Let’s face it, there are times when designers and their clients don’t see eye to eye over a project. When all else fails a designer may comply with client requests which are at odds with their own professional judgment, simply to make the client happy. But is this an ideal solution in the long run?

Collaboration can be a good thing

Some clients will have firm ideas on a design feature they want included in a project: anything from a particular colour to a complex layout. This can lead the way to a collaborative process between designer and client: a positive and constructive exchange of ideas.

However, most designers have also experienced requests for work which don’t represent good design practice. Common examples include changing the size of text or other elements of the design; filling up all of the white space; unattractive colour combinations; and copying other designs. It’s important to talk to the client about their request and provide some guidance about what will and won’t work for their design project.

What if the client disagrees?

If a disagreement brews, it can be very tempting to accede to what the client wants, in order to reach a resolution. This is understandable: it’s very tricky to successfully handle conflict with someone who’s doing business with you. But there may be a catch.

What if the client later realises (or has pointed out to them by someone else) that the design features they insisted upon are not as good as they initially thought? Will they come back to you acknowledging your previous advice and seeking to amend the design? In some cases, maybe. But the client may instead blame you for the less than stellar work, in which case you’re unlikely to get repeat business from them. At first glance this may seem like a good thing, but an unhappy former client has the potential to negatively impact your word-of-mouth client leads in the future.

Believe in what you do

It’s no good for your morale to commit to work you’re not happy with. On the other hand, when you take the time to stand up for good design practices, you present yourself as a professional operator whose expertise represents value for the client.

What do you think? Should designers go with what makes their clients happy, even if the final product is second-rate?

More resources:

• The Design Cubicle has an interesting discussion on keeping the client happy, which was the inspiration for my post: What Constitutes Good Design
• Eight Strategies for Successful Client Relations from Smashing Magazine suggests that unorthodox design requests may be resolved by listening to what the client isn’t saying
• Freelancing Mistakes: Don’t Give Your Clients What They Want at Freelance Switch

Image by woodleywonderworks

Choosing the right colour scheme takes a combination of research, design know-how and inspiration. Whether you’re creating a website or a print publication with lots of white space, your choice of colours is an critical element to the overall design. It’s important to do this early in a design project, in order not to waste time later by altering colours. In this post I’m providing a guide to the questions I address when selecting a colour pallette to work with.

Are there specific colours required for the client?

It’s common for clients to have a pre-existing logo which must be incorporated into a new design project. The logo’s original colour must be adhered to. Clients may also have specific colours due to industrial or safety requirements. They may even need certain colours in a design because of a type of product they sell e.g. oranges.

Can the nature of the design job be a guide on colour choices?

Is the design screen-based or print-based? If print, will the output be in 4 colour, 2 colour or 1 colour? What type of paper do you intend to use? What content will you be incorporating: text, illustrations, photography, diagrams, maps, patterns? What is the balance between various design elements (e.g. lots of text, occasional photographs, or a gallery of images with little text). Will your colour scheme be bold to enhance large blocks of text, complementary to a featured image, or muted to allow a gallery of photographs to shine? All of these things will affect your colour choice.

Image by the bbp

How long is the design expected to last?

Logos and corporate identities should expect to look fresh for many years, even decades after their creation. On the other hand, a publication which is issued seasonally (like a store catalogue) may want to change its look and feel with each new issue and is more likely to be inspired by changing fashions in colour schemes.

What tone are you seeking to convey through the design?

Colour plays a major role in establishing the tone of a design. Earthy tones suggest warmth, while blue can indicate professionalism and trustworthiness. A bright colour scheme evokes playfulness, while high contrast colours are very dynamic. Certain colour schemes can also be very trendy for a period of time; their use suggests a fashionable edge to a design.

Who’s taking notice?

Colour is vitally important when designing for a select audience or market. Older people have trouble reading text against a low-contrast background. Certain colour combinations appeal more to men, others more to women (and don’t assume that pink is automatically a colour you should choose when designing for women!). Even children vary in their response to certain colour combinations depending on their age. It’s also handy to keep in mind that a small proportion of the population is colour-blind and may have difficulty distinguishing certain colours from each other.

What is the competition doing?

The designer’s job is to make the client stand out from their competitors, and a carefully chosen colour scheme is one option for achieving this. A good designer will always conduct research into their client’s market and competition before committing to any design concepts; comparing colour schemes is an important part of that research.

Image by doug88888

What are the best colour combinations?

By now I usually have at least one or two colours in mind, but might need to do some more work on selecting the exact shades, or additional colours for the pallette. This is where colour tools can be extremely handy. I frequently use Kuler by Adobe and ColourLovers for their speed and vast library of colour pallettes to get ideas from. Adobe Illustrator CS3 also comes with an online connection to Kuler’s colour library.

