When I was younger I served tables in a restaurant and one of the main training mantras that management tried to instill in their servers was for them to “Delete the Wonder” for their guests. This meant that you should always keep the client aware of what was going on and to preemptively ask questions and foresee needs that they may have.
Today as a creative director this mantra still rings true with me. Most issues with projects steam from a lack of communication, miscommunication or the designer not managing the clients’ expectations. So with this said how can you as a designer “Delete the Wonder” with your client?
Step 1: Introduce your client to your creative process!
After a project is green lit the first thing that should be done is to have a kickoff meeting to review the scope of the project, introduce the team that the client will be working with throughout the project and most importantly introduce the client to the creative process. Every designer has a different creative process that they use but here is a sample of a process that through my experience I have found to be very successful with web related projects.
Sample Creative Process:
1. The Creative Brief
2. Research
3. Requirements
4. Brainstorming
5. Wireframing
6. Presentation
7. Revisions
8. Final Presentations
9. Sign-off from the Client
Step 2: Keep your client focused!