Some clients view design like this.

To these clients, the value of their design dollar is based solely on how busy a design is – “how much design” is “in the design”. It’s really unfortunate, as any good designer can attest to the fact that good design is design that engages the viewer; that elicits the proper response and/or action from the viewer.

Quite often, the more effective design is the simpler design. Over on Drawar, another great design blog, is an article titled “Don’t be a Design Packrat“.  This article talks about, amongst other subjects, the difficulty in reducing a design down to its bare elements in order to create what is needed. This belief is one I subscribe to in most facets of life, especially design. But every so often, we run into a client who might feel they aren’t getting their money’s worth because you came back to them with what they deem a “simple” design – much like a fine restaurant bringing the proper portion of food to you.

So what do you do when you encounter one of these clients who thinks bang-for-the-design-buck should equal an over-designed final piece of work when a simpler design is a more effective solution?

It all comes back to educating the client, I suppose. But before we even get there, ask yourself: does this design truly benefit from its simplicity? Or am I just being lazy? Self-awareness is huge for progress in your design career, so ask yourself hard questions like this and answer them truthfully.

If simplicity is the best solution, it’s time to explain your reasoning to the client. One, good design has to elicit the proper response, or action, from the viewer. An overly busy design is just going to act as a barrier to getting your viewer to complete the action. Two, the value of the design should not be determined by the amount of design elements in the final piece; it’s like saying a meal is good because the portion is huge, not because the final product is tasty and fulfilling. Three, just because a design is “simple” doesn’t mean the designer didn’t put a lot of time into the work. As the previously mentioned Design Packrat article talks about, usually the final piece starts out busier, and the designer spends time paring down unneeded elements. Plus, there is research time, time spent exploring other concepts, final file prep and other areas that are all part of the design process. The term “simple” design can really be a misnomer, as the process to get to that point is far from simple.

Finally, perhaps try gently reminding your client that they are hiring you for your knowledge of design. The knowledge of design – what works, what doesn’t, and why – is just as, if not more, important as the designer’s Creative Suite skills.

Hopefully by explaining these things to your client, you can avoid dissatisfaction. Remember, it’s all about having a great client-designer relationship; open communication is huge, and by practicing this you will be able to help clients understanding of value in design.

The fundamental principles of good project management remain the same, whether your client is local or international – trust & communication. If you can gain one another’s trust, and if you communicate effectively with one another, then a project will run smoothly. But how can we do that if we’re working long-distance, giving up face-to-face meetings and focusing on internet and phone-based communication?

Well, let’s approach a long-distance project the same way we’d approach a local project, and I’ll point out ways to combat the small roadblocks that come up. Hit the jump to read the rest of the post!

WEB PORTFOLIO

First of all, you need to have a good web portfolio if you’re even going to get long-distance clients. So, if you haven’t done that already, get on it! Here are some great resources for online design portfolios:

Design a Simple & Sleek Web Portfolio

10 Cool Photo Portfolio and Gallery WordPress Themes

Design a Textured Portfolio Site Layout with Photoshop

MEETINGS

Just because your client is in [warm, sunny] Australia and you’re stuck in [freezing, grey] Edmonton doesn’t mean you can’t still have meetings. Of course, you’re not going to have traditional meetings – that’s just inefficient (not to mention ridiculous). Luckily, there are tons of great programs out there that allow face-to-face meetings over the web. The most obvious is Skype – free & web-based, so everyone with an internet connection can set up an account and use it with no cost.

This is a great way to build trust – body language, tone, and facial expressions don’t come across in email (and tone can often be misinterpreted), but using a service like Skype alleviates these issues and allows for both trust-building and increased clarity of communication.

So when you need to brainstorm with your client, or talk about a draft and/or revisions, try using a service like Skype.

CONTRACTS

So you’ve “met” your client over Skype and have come to an agreeement regarding the scope and cost of the project. Now it’s contract time. It’s not like you can go door-knocking if a client is late with a payment when they live overseas, so a contract is an absolute must. It still needs to be signed – there are online services like Fax.com to help out with this, or you can use traditional fax, or you can scan and email. Any of these methods is suitable and recommended when working long-distance with a client – and a good contract should be a trust-building device on both ends.

PAYMENT

Payment is payment – just like any local project, I’d recommend take a down-payment and/or have a stage-based payment system written into the contract. The client can pay a variety of ways – certified cheque (slow, but it works), PayPal, email money transfer, or other. Just because they aren’t next door doesn’t mean it’s difficult to receive payment.

REVISIONS

As with any project, there are always revisions to think about. The key here is finding an efficient way to communicate design decisions and revisions online. There are collaborative editing tools, like Google Docs, for text-based edits that need to made by one or more parties. There’s also the traditional email method – just be sure to accompany your designs with clear language and to fully understand your client’s feedback as well.

