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:

Creating artworks using traditional and conservative formats isn’t such a big deal these days. A true artist is one who can create an artwork out of nothing, someone who has the creative ability and talent to put life into dull objects. One such artist that lives amongst us is Terry Border, who creates fascinating bent objects using metallic wires and other scrap metals. He has a blog where he displays some very enjoyable examples.

Terry Border is a commercial photographer by profession, but creates wire sculptures as hobby. His unique creation of bent objects involves turning a still life object into real life using wires and creating artwork created from junk. Each creation of bent objects made by Terry has a deep and conceptual story to it. Some of these creations are funny and hilarious while others are sweet and innocent. I had the best time watching his amazing artworks and look forward to his future creations as well.

Today, I would like to share 30 of Terry’s amazing bent objects creations with my readers. I am sure that graphic designers like me will find them inspiring to watch. Don’t forget to let me know in the comment section which ones you liked best.

1. Sleeping Pills

2. Bad Cheese

3. Zombie Nuts

4. Yoga Candle

5. Persius Potato

6. A Young Prince

7. Leaving

8. Dancing Queens

9. Musical Fruit

10. Horse Cork

11. Banana Peels

12. Peanut Butter & Jelly

13. Children of Candy Corn

14. Attack of the Fruits

15. Coffee Rings

16. Elf Killer

17. Party Cupcakes

18. Hamlet Was Nuts

19. Raisin Experience

20. Daddy Long Legs

21. Honeymoon Sweet

22. Macaroni Murder

23. Mother Egg

24. Pirate Marshmallow

25. Pear Fear

26. Pickle Kombat

27. Crab Fries

28. Lighter Dragon

29. Missing Oreo

30. Brush Basketball

Roughly a year ago on 29th September 2010, Graphic Design Blog launched its very own Graphic Design Forum. In this brief yet adventurous time, our forum has achieved a milestone of 5000 active members. This signifies the level of usefulness and entertainment that we provide to our readers and members on the forum.

Our 5000 members include professionals like graphic designers, web designers, logo designers and other graphic design fanatics and fun lovers. Sighting the immense response from our esteemed visitors, we decided to launch a new “Infographics section”, where you can learn how to make interesting infographics by watching, reviewing and submitting your own creations.

• Interesting Discussions:

We have a lot of healthy discussions going on at Graphic Design Forum that you would enjoy participating in. The most recent topic on Steve Jobs (Late) will let you know amazing and unknown facts about this Apple mastermind. Although I did an obituary post on Steve Jobs revealing some unknown facts and pictures, but I have been learning even more through contributions of members on Graphic Design Forum.

Here, for my readers, who are really inspired by Steve Jobs and his amazing achievements, should check this quick video on YouTube channel of Graphic Design Blog. I created it to display the not-much-seen aspects of Steves life.

• Useful Tips and Tricks:

Over at the learning sections, you will greatly benefit from all the tips and tricks submitted on the forum. If you have some questions about graphic design, then you can find the answers on our forum. There are a lot of popular tutorial in our Tutorial section that will help you in your graphic designing.

For us, this is not the end of the road as we strive on building an even larger forum where everyone can hold healthy and useful discussions. Our next target would be to achieve 10,000 members, so come along guys and join us.

A few months back, I did a post on moving cinemagraphs, an entirely unusual yet exciting addition to the field of motion graphics. A cinemagraph provides the effects of a video within a GIF image. For those who don’t recall, Jamie Beck (Fashion Photographer) introduced cinemagraphs, in conjunction with Kevin Burg (Motion Graphics Designer).

As graphic designers, we should always be eager to learn about the latest developments related to our field. The concept of cinemagraphy is to animate some parts of the image while leaving the rest motionless. A good number cinemagraphs animate somewhat similar objects like fire burning, hair blowing, and vehicles in motion. Lately, I stumbled upon 28 new and fresh cinemagraphs that I wished to do a sequel post.

Let me remind my readers that these cinemagraphs will take some time to load. So, be patient because you will find them worth staring at.

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Until few years back, the design community was not very vast and offered limited options. But soon after the advent of crowdsourcing, the field of graphic design has literally burst with endless alternatives for business owners and grphic/logo designers. With companies turning their attention to design contests, several crowdsourcing sites have come into existence.
Not everyone has the mettle to withstand the challenges of the design world. However, MycroBurst has once again proven its dominance in the crowdsourcing field by successfully achieving the landmark of 400 active projects. From a client’s perspective, it shows the growing confidence of customers which they have on the services provided by MycroBurst. From a designer perspective, it is a great opportunity to cash in more than $120,000 worth of prize money.

• MycroBurst Reaches New Heights:

I recently blogged about the Obama campaign t-shirt design contest held on MycroBurst. This clearly showed the budding popularity of this fast-emerging site in the design community.

• An Imminent Leader in Crowdsourcing:

Considering that all giant crowdsourcing sites have been in the business for a long time, MycroBurst has achieved so much in less time. It is a clear sign that the rankings of the crowdsourcing world are bound to change once again anytime soon. The entire team of GDB congratulates MycroBurst on their splendid success.

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