I remember my first client meeting…even though it was quite long time back, but the whole episode is still a distinct memory. Not because it was my very first client meeting, but the anxiety and nervousness that besieged me was unforgettable. Trembling hands, shaky knees and sweaty forehead…altogether it was a nerve-racking experience. I am sure most of the newbie graphic designers face the same situation in their first meet-up with clients.

However, this was just a onetime incident for me because with time I grew stronger in confidence after each client meeting. Having gone through the pains and troubles of trying to carry out an ideal client meeting, I have learnt a lot of things that are necessary to keep in mind. You must prepare yourself wisely for every situation in order to attain perfection as a graphic designer. Hence, today I wish to give a few pointers that are essential in meeting the client for the first time.

1. Prepare Yourself:

The first and foremost thing that you need to do before meeting a client is to prepare yourself. This involves physical as well as mental and psychological preparation. You must remember that your “first impression is the last impression” on your clients, so make it count. Looking professional is imperative especially when you are meeting a client for the first time. But equally essential is to sound professional which is possible only if you are mentally and emotionally fit. Never build on the pressure of a client meeting, hold onto your emotions and simply think of it as a normal routine task.

2. Research The Client:

I’m sure most of you have experienced the situation where your client is telling you about his business and you have no clue of what he’s talking about. This is a clear case of ignorance for graphic designers where your lack of knowledge and preparation may lead to embarrassment. A prudent tip is to research your client beforehand so that you are on level terms with your client during the meeting. Search about their company and its operations, its competitors and gather all other relevant information. A client will be impressed if you know about their business.

3. Organize Design Brief:

Going unprepared on a client meeting is the worst graphic design mistake you can commit. Some graphic designers stutter during the client meeting and are bogged by several unanswered queries in their mind. This happens when you don’t prepare a design brief in advance. Prior to your first meeting with the client, organize a design brief containing all possible queries and questions you may have regarding the project. This should include the design requirements, details and other fine points that will assist you the endeavor.

4. Arrange Your Portfolio:

Since it is your first meeting with a client, you must prepare your entire arsenal to impress them. For a graphic designer, their portfolio is a compilation of all previous design works that they have accomplished. You can either arrange your portfolio in a file folder or simply present it to the client on a laptop. But be sure to take out the best samples on your first meeting.

5. Engage With The Client:

In most cases, the first meeting with a client is always mired by instances of awkward silence. For example, when the client is going through your graphic design portfolio on paper, you are sitting there idle. Instead, we must engage with our clients and be proactive. Rather than sitting awkwardly, take the initiative of guiding the clients through your portfolio and work experience.

Share Your Experiences:

Finally, Christmas holidays are over…and so are all my holiday-time client projects. Even though the holiday season is the most awaited time of the year but for me and surely other graphic designers , it’s merely hassle. I mean what’s the point of having holidays when you have to toil and sweat in these days too? Holidays are meant to provide joy, happiness and togetherness with your loved ones. But how can one enjoy this time with his friends and family when he has heaps of work piled up?

It’s the same thing every year. Days before holidays, you have clients flooding in like never before. I don’t intend to sound ungrateful here, but I would rather spend quality time with my family over the holidays then earn extra bucks. Money is something that can be earned anytime of the year, but the joy and pleasure of spending holidays with loved ones is priceless. To further elaborate my point, have a look at this interesting video created by Viewpoint Creative:

I don’t want to sound like a party pooper, but here are some genuine reasons why I hate the holidays as a graphic designer.

1. Extreme Work Pressure:

Christmas Brochures, Holidays Greeting Cards, New Year Calendars, you name it. It is the time when clients go frantic getting marketing materials designed and printed for their business. I realize that this overflow of work is a positive thing but at the same time one should avoid being a workaholic, especially in holidays.

2. Unrealistic Deadlines:

Meeting stringent deadlines is always a big task for graphic designers, but it becomes more impossible around holidays. This is because, clients are also strapped for time and require their design work created and printed well before the holiday seasons for promotion. For instance, a client approaches you a day before Christmas and asks for a New Year calendar design. Now it’s obvious that your deadline will be at least 2-3 days before New Year’s Eve thereby giving you an almost impossible deadline of one day to complete the whole graphic design project.

