your week to maintain your portfolio, update your website, etc, and your business will thank you down the road.

Maybe it’ll even buy you some new shoes.

There are questions to consider before jumping into blogging. While there are downsides, the benefits of blogging can be huge – benefits that range from social to SEO. Let’s explore them in a bit more detail.

Active Online Presence

Sticking to a frequent posting schedule, which I’d suggest, will automatically give you a more active online presence. Your clients will see that you’re thinking and working on sharing your (useful & effective) articles; you will (hopefully) use social media to share your articles, and if they’re good, other people will share your articles too. All of a sudden, you’re more active on the web – and the more active you are, the easier it is for people (and potential clients) to find you and your business.

Establish Yourself as an Expert

Writing well-written and researched articles that are read by your clients and peers can go a long way in establishing your expertise in your field. When buying goods or services, clients like to know that the business they’re buying from is well-versed and knowledgable – this is easily helped along by writing blog posts that are helpful and related to what your business offers. As well, freely giving away information establishes the author as someone who is confident and approachable – two characteristics that are appealing to potential clients. So do your research, write your articles, and be confident and approachable in your tone!

Helps You Stay Relevant & Aware in Your Field

Realistically, you cannot post frequently or have an active online presence without staying relevant and aware within your field. If you’ve set yourself a blogging schedule of one article per week, you will be constantly looking for sources of inspiration for your next article. What’s cutting edge in your field that your clients/readers will want to know about? What shifts and changes are going down in your industry? You will be on top of these things – it’s almost a given, if you commit yourself to frequent, focused blogging.

SEO Benefits

Blogs can provide huge SEO benefits when approached properly. It starts with writing quality content that others want to share: stick to your niche; write articles that solve problems in your field; encourage others to share them. If you take these steps and promote your writing, people will be inclined to share your articles. This generates links back to your site – not only are these additional avenues for potential clients to find your business, but these links are important to Google as well. Part of Google’s PageRank algorithm uses these backlinks: the links are viewed as “votes” for the validity of your site. The more votes, the more valid, the higher up your site is shown for specific keyword phrases. Finally, as you stick to your posting schedule and write a variety of articles focused on your clients & your field of business, you will garner a large amount of content with keywords related to your field. Google also takes this – keyword phrases, amount of content, etc – into account when determining your PageRank. All this additional content has a positive impact on your SEO rankings.

As you can see, blogging provides direct SEO benefits along with the more direct, social benefits we’ve previously mentioned.

Downsides to Consider

The benefits of blogging are great, but there are downsides to blogging to be aware of as well. A few quick examples: poor writing can cast you in an unprofessional light and have a negative impact on your business. Quality, effective blogging requires some sort of schedule – this can be demanding and draining (not to mention tough to do when client project deadlines are bearing down on you). Ideally, your blog will be self-hosted within your website (not an on outside, free service) in order to gain all the previously mentioned SEO benefits – there is usually a higher cost that comes along with using WordPress as a CMS, or another related CMS with blogging capabilities. As well, some clients have difficulty writing to their audience and fall into the trap of just writing about their business, which is a surefire way to lose readers fast. With regards to this last point: I use the Party Analogy to clarify this. Say you’re at a party and you sit down next to a guy you’ve never met before and introduce yourself. Said guy proceeds to talk your ear off all night… only talking about themselves. If you use your blog to only write about your business, you’re that guy. Don’t be that guy.

It’s important to think specifically about your clients, your business, and whether or not the pros of blogging outweigh the cons mentioned above. As I mentioned, there is no blanket answer – but I do know blogging has benefitted Paper Leaf greatly for the time we’ve put into it. What are your thoughts & experiences?

What is Cost?

Dictionary.com defines cost as “the price paid to acquire, produce, accomplish, or maintain anything: the high cost of a good meal.” It’s pretty straightforward: “This magazine cost me $5.95″. “The cost of this website came to $3,500″. Essentially, it is simply the price paid, when all is said and done, in monetary terms.

Hit the jump for the whole article!

What is Value?

In turn, Dictionary.com defines value as “relative worth, merit, or importance: the value of a college education; the value of a queen in chess.” A little more vague, to be certain, than the cost definition. However, if we continue with their college education analogy, we can look at it like this:

At the time of this writing, the cost of a business degree from the University of Alberta is about $26,800 ($6,700 per year times four years). But what is the value of this degree? A key phrase from the Dictionary.com definition is “relative worth” – it depends on the region you’re in, the industry you end up in, and a whole bunch of other variables. However, for the sake of argument, let’s use eHow’s figures: business degree holders average about $40,000/yr to start, $43.5K/yr by the fourth year, and about $76K/year by their 20th year.

