Selling Your Ideas
Most designers we know don’t think of themselves as sales people, but during the design process you do need to know how to “sell” your ideas. Usually your client has seen and likes your design style before you begin work on their project, but that doesn’t mean they won’t make their opinions known when they see your initial ideas. If they challenge your choices, you need to know how to stand your ground and convince them why your way is the best.
Remember that your client most likely doesn’t know the things you do about creating an effective site. In theory that’s the reason they came to you in the first place. Yet, despite their absence of web knowledge and experience, you may encounter certain clients who will forcefully tell you what their site needs to do and how it should look, even if it contradicts what you know to be right for the end user.
A common situation involves a client who has no experience with the web, but has worked extensively with print. This could work against you if they try to apply their print design logic to your web interface. What a printed piece has to accomplish is quite different from the function of a good web site, but to a client, they may only judge its worth by the design appearance, the aesthetics, and overlook the usability factors.
As the designer and project coordinator, it is your responsibility to educate clients about the limitations and possibilities of the web medium. They’ll need to hear why the site should be usable instead of just attractive. Explain the underlying design principles of your layout and how your choices support their overall goals. Remind them that you both want to create an effective site.
You may not always win the battle, but it’s important that you articulate your position and at least try to make your client come around to your point of view.
Making Yourself Happy
Lastly, don’t forget yourself. You deserve to be happy with the final product. You’ve worked and probably reworked the interface design until everyone was either satisfied or worn out. External factors may occasionally get you down, but the end result should be something you’re proud of. If you stand your ground and are confident of what you know, then it’s likely you’ll be allowed to create a site that pleases everyone, including yourself.
Put it in Writing
It is clearly the designer’s responsibility to manage the clients’ expectations. This can be accomplished by taking the time to explain your process and describe exactly what you will do and not do for them. This meeting should be accompanied by a written document that details the responsibilities of both the designer and the client. You’ll be very happy you took the time to do this when you encounter some of the situations listed below. We suggest you create this document even for (or especially for) pro bono work or web sites for friends.
Common misunderstandings can be about:
- How many pages will be produced.
- When the site will be completed.
- How much the site will cost.
- When payment is due. (On bid projects, we like to ask for 1/3 up front, 1/3 after the interface design has been approved, and the final 1/3 prior to site launch.)
- The number of different design ideas the client will see.
6. Which browsers will be supported.
- The degree of content design on individual pages (number of photographs, any custom illustrations, text formatting, etc.).
- The extent of changes the client can make after the site is finished.
- “Feature Creep” is not free. (e.g., “I know it’s not in the plan, but can we add just one more “).
- Assumptions about what features will be included in the initial site development bid. (“I thought search engine registration was included!”)
- The extent to which the client is allowed to rewrite their text (the text they provided) after pages have been built.
- Forgetfulness. (“Oh, I don’t remember hearing you say that e-commerce wasn’t included in the price “)
- When the client’s text, photos, and other content is due.
- When a client is scheduled to provide feedback to a design.
- How much work is involved in “small” things. (“Just paste one of those little ‘Submit’ buttons on the form.”)
- Who is responsible for proofreading the final pages, and what is the procedure and responsiblities for fixing grammatical and spelling problems after the project is complete.
- How printable the web pages will be.
- Who is going to update and maintain the site, and how often.
This article was last modified on January 6, 2023
This article was first published on January 21, 2002
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