3. No Time for Family:

Normally, a few days off from work should mean spending time with your family and friends. But in a graphic designer’s case, it’s the same routine working on tons of projects. You may be physically present at home, but your mind is fixated on meeting your deadlines. You are so engrossed in work that you totally ignore your family and friends on the special days of the year.

4. Clients Demand Perfection:

Another thing that I don’t like about holiday projects is that clients get too much demanding. As if there isn’t enough client criticism to face all year, holidays tend to infuse increased restlessness and confusion among clients. Since they are investing on holiday promotions, clients want everything to be perfect. As illustrated in the video above, clients demand so many revisions that you are left stranded to achieve perfection.

Last month, I wrote a post on bad client types that designers should be avoiding. I received a fairly good response from my readers, which included both clients and graphic designers. Of the several comments, some asked me if I was being biased by writing only about bad clients. This clicked me with the idea of discussing the types of graphic designers. Hence, my today’s post highlights the evil side of Graphic Designers

Let me start by reminding that graphic designers are human beings as well and every human has both good and bad aspects. No one is perfect and have flaws in one way or another. In my older posts, I have already talked about several personality types of graphic designers but there are certain types of designers that you would definitely avoid becoming.

Hence, for all the graphic designers out there, recognize which type of designer you should avoid being:

1. The ‘Stereotype’:

Are you a designer who just follows the same old-hat ways? Someone who constantly uses Helvetica font in all his designs? Well if yes, then you are the stereotype designer, my friend. For a designer, uniqueness is one thing that distinguishes him from the rest of the pack. By using the same stereotype concepts repeatedly, you wouldn’t want yourself to be labelled as monotonous and lame. Always be open to new ideas and concepts and have the courage to try them out.

2. The ‘Photocopier’:

This is one of the most nefarious of designer types and must be carefully avoided. Just like a Xerox machine produces a duplicate copy, these designers browse and ‘borrow’ design concepts from elsewhere. Most of them do this on the pretext of inspiration, but the reality is otherwise. There is a fine line between inspiration and plagiarism. Always be unique and work out your own design concepts.

3. The ‘Angry Dad’:

Being professional graphic designers, one important quality is to maintain your composure. But certain designers fail to do so and end up becoming an ‘Angry Dad’. They have no control over their emotions and even a little client criticism can blow their top off. Most certainly, you should always avoid being the designer who shouts at their clients. No client likes discourtesy and impoliteness. No matter how right you are, you shouldn’t lose your temperament in front of the clients. Instead, you should always talk to the clients in a civilized and polite manner.

4. The ‘Selfish Snob’:

There are some designers who never listen to their clients. Instead of complying with the client’s requirements, they would design the way they like. These are the designers whom I call the Selfish Snobs. One must remember that, as professional graphic designers, one should never design for themselves. Rather you should design for the clients. You simply cannot afford to be self-centered in a design project.

5. The ‘Slow Learner’:

Some designers are slow learners who don’t grasp things told by the clients quickly. Although it isn’t wrong to be a slow learner, but most clients would avoid interacting with a graphic designer who takes considerable amount of time in understanding their needs. This happens mostly with amateur designers who enter the field without adequately learning the basics of graphic design. You wouldn’t want to lose your customers just because you take more time in grasping things.

6. The ‘Impractical Dreamers’:

Although it is good to be visionary and ambitious in your career, but being an Impractical dreamer isn’t advised as it leads to developing unfeasible concepts. Some designers conceive such design concepts that become a nightmare for the coders to develop. These designers lift their clients’ hopes to the skies and when the execution of concept fails, become a major disappointment in the eyes of their client.

Reading the above explained Client Types, which of these you will definitely hate to become or if you can relate yourself to any of these types. Do share with us

The most common way for a graphic designer to learn is through trial and error. Especially for young and aspiring graphic designers, who keep on committing mistakes because of lack of experience. You must have heard of the old adage “To err is human”. So the next time you make a mistake, don’t fret over it…instead learn from your blunders.

Having learnt from my mistakes, which I encountered in my career, I wish to educate my fellow designers about some of the errors, which they should avoid in any case. Following are 10 of the most common mistakes that most graphic designers commit in their graphic design careers:

1. Working without a Design Brief:

2. Ignoring the Target Audience:

The purpose of graphic design is to visually aid companies in expressing their message to their target market. Hence, if the graphic designers ignore the target audience, they will never be able to create the right design. In order to create relevant designs, you must first analyze the intended customers for which it is aimed at. Overlooking the target will lead to a weak and aimless design.  

