People assume that every independent graphic artist has “the gift” to grace their business with the best web design and assume that the designer can code them an entire back end system along with it. All while keeping it under a low low budget and a next to impossible deadline. But I can’t blame the client. The only person I can blame is the designer! Here are the reasons why:

1. The designer commits to projects they can’t do.

I’ve been in these shoes. My second project I ever worked on, I met with the client on the phone at first saying, “Sure! No problem!” Once we meet up, they give me details of what they want. “We want a website with a complete tracker system to follow each sales lead through a very complicated, yet simple structure that will also give us email access, hot coffee to order, and for under 1000 dollars.”

Okay, I made up that part about coffee, but you get the idea. IMPOSSIBLE TASKS for under 1k?! Young Sean… So innocent… So young… So SO naive. Young Sean said yes. The project went slow, the clients got pissed off, and I dropped the project out of frustration. As a designer, it’s never a smart idea to commit to something that you don’t have a skill set for.

2. Independent designers (99% of the time) never can meet proper deadlines

I originally wanted to put this under the subject of “designers commit to things they cant do” but this NEEDS a subject on its own. Designers have a very bad habit of wanting to please the client in fear of losing them and the potential job. But you, the designer, don’t have to give the client unreasonable deadlines that you cannot meet! All it does is puts the designer in a stressful bind and frustrates/angers the client when (NOT IF) you don’t meet the set time those two discussed.

Now, I think about my schedule, tell them what it looks like, and I always ALWAYS tell them to attach on an extra couple of days for revisions or hiccups. I have YET to have a client tell me that the extra buffer time is unacceptable and they drop me as a designer.

3. Designers aren’t the messiah for marketing the clients product.

There is a constant idea that floats into a clients head. This is, “The designer will know how to market this.” when the reality is that THE DESIGNER HAS NO F&%$ING CLUE HOW! This is where the client and the designer argue alot. But the client can’t blame the designer and visa versa. This is just a matter of loss of communication. The designer assumes that the client will give them the info, and the client assumes that the designer has done their research.

As a designer, you should know that the client has 99% NEVER gone to a designer for web work, so it is your duty to make sure to ask them if you would like them to give you the information or, if they don’t know, offer to do the research for the client. This insures that the product will A) go to the right target market and B) not have that discussion where the client and the designer just talk behind eachothers backs about how neither of them know what they are doing.

4. The designer is (usually) a prick.

Because the designer has a very awesome set of skills, their pride goes WAY up while productivity goes WAY down. I’ve worked along side many designers that do freelancing on the side and I can tell you, the conversation I LOVE to turn into an argument is when the designer(s) will say, “The client wanted this and that. I said no! They are crazy if they think I will do that.” or “The client is stupid. They wanted this and that and I told them to their face, ‘No one likes you and I wish you would die in a fire’ all while taking a crap on their floor.” (Yes, I’m over exaggerating again.)

The reason why I like this argument? I always win. The designer always has a bad habit of down talking the client when most times, the client has a stack of degrees and has so much money, they can shoot you in the face in front of a cop, in broad daylight, and get away with it. Work with eachother and instead of saying, “That’s impossible!” Just tell them what the side effects might be and why you can’t or shouldn’t do it.

5. Independent designers are INDEPENDENT! A.K.A. Cowboys of the internet

There are no rules here people. Designers don’t have a set code of ethics, or a standard of practice which, yes, is messed up, but that’s how it is. And with the business market going the way of the internet, designers are needed every day! But what can you, the client, do about it? It’s quite simple.

Ask the designer the process of THEIR standard. If you two can figure out what the process is, the time line will be more accurate. I really hope this helps the designer realize, that it’s not the end of the world if you contest with the client about deadlines and what you can and can’t do! Work with the client, be friendly, weigh every option the client gives, and ALWAYS take the initiative.

No matter where I am, and no matter what social setting I’m in, once someone finds out I’m a graphic artist, I get drilled with questions like “My brothers cousin does web design for 5 dollars an hour. Can you do that?” Even if I tell them, “With all due respect, your brothers cousin designs like a kid with parkinsons and a cocaine addiction” They still push me to do a professional design for next to nothing. This is the part where I mentally picture myself driving a golf club into their chest, sending them flying into something awesome like a bowl of punch, or a wedding cake. But I digress. If you are a designer and have these habits, please do two things for me. Either clean up your act, or get the hell out of the design field.

Dissagree? Agree? Want to talk about it more? Maybe punch me in the face? Leave a comment, follow me on twitter at twitter.com/bluefox or email me at sean [at] sean dash blake dot com.