I’d recommend Skype here again, as you and your client can both open up  your document on your individual machines and have a conversation about what needs to be changed etc – as opposed to writing back and forth, which can be inefficient and difficult to comprehend.

Finally, if you’re working on a huge project with many people involved, I’d recommend some online project management software. Here is a great list of available online PM services from www.tomuse.com. Most of these services have a free component, but they are limited. If you have lots of big, long-distance projects on the go, I’d recommend paying for the full service of one of the providers.

DELIVERABLES

So you’ve gone through your whole project, your [insanely happy long-distance] client has signed off on the final design… now you have to deliver it. Sometimes that’s as simple as uploading the files to the web server, if you’re building a small website. Some files are also small enough to send via email. However, what about those huge projects that can’t be sent via email?

There are plenty of online services, like YouSendIt, which will upload and send links to your large files to your clients. You can also upload the files to your own server and allow your client to download them, if you’re comfortable with that. If it’s a print job, I would recommend sending the files directly to a printer who is local to your client, and giving the client instructions on when & where to pick it up. Before you do that, though, make sure your print piece is print-ready – here’s a handy list of pre-press tips from Smashing Magazine.

There you go! We just went through the basic elements of any design project and demolished all the [small] roadblocks that come along with working long-distance. So don’t be afraid – get out there and let your global design takeover begin! In a nice manner of speaking, of course.

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Depending on your city (or town, or hamlet, or whathaveyou), chances are there are a lot of locally-owned small businesses in dire need of design work. Luckily, you’re a local designer chomping at the bit to provide it to them. But how can you find these clients (without breaking the bank), and how can these clients find you? Read on for the answers to these questions: 5 cheap ways to find local design clients.

1. BE A LOCAL CONSUMER

If you want to find local design clients, the best way to do so is to be a local consumer. By that I mean: shop locally. It gets you out in your community, gets you meeting people and more – these are the cornerstones to finding local clients. Instead of ordering your new dinner table online, why not go to that small boutique furniture store down the street? If you go in there as a consumer, looking to give them business, they will be a lot more receptive when you [smoothly] let it slip that you’re a graphic designer.

In fact, that very situation happened to my wife & I when we were shopping for a dining table. We wandered into a locally-owned furniture store here in Edmonton, and walked out with a gorgeous new dining table and a web design job. How? It came up in conversation that we are designers, and she happened to need a website.

The moral: if you are a local consumer, you increase your odds of finding local design clients. It’s that easy.

2. PICK YOUR CLIENTS

There are a lot of businesses out there who need design work, and the scope is huge. From construction outfits to floral shops and everything in between, you need to ask yourself: what kind of work do I want to do? Once you have the answer to that question, you go find those clients. Do a bit of research on them, prepare your pitch, and contact them.

For example, say you were looking for clients in the publishing industry. How can you find them? I’d start by hitting up the Yellow Pages, Google, friends, family, and so on. Every possible avenue that might lead to discovering a potential new client is an avenue you want to explore. Besides, most businesses can be ‘found’ through any combination of the above-mentioned methods – if not, they REALLY need your help.

Let’s say I found Peter’s Publishing Inc thanks to a Google local business search. Venturing over to their current website, I am greeted by flashing gifs, falling hearts & various other crimes of design. It’s evident that Peter’s Publishing is in dire need of a website update – but how do I pitch that to the client short of saying that their current website almost made my eyes explode? That’s your department – you need to massage your words and make sure not to come off condescending or know-it-all-ish (like I talked about in How to Get Your Clients to Use a Design Brief). If you come off like a know-it-all jerk, they’re not going to want to work with you.

So you’ve written and rewritten your pitch a few times and have it perfected – you come off cordial, and mention that you think your design services could help in a revamp of their website that could lead to increased sales. Awesome. Now pick up the phone and call. That’s all there is to it.

As well, don’t be distressed if you get shot down. These things happen, and not everyone has a website redesign (or whatever you’re offering) in the budget right now. Be nice; keep the contact; call the next person. Because you didn’t just get Peter’s Publishing’s information, did you? No, you got lots of publishing places. It’s a numbers game – don’t forget!

3. ASK FOR REFERRALS FROM PAST LOCAL CLIENTS

I don’t know why, but some designers seem almost scared of asking past clients for referrals. Don’t be. If you did a good job, and it’s clear that your client was happy with what you did for them, ask them to pass your name on to anyone they know who might benefit from your services. They won’t get mad at you; they won’t throw you out on the street (or cyber-street, if you’re asking via email).

