How to Evaluation a Design Client’s Needs when They Haven’t Provided

 Since you’re reading this article, chances are that you’re a designer and your client is not. This can be tricky for both parties. 

Your client may not have any experience in design or know what they want. In this case, it’s up to you the designer to figure out what they need and how you can help them achieve their goals.

In this guide, we’ll walk through the process of evaluating your client’s needs when they don’t provide any information on their own. We’ll also give examples of some common scenarios where clients may lack a clear understanding of their needs or goals.

Key Takeaways
1. Initiate proactive communication with the client to understand their vision and goals.
2. Ask targeted questions to uncover their preferences, style, and expectations.
3. Analyze their existing brand identity and any available materials for design cues.
4. Offer a range of design options to elicit feedback and preferences.
5. Provide mock-ups or prototypes to visualize potential design directions.
6. Prioritize active listening to capture any additional insights during discussions.
7. Consider creating a design brief collaboratively to outline project objectives.
8. Emphasize the importance of timely and detailed client input for a successful outcome.
9. Be prepared to offer creative suggestions based on your expertise and their industry.
10. Maintain flexibility and openness to adjustments as the project evolves.

What Does Your Organization Do?

The first thing you need to do is figure out what your client does.

When someone asks you for help with a client’s needs, it’s helpful if you know what their organization does and how they differ from competitors. What is the mission of this company? 

How are they different from other companies in their field? What types of material will your client be producing (articles, brochures, etc.)? How often will they need updates made to their site?

What Are The Organization’s Mission And Goals?

When a client (or potential client) doesn’t provide any information about their needs, use the following questions to guide you in understanding what they need:

• What is your organization’s mission?

• What are your core values?

• What are some of your goals for this year or within the next few months?

For example, if you’re working with a small business that wants to grow from $50k in revenue per year to $200k by December 31st, that may be enough information to start developing a design solution.

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Who Is The Target Audience?

When evaluating a client’s needs, you’ll want to ask:

Who is the target audience? This can be an individual or group. If it’s an individual, ask them their age range and some interests they have. If it’s a group of people with similar characteristics, try asking what they all have in common.

What are some of the audience’s pain points (aside from the obvious ones)? Pain points are obstacles that prevent something from happening or succeeding. 

For example, if your website design was meant for teenagers but most of them don’t have smartphones yet because their parents won’t buy them one yet so then those teens will be unable to access your website on their phones. 

Because there aren’t many available websites that cater specifically to teens without smartphones yet so this would make it harder for those teens who need solutions such as yours but can’t find them anywhere else because everyone else has already moved on to using mobile devices for everything including browsing online and reading articles like these! 

This may seem like an absurd example but I assure you it isn’t these types of situations that happen all too often!

Who Are Your Competitors?

In order to evaluate a client’s needs, you’ll need to know who your competitors are and what they offer. If you have a vague idea of the type of design services that are popular in your area, then it should be easy enough to create a list of potential clients. 

As an example, say that you’ve worked with small businesses before and know that most websites follow the same general layout: one page for home (or index), one page listing past projects and testimonials, and another page listing contact information with social media links below it.

Now consider what companies might be competing with yours for new clients. For example, if you’re designing an eCommerce site for an online clothing store but the market is flooded with competition from other online clothing stores who have already established themselves as reliable sources for affordable apparel…

Then maybe it would make sense to try something different! Maybe instead of having two or three pages dedicated to showcasing past projects or showcasing testimonials from satisfied customers…you could use those spots on each page instead? 

Maybe even add some extra features like user reviews or ratings so people could find out more about this company before making their decision? In short: knowing who else is currently offering similar services in your field will help guide future decisions when creating something new

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Who Are Your Collaborators?

When we’re hired to design a website, we often have access to the client’s current site and the content that’s already there. We also talk with them in person or over email about what they want out of their new site. Sometimes, though, this information is lacking and when it is, you’ll have a lot more work to do than usual.

For each piece of information above, think about whether your collaborators need to be involved in any way at all. If they do not need to be involved at all, then move on! Ideally, your collaborators will be aware of whatever needs you have for the project before it begins so that no surprises occur during production (and thus make sure nothing gets lost in translation).

What Type Of Material Will You Produce For This Project?

The first step to determining whether a client’s design needs can be met is to ask them. But if you’re working with a client who hasn’t given you any direction, it’s important to know what type of material they need to be produced before you can evaluate their needs.

What is the client’s goal for this project? Is it a brochure, website, video, book, or blog? Or are they launching an entirely new brand or product line? Do they have time constraints that need to be considered in regards to how much design work can be done and when deadlines must be met by?

How Often Will You Need To Update The Site?

You should also ask how often you will need to update the site. Will there be new content or photos that need to go on it? How often do they want updates? If the client doesn’t know, then ask them what they would like your solution to include so that they can understand your recommendations better.

It’s important to make sure your client’s needs are taken into account when designing their website because if they don’t agree with some of the changes you’ve made and don’t feel as though their needs have been met, then things could get messy and costly down the road.

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What Are The Barriers To Effective Communication Between You And Your Audience?

In order to make sure you’re communicating effectively with your audience, you need to know if there are any barriers that are preventing you from doing so. For example, if your client is from another country and doesn’t speak English very well, it will be difficult for them to tell you what they want from their design in a way that makes sense. 

Similarly, if they’re not familiar with the culture of your country or haven’t had much experience dealing with people who aren’t like them yet (especially in terms of class), it will be harder for them to understand what the best ways are for communicating with people like yourself.

