We serve a wide variety of clients here at Juice. And while every project is different, we notice many clients encounter similar challenges on the road to an excellent design. The great news is that a few small tweaks take care of those challenges entirely, and we’re sharing those tweaks with you!
Here are five things you can do to make your project’s design process go as smoothly as possible.
1) Get comfortable asking for the design changes you need.
Many clients apologize when asking for changes or they try not to ask for changes at all. While it’s very kind to take our feelings into account when reviewing design proofs, the truth is we expect to make changes. Think of the design process as though it’s a funnel. When we get started, the vision is wide and it may not precisely match what you had in mind. But with each round of changes, we move closer to the smaller end of the funnel and closer to your vision. On average, it takes two to three rounds of revisions to narrow down your ideal design.
2) Take a reasonable amount of time to reflect.
You are welcome to reflect on your design proof—a day or two is fine unless you’re on a deadline. Keep a running list of revisions you’d like nearby and refer back to your design proof several times throughout the day. Once you’re ready to move forward, send the list of changes all at once. This helps you achieve a more cohesive design in the end and prevents a big stack of proofs for review.
3) Share your design proof with somebody, but don’t share it with everybody.
It can be helpful to have an eagle-eyed relative or friend review your new design and make suggestions. But you may want to refrain from sharing it with an entire team. When too many people review a piece, the resulting feedback tends to be conflicting and confusing. You know what you want better than anyone else, so trust your instincts (and one or two others as needed).
4) Remember deadlines.
Most publications post deadlines for their ad submissions many months in advance. If you think you might want to submit an ad, set up a calendar reminder two to three weeks prior to the deadline to remind you to contact your design team. If you have to rush a design the day before, you might not end up with exactly what you want. But with the help of your calendar reminder, you’ll have plenty of time to hone in on a design you love that meets all your business’s needs. (And you’ll save yourself a lot of stress, too!)
5) Your feedback is *actually* valuable to us.
At the bottom of our emails, there’s a survey link requesting feedback. We truly want to hear what you have to say. We want to do everything we can to help our clients succeed, but we may not know what you need most unless you make a suggestion. It isn’t always feasible for us to incorporate all feedback, but we’d love to hear it regardless. Our clients are brilliant, and your idea may help us solve a challenge or inspire us to do something new.
Think about your upcoming projects now and decide which of these tweaks you’ll implement to make the process feel effortless. Then reach out to us here at Juice! We’re excited to work on something new for you.