Working with clients is a necessary, and sometimes frustrating, part of being a graphic designer. Without clients, however, designers don’t have much business. Therefore, it is important to learn how to deal with the various requests and comments that you will come across in a design business.
In our recent graphic design poll, 50% of those who answered said their least favorite “client quote” had something to do with the client assuming a task was easy. “This should be really easy,” “I JUST need you to (insert complicated task),” and “This shouldn’t take you long” were all very popular answers. Rather than react poorly to a comment such as this, try to look at the situation from the perspective of the client and react accordingly.
Remember that the client is not a design professional, and may simply not understand that a task is complicated. While you may be insulted by such a comment, it is likely that the client did not intend to insult you. Rather than just saying something along the lines of “well, it is complicated,” focus on explaining why a task is complex and time consuming. Tell them the steps that go into the task or project, from meetings to research to design to preparing a piece for print. If possible, include the estimated hours for these steps or the task as a whole. The client will then hopefully understand why something isn’t “easy” or why it costs what it does. As with many client situations, educating your customer will help to build a relationship with them and make it easier to approach any future issues.