What are some ideas for colour inspiration?

Whenever I see a great colour scheme on a website, I keep a note of it for future reference (hoping the colour scheme will survive any future redesign process!). delicious is a good place to do this. Personally, I use a combination of delicious and lists which I create in Google Docs. One good starting point for inspiration is my previous post on this topic: Fundamentals of good design: Colour schemes. When I find an image with a great combination of colours on Flickr, I add it to my favourites (you will need to create a free account with Flickr to do this).

The objective in choosing a colour scheme is to find the right combination of colours to best fit the client’s design needs. It doesn’t have to be beautiful - what it does have to be is successful at conveying the intended message to the client’s target market.

What steps do you find useful in selecting a colour scheme?

More resources:

• Top six most useful tools for designers
• Colour tools, palettes, schemes and theory, a massive list of online colour resources by David Airey
• 25 Color Palette Generating Resources for Web Designing by The Web Squeeze
• The Color Wheel and Color Theory by Creative Curio
• Color Psychology in Marketing
• Color Oracle, a guide to designing for the Colour-blind.
• Colors and the UI discusses colour choices for screen-based design, with some more information on colour-blindness.

When I begin work on a new design project, I usually work at length on creating a good colour scheme. I will be going into more detail on this side of colour selection in my next post. To begin with, I have collected several examples of interesting colour schemes online for inspiration.

Dan Trachtenberg

We Heart Stuff

Jeff Croft

Charles and Marie

Emily Forgot

Parker Smith Software

Wed.la

Itty Bitty Bistro

Designmind

Settlement Perspectives

Marcos Souza

Swesocks

Ginger Park

Third Frame Studios

The common element in all of the colour schemes displayed here is their simplicity. How many have you seen which contain more than three base colours?

Remember to catch my next post, in which I will cover the detail of how I go about choosing a colour scheme for a design project. The easiest way to read this is to subscribe to my blog.

I’m revisiting the subject now because of the launch of a new site design which stylishly demonstrates the seamless principle. Duoh is the design business run by Veerle Pieters and Geerte Leyseele.

The new Duoh site has been designed to be easily readable on a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels (which was how I first viewed it). The image above was captured at this screen size.

However, for larger screens the site takes on an entirely different feel.

Veerle has written a great post over at her blog about the creation of this design, including the idea of creating “surprise” design elements for people viewing on larger screen resolutions.

For some time now I’ve liked the idea of incorporating quotes with relevance to design and creativity on a website, and it’s one consideration I have for when I come to redesign my site down the track. I even had the Steve Jobs quote “Stay hungry, stay foolish” noted down! (that’s alright, I have plenty of others). I like the balance of colours and design elements in the expanded layout, and the way that the placement of the quote works almost like a footnote. Of course, to view even as much of the site as can be seen in this second view (without scrolling) you would need to have a very large screen indeed.

And if you’re seeking guidance on achieving your own seamless layout, Web Designer Wall recently published a tutorial on creating a site with a large background, using CSS.

Image by Foxtongue

We live in interesting times. The worldwide financial downturns have led to a great deal of uncertainty for small business owners and independent contractors (freelancers), including designers. On the plus side, small operators are in a better position than their larger counterparts to adapt to changes in business conditions, even drastic ones.

In recent months there has been a wealth of advice and discussion on how to weather the economic storms, chiefly by working smarter and keeping abreast of new opportunities which may emerge as businesses tighten their belts and seek to outsource work instead of hiring new staff. Reassurances like this are very encouraging, and I am now adding my ideas on what to consider in adapting your business to the current climate.

Seek clients locally

If you have been marketing your services online, there’s a good chance you have considered (or may already be engaged in) doing business with clients in other countries. Depending on where you live, you may now be experiencing a major shift in the amount of money you can expect for your services, because of currency fluctuations. Step up your marketing to prospective clients at home, and you can eliminate this concern.

Be a safe bet

Another advantage to marketing your services locally is that you may find prospective clients consider you less of a risk because you are based close by. Make sure you live up to this by being reliable and producing your best work.

Passive income

Have you got a product, or an idea for a product, which you can sell via your website? If you are concerned that falling currency values could mean getting less money for the hours you put in, then maybe you should consider setting up a passive income stream.

What are you considering doing differently to see through troubled financial times?

More reading on this topic

• Three Reasons Why Freelancing is Safer Than Fulltime During Recession at Freelance Advisor
• Design and Marketing in a Recession by Rob Cubbon
• Eight Ways Freelancers Can Survive in a Troubled Economy at Freelance Folder
• How a Web Designer/Developer Can Prepare For a Down Economy by Brad Strickland

Most of the designers shown here have personal websites to showcase their portfolio. There are a few sites representing studios operating under the designer’s name. The common thread for all is the use of absolute simplicity in layout. In some cases, there is very little or no visual evidence of any personal “branding”.

