How many questions should you ask to your client? A lot. But we collected the 5 most important questions you should ask before starting a design...

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How many questions should you ask to your client? A lot.
Before starting any design process or even before giving any
quote you’ll need to ask your client questions and as I already
said a lot of them. Well, maybe not a lot, but at least some
precise questions to get a clear understanding of what your
client needs or what he thinks he needs. And let me tell you
this, you will need to clearly understand what your client
“thinks” he needs. Having that in mind, you can then decide
if you are going to deliver exactly what he wants or if you
would like to present him some alternatives or ideas that you
think could be better for him.

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If you search the web, you can find a lot of articles with
specific questions that you could ask your client. There are
already lists with 20, 45 or even 72 questions you could ask a
potential client but I would like to focus on just 5 questions
that I consider to be the most important ones no matter
what kind of client you will design for.

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If a client approaches you for a design there is a reason behind it.
You will need to find out what that is. Maybe your client wants to
create a new brand or have his logo redesigned, or he needs a sales
website, or maybe the design should be just for fun. Either way you
need to know the goal behind it, you need to understand why he
needs this design done.
1. What is the goal of having this design?

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Find out what your client does so you can design based on that.
Depending on if your client sells pet food or if he is a lawyer you
will be designing different things. Furthermore, you need to
know how this new design affects their business. Designing
an e-commerce website for an online retail store is different
compared to designing a landing page for a dog walking
business. The first one is vital for the business, the second is a
way to present such a business but it is not crucial, and it can be
replaced with other methods, such as a Facebook page, flyers,
etc.
2. What is his business about?

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3. Who or what is the target?
That means who is the audience your client intends on showing
this design to, who is the targeted market? You will have to
apply different principles to different audiences. A kid’s game
design can´t be boring and you may not want to start a playful
design if you are working for a Government office or similar. You
need to know the audience to design accordingly.

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This question may not seem like the most important one at
first, but if your client tells you that he needs the design done
to present a new product, all the sudden it becomes one of
the most important questions to be answered. Your design
can be a crucial part of your clients business process and
your delay could delay an expensive event already planned.
You need to know if there is an important deadline to be
met.
4. Is there a timeline?

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Your design may be used for printed materials, for example
business cards, printed brochures, for meetings, estimate
headers, etc. Or it could be used for social media
avatars/headers, your clients website, etc.
You need to know how the client will be using your design and
where it will be placed to make use of the space available. Also
keep in mind that your design could be used for all those
options mentioned above and you may need to design different
versions of it.
5. What will the design be used for?

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Think of this as giving yourself a pep talk. The way we perceive ourselves and
the world around us can greatly affect our working day more than we may
realise. Just spending a few minutes a day reciting affirmations like “I will
accomplish all my goals today”, “I am a successful freelancer and I’m great at
what I do!”, or simply “I will have an amazing day!” can do more wonders
than we think. Getting into the habit of saying statements like this to
ourselves each day will eventually get embedded into us and we actually
start to really believe them.
We are all too often able to do this with the negative ideas and beliefs we
have of ourselves and our capabilities that it feels very strange to turn the
tables and actually tell ourselves the positives. This is why it may feel
uncomfortable at first but if you can easily encourage others then you are
able to do it for yourself and this is very important for your daily mood and
general happiness levels.
5. Recite Affirmations

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Basically those 5 questions will give you the essential answers.
What you need to know, no matter what. After that, you may
want to ask specific questions regarding Graphic Design,
Website Design, or Visual Design. Even if you design and
develop a website, you may need to know information
regarding hosting, uptime needs and much, much more.
So, be sure to ask a lot of questions.

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