I watched an episode of Design for life recently and in it, Philippe Starck was briefing the contestants on the next project. Before presenting the brief he lit some incense and told them that from that moment on, whenever they smelt incense it would remind them that it was their duty to ‘create something’.
I was inspired to write this post after reading an article written be Ed Gandia for FreelanceFolder. In the article Ed evaluates the pros and cons of meeting prospective clients before embarking on a new project. I don’t really like taking on any new work or client without the chance of a face-to-face meeting simply because I want to understand the motivation, inspiration and emotion behind the required design.
A face-to-face meeting isn’t always possible but when it is I try to find out as much as I can about the clients business or new idea. One question I ask is if they have seen a site, logo or branding concept that has inspired them. It’s crucial to ask this sort of question as you can get a real understanding of the clients vision, who they want to market to and ultimately where they want to be (that’s not to say that sometimes the client might have the wrong idea about how to market their business).
Building websites is (mostly) quite straight forward, making the site usable is common sense and testing but creating emotion and capturing your audiences imagination is another matter completely.
Tags: clients, design, emotion, meetings, Philippe Starck
My name is Mark Cossey and I am a Graphic and Web Designer who designs (and builds) websites, logos and printed promotional material.
Excellent li’l article; I really like the fact that I’m not the only one who feels a little odd not meeting people before I start designing work for them. I figure there’s no better way to absorb a good picture their personality and what they want the finished product to look like.