Paulus M. Dreibholz

Nick Bell

Jerome Rigaud

Daniel Eatock

Louise Fili

Alexandre Bettler

Adam Hayes

Marian Bantjes

Jerry Kuyper

Massimo Vignelli

Susan Kare

Which of these examples do you like the most? Is the minimalist (in some cases, absolutely stark) nature of these layouts something which works in every case? What do you feel that you know about each designer after viewing their sites?

Preparation is key to successful management of any project, and design projects are no different. The more preparation that both client and designer do right at the start, the more smoothly the work will go.

I find checklists can be very useful, so I’ve prepared a checklist of things that clients should provide their designer at the outset. To follow this list will ensure the client and designer are dealing professionally as well as creating an efficient workflow.

A budget

Knowing the client’s budget allows the designer to establish what they will be able to realistically achieve for the money, and to perhaps suggest a range of options.

A complete list of the client’s design requirements

The client must make clear at the beginning just how much design work they will require, e.g. layout for a business card, letterhead and envelopes OR logo design plus web design plus email marketing template. Occasionally unexpected new design needs emerge for the client when a job is well underway, but any “extras” which are requested after work has commenced will involve more time and money, and should be bound by a new contract.

I once had a prospective client say “We don’t know yet how many layouts we want, so can you just give us a rough quote estimate in the meantime?” How can a designer quote on an unknown quantity or scale of work? That would be like asking an architect to quote for designing your house but not telling him how many rooms you want. It’s impossible.

A clear outline of why the design work is necessary and what the client expects to achieve

Whether it’s a print campaign, posters for a conference stall or a multimedia presentation, every design job involves a goal to be fulfilled. It’s good for the client to think through precisely what that goal is when preparing to meet with the designer. Equally, it’s important for the designer to ask questions about the client’s objectives, because the designer’s job is primarily about meeting the client’s needs.

An outline of who the target market or audience is for the design work

This is very important information which will guide a designer in all aspects of the work they do. An advertisement or poster aimed at teenage boys will look vastly different to one designed to catch the attention of their parents. Look at a well-designed promotional campaign and you will easily be able to tell who it has been designed for. A client who has a detailed understanding of their target market will get the design which best suits their needs.

A deadline

Even if the work isn’t urgent, a deadline is important for effective time management. Unless the scale of the design work is small, it may be useful for the client and the designer to negotiate a series of deadlines for stages of work.

High quality images

If the client has an existing logo to be used in the design work, it should be provided in vector format. The most common vector formats are Postscript (.eps) and Illustrator (.ai). A vector format allows the logo to be made bigger or smaller without losing image quality and clarity. A .jpg file is not a vector format and may not represent a client’s logo at its best, depending on its size.

Any photographs provided by the client should have a high resolution. The best resolution for photographs is 300dpi (dots per inch). I always recommend this to my clients even if the photographs will go on the web. Although the final photo will be published on the web at the lower resolution of 72dpi, I prefer a higher resolution to begin with. This enables me to better optimise any photographs (where necessary) and there is greater scope for resizing.

Images and text in their final form

Any text, photographs, illustrations or other material provided by the client should be given to the designer before work commences. It can be a drain on time and resources if a designer is left waiting for these things halfway through a project. All materials provided by the client should be in their final form with no future revisions necessary. Any changes which have to be made after the design work has been done will cost time and money.

Ownership info for third party images and text

When the client is providing images or text sourced from someone else, it’s crucial to also provide information on the legal permissions which have been obtained for the use of the material (if any are required). If attribution is required, the details should be provided to the designer before any work commences. This also applies for any other material (e.g. music or video) obtained from a third party.

Samples of previous design work (where applicable)

If a client has a seasonal marketing campaign, or their corporate identity needs to be revised, it will help to provide past design samples to the current designer. It’s useful to discuss what worked or didn’t work for the client last time, particularly in terms of customer/audience response or the direction which the client and/or their organisation wishes to take in future.

This may seem like an extensive list but all of the above can easily be covered during the first meeting to discuss the design brief.

Is there anything you would add to this list?

Image by kevindooley

Designing for blogs, creating blog themes and building websites with Content Management Systems (CMS) make up probably the fastest growing aspect of web design. The measure of a web designer who is keeping their skills up to date is that they offer at least one of these services.

