I just got Peter Bowerman’s excellent Well-Fed ePub in my inbox. I’ve mentioned Peter before on this blog. While he mainly deals with freelance copywriting, so much of what he says applies to freelance design.
He was talking about using some common sense when in doubt about your freelance business. From personal experience, I know how easy it is to either get overwhelmed when you’re just getting started, or to over-think things.
One of the issues you’ll face is figuring out what clients want or need so that you can market to them properly and deliver what they want if they hire you. It’s always a good idea to dig deep and figure out what is motivating the client and every last detail about what they want design-wise.
But there’s also a level at which you need to keep things simple and not be overwhelmed by deciphering the mind of the client. As Peter said,
“Clients want what anyone who hires someone wants: to simplify their life, spend less time doing that task, and have the desired end result when promised and for the fee promised.”
If you know nothing else about what clients want, the previous sentence, in all its simplicity, is a great starting point. Even after you know the gory details about a project, it still comes down to making life easy for the client and doing what you’ll say you’ll do.
By all means, continue to probe and get details about clients and their projects. But when a client believes that you understand that one of your main jobs is to simply make his or her life easier, you’re a lot further along than a designer who comes across as only thinking about himself/herself and cashing that check.
