You Wish You Were A Designer

Every designer has a style - a certain technique that he/she became accustom to over the years in their design process. Because graphic design to some extent is subjective - it is imperative that both parties find out what each is expecting from the other. I am referring to the client and the designer for that matter. As the client, you want to attain a certain goal with your project and hope that your designer reads your vision and understands your aspirations. Though, making sure the client’s objectives matches the designer’s mind and approach from the get-go isn't something that is easily achieved in the real world, like it or not it happens every day in this industry.

In many instances, designers don't tell the client how much time it takes to create their design simply because they don't exactly see the clients expectations. It is that very same scenario a designer cannot stop emphasizing to the client that providing a clear scope of their objective is so very important. Whenever a design project is taking too long and/or getting too expensive, it can only be tied to two reasons — one (i), being the client's inability to clearly define the scope of their project from the start and two (ii), the designer's inability to secure the skills necessary to produce what is intended from the client’s original request. Yes, it sounds simple but most of the time that is exactly what happens.

In many situations, a designer belief is to not waste the client's time and money, he or she tends to work fast—faster than most would prefer to. Because when you know from the start what the client is expecting, more so than not, you’ve already visualize the structure and look of the design you’re about to put together on your screen. But then again, some projects can't be rushed and at the same token some designs rarely take as long as they may seem.

Why a designer with years of experience is vital, having dealt with many different levels of decision makers over a long period, provides the designer a great deal of advantage and foresight. That seasoning coupled with their drive and passion for creativity can be very special come crunch time.

Sometimes, though, client(s) choose to develop projects and then bring in a designer later,many times too late. This is often inefficient, since many decisions may have been made about which a designer should have been consulted, resulting in unnecessary delays, additional costs and inadequate design solutions. The sooner designers are called in to consult on a project, the easier it is for them to help steer the project to the best graphic solution.

With all of today’s technology and software, one might say it should have made the designers life a lot easier – not exactly, whether or not a computer's processor is faster or bandwidth is bigger or how much more memory is equipped – ultimately you don’t make progress on any given project unless the client and designer is seeing eye-to-eye. Revisions after revisions is extremely common on the client's side and it almost always result in projects being delayed and ultimately putting all of the pressure on the designer. This all comes back down to the fact of both client and designer understanding the scope. Without a clear scope, it's very difficult to gauge the level of completion and especially when don't have some form of guideline/measuring stick to put it up against.