Blueprint for Design

I took a small break to work on remodeling my office. I’m back and ready to continue the series on my design process.  If you’re interested, check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. This next phase is where you take the suggestions that your client has made to the original concept and “fix” it.

This phase is pretty straightforward.  I do however see two ways to approach this part of the project.  The first, and easiest, is to just make all the changes the client wants.  This typically leads to happy clients. That’s never a bad thing.  You can probably then guess that the other approach is to pick and choose what changes to make.  Many reasons can dictate this decision.  You may have spent too much time and just can’t afford it.  The fixes may be a hindrance to the design. Or, they may just be plain bad suggestions.  Using judgment here is the most important thing. Not every piece needs to go in your portfolio.  You may just have to suck it up and make the corrections. I’ve even changed a piece for the client, but kept my original design or concept as my showcase piece. I go back to the fact that happy clients are the best ones.  They lead to more work and more money.  Which, where you are comfortable admitting it or not, is the main goal of owning your design company. You don’t do the work for free.