Is this familiar to anyone?
Designing for ministries and churches can be tough. Patience, understanding, and a great “listening” ear are absolutely essential.
One of the things that I constantly need to remind myself that it’s just as much about relationships than the product that I’m producing.
Yum.
it’s not just church’s.. it’s ministries and small business’s all fall under this.. they want everything for nothing.. and have no real clear direction… so I find it best to educate them the best I can and help find a solution for their needs… that’s if I’m “managing” the project…
hehe. you would know a thing or two…….
Oh man, front-loaded client education is a must. Whether the “client” is paying you as a freelancer or the “client” is your pastor and you pull a salary, educating them is necessary.
Bottom line, it’s not their job to know best practices for the web (or anything creative). It’s your job. And the distinction of who should know the most about what needs to be clear.
Ain’t that the truth! I am currently in the middle of redesigning my church’s website. My struggle has been mostly with getting all the staff together at one time. With the economy as it is, most of the staff are now part timers. Trying to get a conversation going is tough!
I’m not sure which is worse: The guy who thinks he knows what he wants, or the person who readily admits they have no idea what they want.
Granted, the 1st guy just gives out nonuseful and contradictory ideas….but the 2nd one seems to not even care.
I find it very hard to listen when the most frequent answer you receive to your questions is “I have no idea.”
Suggestions?
Those that give conflicting wants/desires will require tons of revisions because nothing you do can give them everything they want. While those that just leave it to your creative genius sometimes create a moving target because your designs “don’t speak to them.”
I agree with Jared: EDUCATION. Explaining to the the conflicting guy that in design you can’t really make something “fun and corporate” and also explain to the guy that doesn’t care that it is important to be involved in the project because the finished project will be better.
To underscore this education we give our clients we place a limit on the number of revisions we do for our clients. 3 rounds. Round 1 are three different designs all together. They can choose elements they like and we do 3 designs…lather rinse repeat.
After that they will have to pay for further revisions. We have found this is a great way to keep them focused and us to keep our sanity.
Anybody else?
Patience was the key word in that post, or at least in my experience. Often times, staff members know what they want, they just don’t know how to properly communicate it. Jared said it perfectly in the top comment above:
One of the smartest things we did as a department was create a form for people to fill out exactly what their needs are, and gives them a chance to communicate exactly what they want in a design.
Great post. There’s room for some good conversation and support here
@Brian – I’m interested in the form you’re talking about, is there anyway I could sneek a peek to see the type of language you used for yours?
Sure thing! I just emailed it to you.
If the author/moderator approves, I can post a link on here. Don’t want to do it without permission though
haha
@Brian Hope you get permission I’d love to see the form too
Maybe a little TOO familiar…
“I really trust your gift, I really want you to just ‘do your thing’ and go all out on this one!”
Later: “I just want a logo and a banner- just give me a logo and a banner.”
I find I have to work backwards. I can usually get in the ballpark, then its a matter of what part of the project/website/ministry pages/graphics the DON’T WANT. Very rarely is there a clear picture in their head of what they want – but they always know what they don’t want.
My favorite question:
Look at the is site. Can you do this?
I have two answers:
Yes- if you want your site to suck.
Yes- if you have an unlimited budget.
I agree with Jared- educating people is the best way to gain understanding. A little information tends to go a long way.
HAHA!! I’m putting your answers in my archive for answers to future questions, HAHA!!
You forgot this one:
I want it to look exactly like ______________’s site, but uniquely ours…
Challenging, indeed.
I say, bring it: http://dyecasting.com/i-thank-god-for-challenging-clients/