Remember, we’re all in the same boat here. I’m a designer local to Edmonton; a lot of Paper Leaf’s clients are small businesses in Edmonton. We all benefit from word of mouth, and sometimes it takes a little push to get that word of mouth going. For some clients, referring people they’ve worked with in the past comes naturally (we call those clients AMAZING). For others, it doesn’t – and that’s fine. It’s not like they’re out to get you. Those are the clients you need to approach and say “Hey, I really enjoyed working on your project. I was wondering, if you had a minute, if you would be willing to pass my name along to any of your contacts who might be looking for web design/logo design etc. I would really appreciate the referrals – it’s how I get most of my business”.

Chances are, they’ll be excited to help you out. People like helping other people out. People like being able to give advice (in this case, “Oh hey, I know this really handsome great graphic designer. You should give him a call!”). So use that to your advantage, and ask clients to refer you – because you’d return the favor, right?

4. USE SOCIAL MEDIA

Yes yes, we’re all sick of everyone from your ancient Aunt Agnus to CNN talking about ‘tweeting’. However, if you want to find some new local clients, it’s in your best interests to use social media. And luckily for us, we work in the best industry in the world – it’s visually interesting, and thus there are a lot of people who care about it.

Start a Facebook page for your business, and keep it up to date. When you have a killer new portfolio piece, add it to your page & change your status so people know where to find it and why you’re excited about it. Then hop over to your Twitter account and put a link up to that killer design piece. Then write a blog about your design process and post it. Then submit that blog to some blog aggregators. And so on, and so on.

See where I’m going with this? You need to spread the word about what you’re doing. Yes, Twitter & Facebook both reach much further than your local coffee shop, but you know what? I’d bet most of the people you’re friends with on Facebook are from your city, or used to be. People you met at a show, people you went to high school with and so forth. These social media tools allow us, as designers, to keep reminding people what we do. By doing that, we’re building brand awareness. And it might not immediately result in a multi-thousand dollar design job (although I wouldn’t complain about that), but down the road it could very well turn into something. Who knows? Maybe that guy who used to huck spitballs at you in Biology is friends with a guy whose uncle owns Peter’s Publishing – and through that [convoluted] chain, Peter’s Publishing saw your newly posted portfolio piece and wants to talk to you about a website redesign job.

Similar things have happened for Paper Leaf in Edmonton – so get out there and use social media. Remind people what you do – in a non-aggravating fashion – and that you’re good at it.

5. ADD YOUR BUSINESS TO THE GOOGLE LOCAL BUSINESS DIRECTORY

Search engine optimization is tough these days – there are so many sites, so many keywords etc. How can you help your web presence show up to your potential local clients? One way is to add your business to the Google Local Business Directory.

Why does this matter? Well, if a client is looking for a local graphic designer on Google, chances are he/she will search “[Your City] Graphic Design” or something similar. When a search like this is entered, the first hits that come up in Google are based off of location – Google Maps – and Google’s Local Business Directory. So even if your business is on page 47 of the keyword search “[Your City] Graphic Design”, it will have a better chance of being near the top of the Local Business Directory. This increases the chance a client will find you, as well as providing a valuable link back to your site.

As well, you can ask clients of yours to add reviews about your services on your Directory listing, which helps ease any insecurities potential clients might have about hiring an unknown designer. The only downside to this is that you have to give your address out – and if you work at home and don’t want your address floating around the internet, you’re outta luck. But let’s be honest here – it probably already is, in some form.

If you haven’t noticed, most (if not all) of these tips involve making it easy for people to know who you are. By getting out in the community, you can make face to face contacts with people who could turn into direct clients (or indirect clients, giving you referrals because you wooed them with your people skills). By making use of social media & the internet, you can provide another avenue for potential local clients to find you. You could be the greatest designer in the world, but if you just sit in your home office and seclude yourself from the world, nobody will know who you are. So don’t be afraid to tell people what you do. Don’t be afraid to get out in your community and get active. Don’t be afraid of using social media and the like to promote yourself. You’ll meet people, and the more people you meet, the better chance you have of finding local design clients.

Hope this helped – now go forth and find local design clients! If you enjoyed the article, please share and/or subscribe to the RSS feed here.

Your logo is the face of your business. It needs to project the image you want for your business; it needs to attract your target market; it needs to be effective in a range of mediums. Each client is unique, and thus each client’s logo is unique. So how do you know what a great logo looks like? How can you articulate the qualities of a good logo? What goes in to a logo design process?

Those questions, and more, are what we aim to answer with this article. If you are looking into hiring a designer to create your logo, or rebrand your business, please read on. This article will tell you what to look for in a logo, and reveal to you exactly how Paper Leaf goes about creating logos for our [many, happy] clients. Hit the jump for more info!

