You know what I’m talking about – right?
No, not that you guys… I am talking about the size of your clients. Most of my career has been working with a pretty decent cross section of clients, I started to think I should get some bigger clients with bigger budgets? (The grass is always greener on the other side.)
Mmmm 90’s Jelly Shoes
Lately I have been working on some of those bigger, exciting client projects / bigger budgets, but the grass is not so sparkling, emerald green on the other side – it’s sort of a nauseous 90’s lime green.
Two things get in the way of delivering great design for these larger clients:
1. Internal politics
2. Timelines
Larger clients projects often move at a glacial pace, meanwhile you have wrapped up two jobs for a smaller client in a week.
“Does the size of your clients, directly relate to the size of your happiness?”
Things that are important to clients (of all sizes) are:
1. Relationships
2. Being psychic
Let me explain… The better you are at the first, the better you will be at the second.
You need to know what they want before they do. You need to develop a good relationship with your client and what they think / like and need to deliver – also known as being psychic. Often a client doesn’t articulate what they mean very well. Half of your job is to working out what they actually mean.
They may say “Make the logo bigger” – but what they mean is give it dominance, ie: Make the image or text smaller so the logo stands out more.
Don’t get me wrong – I love these larger clients. There are pros and cons in everything you choose, you just gotta know what you can live with on a daily basis. Can you handle the politics, or is having control over the creative process more important to you? I personally like a bit of both, I think it would be harder to have one or the other type of client exclusively, but having both gives you a nice balance.
Keep up the good work!
Manda
xo