I have begun to take on website projects as well as commission graphic art and design and my responsibilities as a senior Biochemistry student, bartender and officer in the Mizzou service fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega. I wonder if I am working in too many different directions. I really was hoping my interests would converge at some point into what would become the job I create for myself. Solidarity dear friends.
I just want to express my frustration with web projects. When someone asks for a website, they must not be thinking about what they want, rather, just the notion that "Hey, a website with my name on it would be cool." I'm sure every designer has encountered this. The client decides to ask for something they have not thought about, but hope will materialize from their imagination onto the Web.
Scratch that. Materialize from the designer's computer, telepathically from their own minds, onto the web. Sound about right?
What is the answer? Draft a worksheet, like from grade school, with blanks to fill in so a McWebsite can be cranked out? or do you try and heft the client's idea from the depths of the chasm where a brain ought to be?
I feel your pain about clients not happy with their product because they never saw the end product before production began. The key to any production process is as much pre-production as possible and ask the questions that matter.
ReplyDeleteWhat message are they trying to get across?
How do they want to be portrayed?
Who is the target audience?
What is the end goal of this project?
Those are just a few of the many questions to ask before starting on any creative project.