So, you pay $26,800 over four years to get a business degree, but having this degree may enable you to make $40,000 a year to start (compared to less, presumably, if you don’t have this degree). Of course, you may be able to make $40,000 a year without a business degree if you know the right people or perhaps are a bit lucky. But for some people, the cost of the degree is nothing compared to the value, or relative worth, of having that degree since they’ll be able to make markedly more income over the years due to having their business degree (not to mention the fact they’ll have the know-how to operate efficiently in their position).

How Do We Apply This to Design as a Business?

In a nutshell: Stop thinking of the cost of your services, and start thinking of the value of your services. This will allow you to price yourself accordingly – so long as you don’t overestimate your own value.

For example, some designers charge $250 for a logo design. This is the cost of this service. Perhaps they’ve come to this cost because it’s all they think their clients will pay; perhaps it’s because they charge $25 an hour and they figure 10 hours of work is suitable for a logo. But before your start thinking of the cost of your services, think of the value. If you’re a talented identity designer, you can build a strong visual identity for a company that will last years & years; it will work across all mediums; it will help the company in being recognized as professional/inviting/experts in their field (or whatever the goals of the business are defined as). This identity, done properly, can directly influence that business’ income for years to come. With all that said – does $250 for a logo still sound like enough? I’d wager no, because the value, or relative worth/merit/importance, of the identity is worth much, more more.

Let’s look at in terms of web design & development. If you’ve designed an interface that will double your clients’ online sales, what is its value? Pretty huge, I’d say. But if it took you 10 hours at $25/hr, you need to re-evaluate your pricing scheme. You’re not valuing yourself or your work enough – either you need to charge based on the value of the work you did, or you need to up your hourly rate to reflect the value of your services.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

There are a few things us designers need to be wary of with this cost vs. value method of thinking. First, don’t overestimate your value or the value of the services you provide. See what’s out there in terms of competition; see what’s out there in terms of quality; see what’s out there in terms of clientele. Keep in mind: we work in design every day, so it’s easy for us to see the value in good design, and potentially overestimate it. Conversely, don’t underestimate your value either.

Secondly, it can be difficult to communicate the value of design services compared to cost of design services. Clients never call you up and ask “What is the value of your web design services?” No, they ask “How much does a website cost?” You need to answer their questions clearly, but don’t be afraid to expand on the answer. Instead of answering “$4,000″ to the latter question, perhaps say “Our average cost comes in at $4,000, but the value of our services is significantly more. For example, our last client saw an __% increase of online sales as soon as the new site launched”. Giving more detail and hard stats like these can help the client see the value in what designers do.

Overall, the key to successfully valuing your services is to truly comprehend what you do and how it affects your clients and their business, and to have confidence in communicating these things to your clients (both existing and potential). If you can do these things, you’re well on your way to an effective valuation of your services.

With that in mind, I asked a few of our recent clients some questions regarding their side of working with designers – what stressed them out, what their worries were, and suggestions for how designers like you and I can alleviate these concerns. Their answers were interesting, and by listening to these concerns, I think any designer can improve their next project and/or business relationship.

Client Concern: Cost

Both Anna, a client of ours from Yoga for Today (new website is being built as we speak!), and Jacqueline, owner of JACEK Chocolate, mentioned the fact that one of their shared initial concerns revolved around cost. Jacqueline needed a full brand built from square 1; she also was starting a business that required investment in equipment. Anna was concerned about whether or not the quoted price would creep up as the project went on – would there be hidden fees?

Solution: Make sure you do your research and know what the costs for a project will be, and communicate these clearly to your client. As we can’t see all potential roadblocks, be sure also to mention that your quote is based on certain terms (number of revisions, current described project specs, etc) and that if these specs change, the price will likely change as well. On top of this, be sure you’re able to explain the benefit of paying for quality design work to your client; getting it done right off the top means no costly redesigns down the road, no loss of brand equity due to a needed redesign, and the like.

Client Concern: Designer’s Habits

By designer’s habits, I mean things like “Does he/she take feedback well?”, “Do they actually listen to my concerns?”, “Are they asking the right questions to get the results I want?”, and “Are they going to hit deadlines?” – all specific concerns raised by Anna and Jacqueline.

Solution: Three of the four above questions focus on people skills – so make sure yours are sound. Make sure to listen to your client; they are spending their hard-earned money on you, and they rightfully have questions. Remember that you’re designing for their business – not your art portfolio. Don’t be aloof; be personable. Learn about their business by listening, asking the right questions and more. Remember, your client cares more about whether or not the work you’re doing for them meets definable business goals – not so much “how nice it looks”.