OBJECTIVES

Of course, a project is doomed to failure without defined goals & objectives. Be sure that your designer knows the specific objectives & goals of your logo, so that your logo reflects your business!

VECTOR GRAPHICS & WHY THEY MATTER

Logos must be designed in vector format. There is no ifs, ands, or buts about it. What is a vector graphic, you ask? Well, a vector graphic is a graphic that can be resized, to any size big or small, without any loss of quality. You know how photos (commonly in .jpeg or .png format) get all pixelated and distorted-looking when you try and print them super-big, or when you resize them to a bigger size than the original? Yeah. That doesn’t happen with vector graphics, because it is a graphic based on mathematical equations which get recalculated every time you resize the graphic. The result is sharp edges, no pixelation, and a great looking graphic at any size – billboard to letterhead.

Paper Leaf designs logos strictly in vector format – if any designers propose a raster-based logo (that’s what digital photographs are – raster images), say “HAH! You can’t fool me! I DEMAND VECTOR!”. We use Adobe Illustrator, the industry-leading vector graphics program, to make your logo.

USABILITY & EFFECTIVENESS

Alright, you’re sold on vector graphics. But a vector logo is no good if its usability & effectiveness are non-existent. So what makes a usable & effective logo?

First, you need to think of your target market. Who are you targeting? If your target demographic is males between the ages of 18-25 who work in the oilfield, chances are a logo that consists of a unicorn riding a wave of rainbows won’t really hit home with them. So make sure your logo designer is designing with your target market in mind.

Second, you need to think of all the various ways your logo will be used. Website, letterhead, business card, envelope, coffee cups, pens, sure. But what about billboards? Murals? Large banners? The point I’m trying to make here is that if your logo isn’t eye-catching and viewable/readable at various sizes – from huge to small – your logo will not be effective at all of these sizes. You don’t want to have one logo for every day use, and one for large items – there goes your branding. Lesson? Make sure your logo designer designs a logo that works at all sizes on a variety of mediums.

OUR DESIGN PROCESS

So how do we go about creating a logo? Well, after initial inquiries and such, we send the client a design brief. This brief, when filled out, holds everything there is to know about the project (objectives, information about the client, project details, etc). After getting the brief back, we research the project. What is currently out there? How can we be different? What are some good sources of inspiration?

After researching & brainstorm, we go to the sketch format. We outline a variety of ideas and choose the best 3-4 to hone. Using Adobe Illustrator, we refine these ideas (in black and white, so as to focus on the idea & not the colors – yet). After we get the 3-4 drafts where we want them, we start working with color.

Once the 3-4 first drafts are completed, we compile them into a Proof Page. This is a one-page document that showcases each logo, explains the meanings & ideas behind the logos and shows the typefaces and colors used. This is sent to the client for approval & revisions.

From there, we ask our clients to choose the one logo they most prefer and to provide more input to us. It is important to note it is best if the client details any problems they have with the design, rather than any potential solutions per se. This way we can use our expertise to come up with a proper visual solution to the problem. An example of this might be to say “I find the font used to be too traditional” as opposed to saying “I want to see the logo with Comic Sans”. That being said, there are no steadfast rules & we try what our clients want to see!

Anyway, from providing the first 3-4 drafts, we go through a two-revision process (where the client has two rounds of revisions to get the logo to the approved stage). This works well – it promotes good communication and keeps the project moving efficiently. We call this the 3-Draft, 2-Revision workflow, which you can read more about in our article 5 Ways to be a More Efficient Designer.

Once we have reached the final round and everyone is happy, your logo is complete! Overall, the whole logo design process takes 8+ hours, depending on the specifics of the project.

WHAT YOU GET

To recap, we have designed an effective vector-based logo that has high usability no matter the size it’s shown at, or what it’s viewed on. We have followed a 3-Draft, 2-Revision workflow to reach an approved final logo- a process which keeps the project focused & moving smoothly. So – what exactly do you get?

When we design logos, we deliver to the client a package that ensures they can get their logo on near-any medium without having to come back to Paper Leaf (however, you’re always welcome!). Our delivered logo package consists of the following:

• a vector file containing the logo in color, black-on-white and white-on-black
• a color PNG of the logo (hi-res & web versions)
• a white-on-black PNG of the logo (hi-res & web versions)
• a black-on-white PNG of the logo (hi-res & web versions)
• plus any additional formats requested by the client

This comes in a neat little zipped file. We also keep all of these versions on our hard drives for redundancy.

So there you have it! Everything you – the client – needs to know about logos in one nice little article. Also, if you’re interested in a logo design for your business, don’t hesitate to contact us!