Remember – design is in the service of the product (or content), presented in the way most well suited for the user (or the audience) – not the person who is paying for the design.

At Superawesome we are always giving our best to educate clients about what we do and how we do it. The reason I am posting this is to get this tremendously written article over to our readers.

While every single paragraph in that article is worth it’s weight in gold¹ – here are some of the ones I liked the most.

3) Tell your designer what you want to say rather than how you want it to look. Don’t ask for a color, shape, or style—ask for meaning or emotion.

Since a lot of people are not aware of this – we for instance ask for sites they like – but not so we can copy the styles of the sites, but to get what the client is really looking for. I found that they can show what they mean better than they can describe it with words.

5) Do your research and be specific about your needs. “I need to sell meeting planners on the idea of hiring me to plan entertainment for their events.” That’s clear and specific about both the product and the audience. The more detailed and specific you are at the start, the better the designer can tailor the site to your needs. If you add requirements later on, the designer will probably just have to shoe-horn them in, which won’t give you the best results.

Remember – it is in both our interest to understand each-other and “get on the same page” as it is often said. We can’t read minds, it is your job to present your requirements well, so we can know what we’re working with.

This bring us to the most important one if I may say so:

7) Design for your customer, not yourself, your friends or your colleagues. Be specific so your designer knows who your customers are and what they want. It’s more important that they like your site than that you like it. Always remember, “What’s in it for them.”

I can’t even emphasize enough how important this is for your clients to understand.

Remember – design is in the service of the product (or content), presented in the way most well suited for the user (or the audience) – not the person who is paying for the design.

¹ I know paragraphs don’t have actual weight, but if we’re talking about movable type – the hand moulds could be very well made out of gold, not lead. :)