Service

The client is stupid.
Ok, that might sound a big harsher than I intended.

INFORM
A mistake I made often in the beginning, was not give enough information to the client and then get annoyed by the 101 questions asked. It took me a while to realize that most clients don’t have any experience with (graphic) design when they hire you. So think back to when you had your first computer-classes and you had 101 questions yourself! You wanted to understand what you were doing and maybe even had a few ideas of yourself and wanted to know if they were possible.

You can avoid this by informing them, preferably (you’ll feel is) too much. Some things might come naturally to you, but assume it’s not the same for them. The ones who already know a bit, will skip that part, but the ones who don’t will be grateful for it! For example, I’ve but a extensive description on my portfolio about what I can do for someone. But assume they won’t read it (completely). You have to admit, you don’t always do this yourself. So it’s possible they might ask questions that are already answered, but stay polite and just answer them.

ASK QUESTIONS
Like I said, the client probably has no idea what they have to keep in account, so help them. They might have an idea that is ridiculously expensive. You’re the expert and you might have experience with cheaper solutions. Share these with the client, they’ll appreciate it. They could still want the expensive option, but at least they know there’s more possible.

WHAT THEY DON'T WANT
What can tell you even more than what they love, is what they really don’t like. I always ask this. They might hate the color combo yellow-blue but wouldn’t have thought to tell this. You, now knowing, could have spend hours of work creating a nice yellow-blue design, waste of time! You’re probably going to save some time, by just asking.

HELP WITH PRINTING
I’m a big believer of this, because of course you want your designs to be printed nicely. You might have some favorite printers, so recommend these to your client. The ones who have their own favorite printers I always ask which one they’re going to use, so I can supply the design according to their specifications (so you don’t have to correct it, because they forget to tell you).