A good web designer should also have a working knowledge of XHTML and CSS, the fundamentals for quality, standards-based web design. Additionally, it’s expected that they will be able to demonstrate their knowledge and ability via their own website. But how about a blog? Is it necessary when working in the creation of blogs, for a design or developer to be maintaining a blog themselves?

Demonstrating ability

Like a web designer showcasing their services on their own site, it makes sense for a blog designer or theme developer to have their own blog, in order to reinforce to prospective clients that they know the medium.

Demonstrating knowledge

Once you’ve been responsible for your own blog for a period of time, you come to understand aspects of blogging which aren’t obvious to the casual observer. This can range from archiving blog posts, to analysing traffic statistics, and the most useful plugins. The more a designer understands about running a blog, the better they will be at designing with attention to the little (but very important) details like these.

Demonstrating professionalism

A good designer knows when a particular service just isn’t right for a particular client. Not everybody is suited to blogging. Maybe a client seems unlikely to have the commitment to regular posting, or maybe they’re not a great communicator. It’s better if a designer has first-hand knowledge of the challenges that come with blogging, and it’s definitely better if they can be honest with clients when the service they’re seeking isn’t the best fit. And no blog designer wants a stagnant or defunct blog on their portfolio.

It should be a basic consideration when shopping for a web designer to create your new (or new-look) blog: does this person have their own blog?

It doesn’t need to be updated daily or have a subscriber list in the thousands. Any experienced blog designer will tell you that building a subscriber base is a lengthy (yet rewarding) exercise. What’s more, a successful designer or developer may be too busy with work to be posting blog updates more frequently than once or twice a week! So long as the posts are reasonably regular and the style of writing gives a positive impression, that’s a good enough message that the designer has a fair command of the blogging medium.

What do you think? Should a blog designer be running their own blog? Is it a reasonable expectation for clients to have when selecting a professional to design their blog or CMS-based website?

Recently I wrote a post about making a bigger impact with your design skills, which provides lots of ideas and avenues for designers to work with charities and non-profit organisations.

Since then I’ve been on the lookout for designers and bloggers who have come up with their own great ideas to generate awareness or fundraising for worthwhile causes, much like James West did earlier this year.

Have you ever thought about how you could use or donate your skills to help the world’s disadvantaged? If you’ve heard about Blog Action Day (October 15), then chances are that you’ve given some thought recently to what contribution you could make to alleviating poverty, by donating money or blogging to raise awareness about the event.

But what if you could use your professional skills or a winning idea to benefit others? It’s great to see that Blog Action Day is already inspiring some great initiatives, and I’m happy to give a shout out to the people behind them.

PSDTuts

The folks behind this impressive photoshop tutorial site are running a competition for button designs on the theme of Solving Poverty (in Australia, this type of button is called a badge, but I knew what they meant).

Winners will have the opportunity for their designs to be sold as part of a charity fundraising initiative; they will also gain promotion on PSDTuts and through Blog Action Day.

Sister site Vectortuts is running a similar competition, calling for t-shirt designs.

Styletime

Web design enthusiast Roger aka “Styletime” has launched a competition encouraging people to donate at least one dollar to charity. His chief adjudicator Paul Walsh is handling donations. This competition looks very promising. The only suggestion I would make to the organisers is that you should name the charity or charities which will ultimately receive the donated money. But the list of prizes and the sponsors behind them are very impressive, so this competition is worth a look.

But wait, there’s more

Designer Sean Hodge also deserves a mention for his top-notch article, 10 ways to take design action and make a positive difference in the world, which appears in PSDTuts. It’s a comprehensive and well-researched piece offering designers further ideas on how to use their skills to benefit those with the greatest need.

Have you seen any other designers using their creative skills to support Blog Action Day, or other aid/charity endeavours? Let me know and I’ll add them to the post.

Moving onto the purpose of this post. One of the things which has struck me over the past few weeks is the number of great articles by fellow designers which similarly feature inspiring website designs. I have put together a list of ten of the best resources published on design blogs in recent months.

1. 40 Creative Design Layouts: Getting Out Of The Box | Smashing Magazine
2. Web Design: Black Layouts | Abuzeedo
3. When Nature Calls, Nature Inspired Websites | Inspiredology
4. 20 Beautiful Dark Websites to get you Inspired | designflavr
5. 32 Inspiring Web Designs | Fuel Your Creativity
6. 40 most beautiful and inspirational website designs of 2008 | CrazyLeaf Design
7. Best of CSS Design 2007 | Web Designer Wall
8. Get web design ideas & inspiration from other designs - Brown | Design Shard
9. 25 Incredibly Artistic Websites | Vandelay Design
10. 101 Awesome Portfolio Sites | Designm.ag

Have you seen a blog article which you think should be included on the list? Let me know by adding your suggestion in the comments section below.