I wanted a way to increase my portfolio and I didn’t feel right accepting money from people since I had no experience so a few months ago I started offering my design services for free. This was the best thing I could have done. I learned so much in these last few months and now feel like I am ready to charge for my designs, but it took a while to get to that place. It takes a lot of confidence to put your designs out there and let them be judged by others, something that I don’t think I will ever have, but at some point, you just need to push through your nerves. Along the way, I’ve made mistakes, I’ve had clients ask me to alter my designs, I’ve yet to have a client say they didn’t like my designs, but I am sure it will happen, and that is all part of the process. For those of you that are just starting the process of accepting clients here are my top tips for working with clients.

Tip 1: Personalize your Designs

Many of the people I worked with didn’t know what designs they wanted so I had to come up with designs ideas myself. As you get more experienced and can afford to be picky about your clients, I would have probably declined these offers until they developed more of a sense of what they wanted the graphic for. If you need the money, however, the best way to get an idea of what your client might like is by researching them. I solely made graphics and logos for blogs so I would always start out by reading blog posts, looking at pictures, etc. to get a feel for the blog and your client. You can then add those personal details to your designs. For example, I made two designs for people who were from other countries so I included bits of those countries in the design. I also made a graphic where I customized the hair and eye color to match that of my client. Those little details mean a lot to the client and the one time I forgot to personalize the hair and eye color to match my client’s, she did ask me to change it, but if I had done that from the start it would have looked way more professional.

Tip 2: Listen to your Client

Sometimes you will get proposals that you don’t think will look good and you may try to explain to the client a way to make the design better, but ultimately, your client is paying for the design so give them what they want. Some things you can definitely say no to, however, are creating designs that are copyrighted or above your skill level. I have had a few clients send me pictures of things they wanted to be included in the design and I had to tell them I couldn’t do them because those images are copyrighted. I’ve also turned down potential clients because they wanted designs that I didn’t have the skills to create and that is fine. Just make sure if you are turning a client down or altering someone’s designs for copyright reasons to always be respectful especially if you turn a client down because you don’t want to burn bridges with future clients.

Tip 3: Ask for Reference Images

Before I started learning how to use Adobe Illustrator, my sister commissioned a logo for her business from a company in California. One of the things they asked her for was pictures of logos or drawings that she liked so they could get a clear idea of what she was looking for. For my first couple of clients, I didn’t do this and I wish I had. It was a lot easier to come up with a design once I could see what a client wanted. You have to be careful when asking for reference images not to create an exact replica of an image they showed you and that is something you should tell your clients. I have noticed that a lot of people outside of the design world don’t know much about copyright and using images directly from the internet so you should let your clients know from the very beginning that you cannot create a logo directly like the images they sent you.

Tip 4: Check your Feelings at the Door

With every design I have sent to a client, I have had some sort of connection to them because I worked so hard on all of them. In an ideal world, the client will love your design as is and won’t ask you to change anything, but for the most part, that is not the case. Don’t try to convince your client that they shouldn’t change a thing. You want your client to love the design and if that means changing a part of your design that you love, then so be it. What I like to do also and I assume most graphic designers do is give my clients the original files. That way if they don’t want to offend me or if they notice a color is not right when applying my design to their website they can either ask me to change the design or do it themselves. I’ve had clients apply minor changes to my designs after we finished designing their logo and that’s fine. If you get upset over every minor change to your designs, it is going to be a lot harder when someone tells you they hate your design.

Tip 5: Be flexible

Now that I am getting more comfortable with working with clients, one of the very first things I do is get my clients information. I like to communicate through email so I always ask for my client’s email and I will always ask them to send me a link to their blog in that first initial email so I can quickly find their blog whenever I need to reference it for a design. Some of my clients, however, have preferred to communicate through Instagram so don’t be set on creating the perfect working conditions for yourself. Your job is to make this whole process as easy as possible for your client and that might require you to change your work habits to fit those of your client. Another thing I had a hard time adjusting to is most of my clients lived in different counties so the beginning process of figuring out what my client wanted took a lot longer than I wanted it to be because of the time difference. I would regularly send emails to clients who would respond the next day so if you have a specific deadline you need to have the design done by you should always factor in time for unexpected delays.

So those are my 5 tips for working with clients. Having others critique your work can be scary, but there is no better feeling when you receive that email from your client after working so hard on a design saying “I love it.” Do you have any other suggestions for working with clients?

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