Common Mistakes Designers Make With Clients

Here is an excellent 10 part article from the blog Graphic Design Blender

Common mistakes designers make with clients – Part 1: Not signing a contract
Common mistakes designers make with clients – Part 2: Allowing a discount
Common mistakes designers make with clients – Part 3: Burning bridges
Common mistakes designers make with clients – Part 4: Working for family
Common mistakes designers make with clients – Part 5: Missing deadlines
Common mistakes designers make with clients – Part 6: Not asking for referrals
Common mistakes designers make with clients – Part 7: Neglecting to follow up
Common mistakes designers make with clients – Part 8: Letting your client pool die
Common mistakes designers make with clients – Part 9: Saying “yes”
Common mistakes designers make with clients – Part 10: Commit to Change”

Part 1: Not signing a contract

Working this clients can be a difficult task. With lots of training and practice designing logos or web sites and very little practice or official training on working with people, it’s easy for us to make serious mistakes when working with clients.
Today, I’d like to start a new series where we discuss a number of common mistakes designers make when working with clients.

Mistake #1 will be (because it’s one of the most common ones I see) not signing a contract with your clients before starting a project with them.

Why is this such a terrible mistake?

Due to the nature of this blog, you can imagine the kinds of emails I get from designers. I love getting emails from all of you and I love helping you with your concerns as you build your design business. If I didn’t enjoy it, I wouldn’t blog about it all the time and I wouldn’t have taken time to write a book about it.

But as I help other designers solve problems on a regular basis, I’ve noticed that a good majority of the problems they face could have been avoided altogether if there was a solid contract in place.

Continues...Read all 10 parts...