Pleasing Your Freelance Clients is Not #1

When I first started as a freelance designer, I really thought that I should be able to please everyone. I would work extra, unbilled time on projects and put in far more hours than I should have. My number one aim was pleasing the client – and I’ve found out that I was wrong.

I want all my clients to be happy – and by and large, they are – but I’ve come to discover that dedication to the design has to be my number one priority. If you’re just looking to make the client happy, you have a tendency to let things out the door that are not of the quality that you want to display, or that the project deserves.

Clients are fickle, and they all approach their projects with something in mind. Many will say “I’ll leave it all up to you,” but far, far fewer actually mean that. They have a notion of what their project should look like when it’s finalized. It’s up to you to pick that information out of their brain, shape it, polish it and give it back to them in a form that meets their needs and expectations – but is also a piece that you’re happy with.

If you approach a project with your only goal being to please the client, that’s as far as it will get. You are the designer, and they’ve come to you to have their ideas codified in a slick, beautiful and professional manner. That’s what they’re paying you for, and that’s what you owe them – and more importantly, it’s what you owe the world of design.

I submit that pleasing the client, while still important, needs to be a secondary concern.

If you do your best work, staying true to your abilities and vision, the client will be pleased. If they’re only looking for customer service, there are a number of clipart packages and pre-made templates out there that will make them happy. They shouldn’t be paying you to do something that they can do themselves.

Design first – and the rest will follow.