Technology is another factor related here: if one person does not have access to a device that other people do then that creates an additional barrier for communication between those two parties because one person cannot see or hear anything from their end without first bringing those things into existence through technology first (e.g., watching videos online).

Other kinds of barriers include cultural differences; social and economic differences; language barriers; technological differences…etc.”

If a website, what is the primary goal of your site as you currently visualize it? (e.g. information provision, transaction processing, product differentiation)

Transaction processing: If your goal is to process transactions through the website (e.g., e-commerce or donations), then you need to make sure that your client has clearly specified their data requirements and workflow processes so that we can design the user experience accordingly. 

You should also ask them how they want their customers to interact with them on their website in order to create a successful experience for both parties involved in an interaction with each other while using it as well.

Product Differentiation: If your goal is product differentiation through Internet marketing efforts by creating unique content throughout all areas like blogs/articles pages along with social media platforms such as Facebook walls or Twitter feeds where visitors can comment on these posts after reading them. 

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What Is Your Budget For This Project?

Asking about the budget and time frame is essential to any project. If you have a tight deadline, or if the design job has a specific scope of work, knowing how much money is available will help you ensure that it can be completed within your client’s timeline.

You can also ask what extras they are willing to pay for. Some clients may not want certain features but might be willing to pay extra for them anyway. This lets you know what options your client prefers so that you can incorporate those preferences into your design proposal.

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Are You Interested In Outsourcing To A Large Design Firm, Or Working With Independent Designers?

If you’re outsourcing to a large design firm, they’ll have their own internal processes and procedures. They may not be able to accommodate your timeline or budget because of this. 

They might also have a team of designers working on different projects at the same time, which means that their schedules are going to be unpredictable. If you want them to work quickly, you’ll probably have to pay more money for faster service.

If your project is small enough in scope and not too demanding, then it’s probably best for everyone if you hire an independent designer who can give you better customer service than a larger company could offer. It’s likely that this will cost less money as well! 

The drawback here is that these independent contractors tend not to work according to strict deadlines they do what they want when they feel like doing it (i.e., when they’re tired). But even though this can cause problems with scheduling deadlines and budgets, there are ways around this problem:

• Give yourself plenty of time before asking someone else what theirs are (and stick with them).

• Make sure the person understands exactly what kind of thing they’re making before asking anything else about dates/costs/etcetera (after all: why would anyone care?).

How Many People Does It Take To Sign Off On Decisions Within Your Organization? 

There are a few ways you can go about this. If you have access to the organizational chart or org chart, then reviewing that would be useful. Is there overlap between the design client’s key decision-makers and your own leadership team? 

What is their hierarchy like is it flat or hierarchical? Are there many layers to go through before you get a decision made, or do most things have to go through only one person at the top who makes all final calls for everyone else in the company?

If you don’t have an org chart available, reach out individually via phone call or email and ask these questions directly: “Who makes decisions around here? What’s their role and level within the organization? 

How long does it typically take for one idea/project/project team member request etc., etc., etc., to make its way up through various layers until someone actually signs off on it?”

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Conclusion

In conclusion, the process of evaluating a design client’s needs can be difficult if they don’t provide you with any information. If you’re working with a client who is being vague about their requirements, don’t panic! You can still come up with an effective design solution by taking these three steps:

• Consider your client’s past projects and online presence to gather as much context as possible.

• Brainstorm ideas on paper or in software like Sketch or Adobe XD before meeting with them.

• Use this article as a guideline when discussing the project at hand and make sure not to get discouraged if your suggestions aren’t received well right away.

Further Reading

Here are some additional resources to explore for further insights into client management and design requirements:

How Clients Should Formulate Design Requirements and Feedback: Discover effective strategies for clients to provide clear design requirements and valuable feedback to designers.

Client Management Tips for Interior Designers: Interior designers can enhance their client management skills with these practical tips and techniques.

Evaluating Clients: A Guide for Design Professionals: Learn how to assess clients and projects to ensure a productive and successful working relationship.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Are Some Other Questions You Should Ask Clients?

It’s easy to get stuck in a rut when you’re asking the same questions over and over again, but there are several other areas that are worth exploring with your clients. For example:

How will my client be using this design? If they’re going to be using it on their website, then what else? Does it need to look good on mobile devices too? When do they plan on launching it?

Are there any specific elements that I should avoid in my design (e.g., logos)? If so, why not just use those elements instead of getting rid of them altogether if possible? That way we won’t waste time looking at designs that aren’t going anywhere because they’re off-limits due only to habit rather than necessity.

These two questions alone can save hours upon hours of both parties’ time while ensuring everyone knows exactly what they want out of each meeting so nothing common gets lost along the way! It might seem like a lot but trust me – worth it 🙂

What Does Your Organization Do?

This is a good question to ask, and you should definitely follow up with the client if they don’t have an answer. However, sometimes this can be hard to get out of them because they aren’t sure what exactly it is their organization does yet!

What Are The Organization’s Mission And Goals?

This one goes hand in hand with “What does your organization do?” It’s important for you as a designer to know about the vision and goals of your client before creating anything for them. If you’re not sure what direction they are headed in or how their brand will fit in with other brands, how can you create something that reflects those goals?

How Do I Plan A Website Without Knowing What The Client Needs?

This is a common problem for designers. Luckily, there are ways around it. The most important thing is to get as much information from your client as possible about their target audience, goals, and objectives. That way you can use this data to determine how best to design the site, and how much time the project will take.