Keep client info close at hand

Wednesday’s Production Tip for Graphic Designers

Today’s post is going to be simple. Very, very simple. And short.

There’s one thing (or 2 depending how you look at it) I started doing last year that has saved me a lot of time. A LOT of it.

I started keeping spec sheets with vital information for all my clients. I keep on a sheet of paper the colors, fonts, and other things that I need to remember for each client.

I also keep a contact sheet for each of them too. On the contact sheets, I keep telephone numbers, addresses, URLs, passwords, etc.

(Members of Design & Thrive have access to both forms.)

It’s such a simple idea, but I did notice that less time was spent ruffling through papers and trying to find out the information I needed on each client.

And it keeps everything localized.

T A K E A W A Y S :

It’s such a simple idea but trust me it works! Sometimes, the simple things are the easiest.

And, it will save you much frustration too!

Technorati Tags: Management, Production

Set up a filing system for easy retrieval

Thursday’s Management Tip for Graphic Designers

One thing that’s been a big help (in terms of my not losing my mind looking for stuff) is to devise a filing system for the gazillion papers I have.

There’s no bigger time waster than riffling through stacks of papers looking for that particular, elusive document.

There are 2 schools of thought (one that makes sense to me and another not so much)

• Organize my category
• Organize using a numbered system for indexing files

You need to identify what categories you’ll need.

I usually divide these into 2 categories: personal and business/work. You need to keep them separate.

Here are a few categories to get you started:

• Automobile (insurance, repairs, …)
• Computer & maintenance
• Credit Cards (MC, Visa, American Express, …)
• Clients / Freelance work
• Education
• Employer (if you are a part-time designer)
• Finance (loans)
• Important documents
• Information (articles should also classified by categories for easy retrieval)
• Insurance (life, home, business, medical, dental, disability, Long Term Care)
• Mortgage
• Personal folders (birth certificates, fitness, hobbies, holidays)
• Repairs (home, technology)
• Registration information (domain, auto-responder system)
• Services (Accounting, legal, finances)
• Subscriptions (magazines, websites)
• Taxes
• Travel
• Utilities (phone, cable, electricity, internet, heat)
• Warranties (computer, electronics, …)

T A K E A W A Y :

Get a label maker, grab some files, and get started.

I like to color code my files. So for instance, all my client files are one color so that I immediately know where they are. I color code files by: personal, client/work, information (like articles), finance / important papers, and miscellaneous

Technorati Tags: Management

K.I.S.S.: Keep it simple, stupid

Wednesday’s Production Tip for Graphic Designers

I hate working off of production files sent by other people — especially non-designers who try and “take a stab” at it. BUT, it’s really bad when the files are created by so-called designers.

Whenever I get a file, at first, I always feel overwhelmed. I’ve got to go in and try to figure out what someone has done. See if the file is set up correctly and if I can modify it quickly.

My biggest pet peeve is getting a file that has NO text (character) and/or paragraph styles. If everything has been what I call hard-coded.

QUESTION: Do designers care more about the looks of the document than the way they’ve set it up?

Well, this type of file makes my job way harder.

I got such a file the other day. I had been told that it was going to be a modification of an existing file done by a bona-fide graphic designer.

Well, when I opened the file, I felt like writing back “I should charge you more for this”. I’d quoted the job as though I was “modifying” a file. Never did I suspect that it was actually going to be one of essentially building it from scratch.

Do yourself and all other designers modifying your files a favor: USE character and paragraph styles!

Here are a couple of reasons why:

1. Makes designing easier
2. Makes designing quicker
3. Keeps everything consistent
4. Ensures less possibility of formatting mistakes
5. GREAT for branding and creating a visual identity package
6. If changes need to be made later on, it won’t have to be done manually but automatically (and throughout the entire document.)

It’s all in the way you handle it from this point on:

My first temptation is to bash the other designer who did the job. But, as I’ve grown older and a little wiser, I don’t do that anymore. It reflects badly on all designers (and especially me). It’s expected that you would.

Instead, if you don’t and calmly tell the client that this is going to be a lot longer because the file is not set up to be easily modified, it makes you look very diplomatic and a professional.

T A K E A W A Y :

I sometimes wonder if it’s done intentionally (when designers are providing the final production files) to ensure that only he/she will be the ones modifying them the next time. And, if it’s not them, then it makes it that much harder for the next designer to use them.

Or, is ti because they are so eager to design that they dive in and let their creativity run free.

Regardless of which it is: keep it simple, stupid. You’re not just making it harder on others but yourself too! Not smart.

Technorati Tags: Management, Production

Lines in your email signatures

Monday’s Promotion Tip for Graphic Designers

I’ve blogged about email signatures before. In particular, I spoke about what to include in one in this post.

There was one huge thing that I forgot to mention.

The other day, I received an email from one of those internet marketers. it had the longest email signature I have ever seen. I mean this guy had telephone numbers, various e-mail addresses, websites, blogs, products you can buy, twitter, facebook, MySpace page, YouTube channel, etc…

Well, no one is going through that whole long list.

And that’s when it hit me!

I think that we should approach an email signature in the same way as we do content: there should be a hierarchy. The most important information should be at the top and then secondary working its way down.

T A K E A W A Y :

The first 2 lines of your signature should definitely be promo. That will likely get read. If they need your contact info, they’ll definitely read the rest of your signature.

But the first few lines are prime real estate. Use them wisely. You should also use them to promote either a product, service or a special you are holding.

Technorati Tags: Management, Marketing

Handling customer complaints or “adjustments”

Thursday’s Management Tip for Graphic Designers

It will happen, not all your clients will like what you do. It’s inevitable.

I’m finding that more and more clients don’t really know what they want.

They know they like this site and that site, and the colors from this other one. And they “know” what they want, it’s just not what you designed.

How to handle complaining clients:

1. Don’t take it personally, everybody has an opinion. We can’t all agree.
2. Remember: design is a subjective field.
3. Point out that that what they look all have different looks and different styles. You can’t choose a bit of this and a bit of that and put it all together.
4. Make it clear that what they want may not work.
5. Deal with only the “decider”. Don’t deal with the middle man.
6. Most clients will not understand how much time, work, and effort goes into design. They assume it takes 5 minutes.
7. Don’t raise your voice and get into a shouting match.
8. Try and find out what it is they truly want and what their goal is with the design.

C O N C L U S I O N :

Don’t take it personally, for rarely do clients know what they are talking about (when it comes to design) nor what they want.

And, mark my words, you’ll get a client who thinks they can design.

Technorati Tags: Management

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