20 Horrible Habits of Clients
Here is a common list of issues designers have to deal with while working with clients on projects and how to avoid or solve those issues in a professional manner.
1. Wanting great designs for cheap prices
Because everyone seems to use Canva and know a designer nowadays, many clients tend to have a bad idea of what design is worth.
While it can be ok to have low prices when you are starting out, when you are confident enough and your work is good enough, you should come up with prices that make it worth your time.
Many clients also try to outsource their projects to India and other places, where designers work for rock bottom prices, but you need to stick behind your work and hold out for those clients who know what you are worth. Let them know why you are the best choice!
2. Asking you to design on spec
This is when clients want to see a finished design before they pay. You should avoid doing this as much as possible, but in times of desperation it could be the only option.
Be confident though and let clients choose you based on your portfolio and not on spec. Be especially careful of designing on spec for people on classifieds and forums because it’s a common scam in places like those, where they really are not clients, but designers themselves looking to steal your work and use it for their own projects.
3. Slow payments
Some clients are notorious for paying slowly or not at all. So ALWAYS require a down payment before you begin work. For smaller projects, ask for all the money upfront and never send the final files until you receive the last payments.
4. Not planning out the project upfront
It’s extremely important to plan out a project, as much as possible, before starting work. Even if the client has a tight deadline, make it clear the project must be fully planned out before you begin.
After all meetings and discussions are done, write up an estimate listing all of the details of the project and your prices and terms.
5. Not giving you all the copy and images needed upfront
This is probably one of the most common bad habits of clients. Try to stress several times that you require all copy and images before you begin and this usually gets the client to give it to you on time. But don’t be surprised if you end up having to design using dummy text and make annoying adjustments later to fit the actual copy.
6. Not having high-res images for print projects
This is usually due to the fact that clients do no understand the fine points of resolution or that they just do not have any high-resolution images available.
Try recommend using high-resolution stock photography or illustrations instead. But if they really must use those images, try to keep them as small as possible. If this happens, make sure you write in your contract that the images provided were of low resolution and may not reproduce well when printed.
7. Forcing you to use poorly-designed logos and other elements
Many times, clients will ask you to include pre-existing logos or other design elements within the project you are working on. You will have to judge when and when not to argue this, if you feel it hurts the overall design. Learning how to negotiate and inform clients on what you believe is best can be considered an art form and takes practice.
8. Can you make the logo bigger?
This has always been an ongoing battle between designers and clients and has become a sort of inside joke for designers.
9. Asking for way too many revisions
This one can be pretty easily avoided by establishing a set amount of revision rounds and initial concepts before starting a project. Make sure you get this in writing or at least save your emails, where the client agrees to your specifications. This is most commonly done in the logo and identity design area of graphic design.
10. Asking for additional work on top of the original agreement
This one can be good or bad. It’s bad when they spring additional work on you and don’t want to pay more. But it’s good if your agreement outlines the pricing for additional work.
11. Never available for questions or feedback
Often clients can be extremely busy and working on multiple projects at once. As designers, it’s important to be able to contact your clients to show them samples, revisions and ask important questions. You can either try to deal with it on your own and get the project done or you can let the client know about the issue and try to resolve it or drop them.
12. Pinning printing costs on you
Many designers handle printing for clients, but way too many clients try and stick designers with outrageous printing bills because of an error in the final design.
You can recommend printers to your clients and do an initial check of the files to make sure they are print ready. But it’s up to the client and the printer to do a final pre-press check and make sure the files are correct.
13. Not willing to pay for additional costs
This usually turns out bad, if you try to spring additional costs on clients at the end of the project. Once again, this problem can easily be avoided if you specify upfront what the additional costs are or might be. This can include stock photography, stock illustrations, printing costs and rush fees.
14. Cancelling projects
Whether you or a client decided to end a project, you should be covered in some way. Using a contract is a simple way to protect yourself. Simply state that if a project is cancelled, you will invoice for work completed up until that point. Some designers give no refunds at all and some are happy to refund clients, if they are the ones who drop the client because of issues.
15. Returning many months later for login information
Clients from over 2 years ago may contact you in desperation because they lost certain login information. So it’s a good idea to keep records to make something like this an easy problem to solve.
16. Asking for files years later
Similar to log in information, clients often misplace files you send them. Always keep files on my computer, even from projects years ago and make sure to back up your files on multiple external hard drives.
17. Legal action
No one likes this one, but it does happen, so be prepared. Always save emails and paperwork, in case you need to present them as evidence. Also make sure you find a lawyer that can help you, if something comes up. Ask family and friends if they know any good lawyers who would be willing to represent you, if a problem occurs.
18. Over controlling
Some clients are very over controlling and don’t allow for much creative freedom. When dealing with an over controlling client, it’s important to let them know you are the designer without sounding to harsh or rude. Just give them your honest opinion on issues and suggest things when you can without being too pushy.
19. Lack of research and planning
Sometimes, clients want a website or some other project done, but they have absolutely no idea they need to do some research or planning beforehand. Still, they want a complicated website that’s easy to update.
This makes things extremely difficult for designers because it’s their job to explain every last detail several times for clients. While helping clients is your job, there are some clients who really need to go back to the start and do more research on what they are getting themselves into.
20. I know everything
Similar to over controlling clients, some clients think they know everything there is to know about design and what your job entails. They tend to tell you exactly what to do with your designs and can be very pushy.
Sometimes you have to just deal with this, but, as mentioned before, don’t be afraid to give your input. They did hire you because you are a professional designer right?
SOURCE: UCreative
