It can be hard with new clients because they can’t see that value you’re creating until everything is done (or after a year when something crazy happens, they need that CD and poof! it’s there, like magic).

Then again, when a few people create that kind of value, it’s harder for the half-assed revolving door service providers to maintain the status quo.

Then again, there are always going to be people who will accept rock-bottom service and average work to get it on the cheap.

Thankfully, those people aren’t our clients anyway. :)

@Doug C. Human rocks. Human is the only way to help people.

Again, I use forms to stimulate a conversation. Like this:

http://sparkyfirepants.com/yourproject.html

The phone calls are so much more productive when I’ve had a chance to digest some basic project info. That way I’m also coming into the call with some suggestions and a ballpark estimate.

But the forms without the conversation? Robotic. Totally.

It’s also important that you make yourself available, allowing people to bypass your forms. I know that when I’m on someone’s site I like to see that I have those options. I notice on your site you’ve got direct lines of communication to you, which is awesome.

People like working with people.

You’re hiring a Human, Not a Machine.
.-= Doug C.´s last blog ..Freebie Friday: Illustrator Halftone Pattern =-.

After a new client has decided to work with me, I ask enough questions to seem like a dating questionnaire. I ask what logos or websites they particularly like or dislike, same with colors and styles. I ask for a list of words they’d use and what they’d avoid. I might even ask what their living room looks like, in order to get a feel for their sensibility: do they like neat and spare, or cluttered and comfortable? I ask about long-range goals and try to explain how to establish a ground from which to build on. We talk about production, and what it takes to actually get things made.

After the work is done, I give them a CD with the files they need in various formats and also keep them on file.

On the other hand, too often I’m asked to rescue a logo that someone’s cousin designed or recreate original art from a book of matches. I hate that stuff.

You make an excellent point about forms. Forms can be helpful in gathering info (I say because I use them – no bias there at all, ahem).

However, they shouldn’t take the place of a conversation. A form’s purpose is to generate discussion and be used as a starting point for more in-depth communication.

I once hired a designer who was about half right. I got the original artwork (I insisted), but they had a ‘fill in a form’ version of the asking questions part. Not nearly enough discussion about what I wanted.

I got some OK design out of it. Not bad, but not awesome. I won’t be using them again, and I’ll be keeping your advice in mind when I find my next designer.
.-= Justin Warren´s last blog ..Infrastructure Isn’t Agile =-.