Target

I read a simple, but very true comment in a design publication today.

Designer and client must work together toward the same goal.

Very simple, certainly. And certainly very true. What? Clients have to work? Aren't they paying the designer to do that?

Look, no-one wants to waste time, energy or money. I hate any sort of waste. Being brought up by a woman who was brought up during the privations of WW2 in the UK tends to have that effect. And it's not a bad thing.

So one of the first steps a client can take - to be a really great client and get some truly fantastic work in a timely manner - is to make sure that time isn't wasted. Make sure that your design team are working with all the facts at their fingertips.

Let's say you have a fine-dining restaurant. Your audience, and therefore your brand, the style of your ads, the look & feel of your website, are going to be very different to the audience of the chap who has the local pizza takeout. That's pretty obvious but it's surprising how many clients don't give their design company full details about their audience, their business and its position in the market before design work starts.

If you've never written a creative brief before, your design company can probably give you a ready-to-fill-out document. (TSDG have one available for download from our website).

In addition to letting your design company know all about your business, let them know what goals you are hoping to achieve with your project. After all, you can't aim at a target if you don't know what that target is.

Let the company know if there are any particular problems that you'd like to solve or address with your project.

I've ranted about this before. A customers comes into your restaurant and says "Feed me."
"Would you like to make your selection from the menu, sir""
"No, I just want food. An appetizer and an entree will be fine. No dessert."
"Sir, are you sure you don't want to...."
"Feed me".

So you do. The customer calls you over.
"That was dreadful. That appetizer - I don't like shrimp and it was far too spicy. There were scallions on there. I don't like those at all. And as for the entree - ridiculous. Far too fattening, all that creamy sauce. I like my food to be served plain, not like that. And were those mushrooms in that sauce? I've never liked mushrooms. What sort of place are you running here?"

Madman.