Etiqueta: Designm.ag

Sometimes, when I’m brainstorming ideas about what to write an article about, I like to turn to Twitter and just ask my followers what they would be interested in reading about. I did that last week, and got a number of different answers. The one that really struck me the most came from Jason Gross, who suggested that I write “A post about giving your clients what they need, whether they ask for it or not”.

Actually, that’s something that I’ve been thinking about for a while, and probably something that a lot of designers struggle with – especially freelancers like myself, whose clients tend to come primarily from the world of small enterprise. When it comes to websites, for example, I’ve found that many of these clients are just looking to get a site up and running. They are either new businesses that are just launching, or sometimes established businesses that have not had a web presence, or who have a website that is clearly old and outdated (both in terms of content and design)

Rarely do they ever have any real experience in the field of web design, and frequently their “wish list” is based mostly on what they have seen on other sites, rather than on a specific need or perceived web strategy. The problem with this is that, more often than not, several (if not many) of the items on the client’s list may not necessarily derive any specific benefit for them. In some cases, these features may even hinder the overall purposes of the site.

What do you do in these circumstances? Do you just go ahead and do what the client wants, or do you take a risk and work at providing them with what you think they really need, even if it’s completely different (and perhaps even in direct opposition to) what they asked for? This is the question that I want to consider in this article.