With regards to the deadlines/timelines concern, the first step is to be punctual. Return emails and phone calls as soon as you can. Don’t be late for meetings. In the initial meeting, explain clearly to the client what they can expect from you in terms of turnaround times, and what you hope to expect from them on their end. All in all, just be sure you come off as a designer who cares about their business and doing the project right – in all regards.

Client Concern: Seeing the Client’s Vision

Daniel Moir, a singer/songwriter and client of ours, mentioned that one of his chief concerns was whether or not the designer’s end result would match the vision he had in his head (specifically regarding album design and website design). Jacqueline had concerns about this as well regarding the vision she had for her brand.

Solution: Try active listening, a listening technique that “requires the listener to understand, interpret and evaluate what (s)he hears”. This may involve paraphrasing and repeating a client’s statement or question back to them (“Okay Daniel – so what I’m hearing you say is that [paraphrased statement]“), or taking what they’ve told you and going through your past body of work (or other inspiration, perhaps online) to see what styles match what the client is trying to articulate.

It can be tough to articulate design; sometimes seeing actual work will help clear the air (“Yes! I like that worn look and the weight of that font” etc).

As well, Daniel specifically mentioned that he preferred seeing “a wide array of styles in (the designer’s) portfolio, showing his/her diversity and ability to realize the client’s vision”.

Client Concern: What is My Role?

We heard this concern from a few of the clients we talked to regarding this article. Those unfamiliar with the design process were unsure of how the project would proceed, and what they would be required to do.

Solution: Have a basic project outline prepared prior to any meeting. In this project outline, mark down tasks and who would be responsible for completing them, as well as any more details you require. In the meeting with your client, break down how the basic project will go (meeting/ research/ drafts/ presentation/ revision/ content creation/ testing/ launch/ training etc) and what you would like from them. Don’t be afraid to be specific – if you’d like a Word document broken down into subsections with subtitles pertaining to each page on a website, say so. If you need the images to be cross-referenced and supplied with the text, ask for that. Don’t be a demanding jerk about it, of course, but every client we’ve been specific with has been happy with this approach. Don’t forget, the client is nervous too. They want to make you happy, so make their job easy!

Client Concern: Making Everyone Happy

Kelvin, an instructor over at STM Hockey Academy in Edmonton, had this concern during the website design and print design work Paper Leaf created for them. He wanted to make us happy and give us an enjoyable project, but he also had to make sure his boss was happy – with deadlines, created work and the like.

Solution: Laying out a project timeline first thing, either rough or strict, will help all parties involved with regards to expectations. I’d suggest the designer create the initial draft of the timeline, and if necessary, the client can help revise (for example, if they have an event coming up that will interfere with their ability to hit a turnaround time of 3 days for something). As we create websites/business identities/posters etc for a living, we should have a better understanding of how long it takes to complete stages of a project.

If the client does come back to you with unreasonable deadlines or requests, do your best to articulate why you can’t hit that deadline or why you shouldn’t add a rainbow unicorn chasing the cursor around the screen. Make sure to mention that these unreasonable deadlines/requests will hinder the performance of the designed piece; clients care about how well their business runs and how well it is perceived by their customers.

Summary

While this writing definitely does not cover any and all concerns ever had in the history of graphic design, it does cover quite a few common ones. By applying the solutions listed above, you can make sure your next project has a more easy-going vibe to it. Why? Because you understand and empathize with where the client is coming from, and you’re prepared to answer their questions and alleviate their concerns.

Reading back over this article, you’ll notice that many of these concerns boil down to communication. Man, do I ever harp on communication. But by maintaining clear lines of communication and being a personable designer, the project will run smoothly.

As well, many of the concerns regarding deadlines, habits and cost can be alleviated by using a design brief. This document will immediately involve the client in the process, give you a standardized way of obtaining the information you need to do a proper job, and give both yourself and the client a document to refer back to. Of course, you don’t always have to use a formal design brief process either. Quite often, we gather the same information from the client and answer the same questions through an informal sit-down. Whether or not you use a brief or a sit-down conversation over coffee depends both on your style and the personality of your client.

One Last Thing

Finally, one interesting tidbit Anna mentioned was that a big reason that she decided to choose Paper Leaf for their web design project is because… we are small. By picking a small design studio – as opposed to a multi-level design firm – they felt comforted in the fact they could pick up the phone and speak directly to the person designing their site. They wouldn’t have to speak to a secretary, who would relay the message to the Project Manager, who would relay it to the Creative Director, who would then pass it down to the Designer. I found this to be immensely important; it gave us another selling feature as a small business that I hadn’t thought of. So fellow small design firms/freelancers, articulate this benefit to your potential clients!

Hopefully you’ve found this article helpful. What about you? What have you learned from your clients, and how do you make their lives easier?