3. Not maintaining a Contract:

4. Avoiding Contact with the Client:

Some graphic designers feel shy while some are completely ignorant when it comes to staying in touch with the client. One of the biggest mistakes you can make in your professional life is not communicating with your clients properly. By not staying in touch with clients during the project, you make them feel ignored and unwanted. You must take feedbacks from them to avoid any client criticisms in the end.  

5. Procrastinating:

6. Not Staying up-to-date:

In this cut-throat competition, it is essential for graphic designers to stay up-to-date with the latest developments in the field of graphic design. As technology upgrades every day, newer and better ways of graphic designing are evolving. Those who fail to catch-up in graphic designing eventually lose the race.  

7. Not Starting in Black and White:

Some graphic designers fail to understand the importance of starting in black and white. They directly create the colored version of the design. This is a big mistake as one should know how the design looks in black and white because some promotional mediums don’t allow for colors. Hence, what you create in color might not look good in black and white.  

8. Pass off Plagiarism as Inspiration:

9. Neglecting the Power of Simplicity:

Some graphic designers believe that if they add more effects in design, it will become attractive. But the reality is otherwise. Adding too many elements to a design makes it complicated and messy to look at. They often neglect the power and significance of simplicity. Instead of making intricate and difficult to comprehend designs, designers must prefer simple concept that the target audience will remember.  

10. Lose Confidence:

One question which every graphic designer confronts in his graphic design career is…should he follow the design trends or make his own? This is because when we create designs, we have several alternatives to explore from. We can either use our own expert design aesthetics to conjure up a design or incorporate a currently existing design trend into our work.

But what difference does it make between using design trends and following our expert design sense? This is the crux of today’s post where I try to differentiate between the various effects of graphic designing style. At the end, you can decide which style you fancy using as graphic designers.

Following Design Trends:

1. Reflects Consumer Preferences:

2. Misses out Innovation:

3. Time Saving:

Expert Designer Approach:

1. Unique and Distinct:

2. Creates a new trend:

3. Everlasting design:

Last week, I had a pleasant encounter with Shonali Burke, an inspiring Social Media Enthusiast, actively working for the betterment of refugees in the world. An independent consultant and business communicator by profession, Shonali has been working with USA for UNHCR on the digital aspects of Blue Key campaign. Let me brief her working for this noble cause:

• The Blue Key campaign is a symbol of the key to the home for all the homeless refugees in the world.
• It is basically a $5 symbolic Blue Key pendant that is visually adorable and acts as a sign of support for the cause of refugees worldwide.
• The aim of this campaign is to sell 6,000 keys to Americans (shipped within the US only) before the World Refugee Day on 20th June, 2011.

Whilst searching about the Blue ribbon campaign, I stumbled on several other organizations that use awareness products like pendants, wristbands and ribbons to promote their charity work. Among the many, following are 10 famous awareness items being employed for charity purposes:    

Campaign

Symbol

   

1. Blue Key campaign

Supporting the welfare of refugees all over the world    

2. Breast Cancer Awareness

To increase awareness of breast cancer through education.

3. Aids

To increase HIV testing and care among people most at-risk for, or living with, HIV.    

4. Haiti Recovery And Restore

To revive and restore Haiti after the terrible earthquake.    

5. Livestrong

Worn by cyclist Lance Armstrong, their purpose is to improve the life of people affected by cancer.    

6. Hunger Relief

For each wristband sold, they will donate funds to purchase 50 cups of rice and deliver 15 meals.    

7. Tsunami Relief Wave Of Hope

Donating a portion of the sale to Save The Children.    

8. Make poverty history

A white bracelet or wristband worn by famous celebrities to support poverty alleviation.    

9. Inner Peace Pendants

Donates 25% of all profits from every sale of pendant to any US-based organization of your choice.    

10. Cancer Awareness

Choose Hope sells buttons and badges to support the cause of cancer patients.    

Let us all support this noble cause by purchasing the Blue Key pendant and turn the dreams of helpless refugees into a reality. Its high time designers…our suffering friends need us.

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