There is an old adage, ‘Old habits die hard’. Bad habits, if prolonged, develop into your second nature. Graphic designers alike, possess certain behaviors that have adverse effects on their clientele. The quality of work isn’t the only recipe of winning clients, it is HOW you go about performing your work that really influences your clients.

For graphic designers, it is imperative to understand what client personality you are dealing with. This enables you to adjust to their behavior and connect with them properly. But there are certain practices that designers must avoid since they directly affect their relationships with clients. Following are eight harmful habits that a graphic designer must beware of:

1. The Bossy Attitude:

Some graphic designers like to take matters in their own hands and follow ONLY their terms and conditions. These are the people who perform the graphic design project with an extremely domineering attitude. They will select all the design elements themselves without feeling the need to take any feedback from their clients. In other words, they act over confidant.

Results:
Graphic designers who try to solely dictate the terms of the project end up losing clients. Since every client wants his work to be tailor-made according to his wants and desires, not listening to their proposals would end them in dissatisfaction.

2. Too submissive:

Just like one shouldn’t be too domineering in a client/designer relationship, one should also not be too submissive. Being too submissive means surrendering to a client’s every whim. Graphic designers who tend to be too submissive wait for the client to give out each and every order. They ask questions for each and every minute detail, even for the ones they should understand themselves.

Results:
When a client comes to a graphic designer, he is looking for someone who knows what to do and how to do. When a client tells the designer what to do, they expect them to know HOW to do it. Asking too many questions can annoy clients and drive them away. Moreover, being submissive allows clients to take undue advantage of you.

3. Over-Confidence:

Another bad habit that some graphic designers exhibit is over-confidence. Confidence in your capabilities work is a good thing, but being over-confident can land you into trouble. Showing too much casualness and non-chalance to work is bad for a graphic designer. When you start taking everything for granted, that is when things turn bad for your professional health.

Results:
Since graphic designing is a proper profession, one must act professional too. Over-confidence and casual attitude is a real turn-off for clients. When they approach a professional graphic designer, they expect a professional attitude as well. Acting over-confident makes your client think that they’ve come to the wrong place.

4. Taking things personally:

Protecting personal pride and integrity is a good thing, but mixing personal matters with business dealings is always harmful. When graphic designers start taking things clients say to heart, that is when they are making a mistake. Hearing client criticism is part and parcel of the job and designers must understand that personal rivalry should never interfere with your business dealings.

Results:
When graphic designer starts taking things to heart, clients think that they don’t have control over their emotions. They deem it as a sign of an amateur and incompetent person. I know most of you would not believe in the term “customer is always right”, but one should be competent enough to deal with difficult clients.

5. Sloppy appearance:

Yes I know graphic designers mostly prefer casual and informal attire when it comes to dressing. But casual too has a degree u know? Torn jeans are a fashion no doubt! But fit for college days maybe. When you are entering into the professional level, you need to avoid sloppy appearance. You can’t expect to get clients by wearing wrinkled and torn clothing, can you?

Results:
In the professional world, appearance matters. You never know your first impression might your last…so make the first one count. When client see designers in sloppy appearance, it gives a negative feeling that their project might end up sloppy as well.

6. Presumptuous Nature:

The worst thing that you can do is to make assumptions in a design project. Sometimes when graphic designers don’t know what exactly their clients want, they simply make assumptions and base things on their personal opinion. Instead of asking the client, they make wild guesses and end up designing something that THEY ‘think’ is perfect.

Results:
The problem is when the client is not taken on board with the project details and proceedings, chances are that he will get dissatisfied with the graphic designer’s work. Clients may think that you are over-confident and don’t consider his opinion valuable.

7. Sluggish Worker:

Some designers have a tendency to put off work for future. They are somewhat like the Lazy Garfield, one of the personality types of graphic designers. Going easy and steady is good, but delaying important tasks can jeopardize your design project. These designers bother replying to clients’ emails and attending their calls on time. One must remember, if you procrastinate once, you will keep on going it again and again. Eventually, you won’t be able to meet your deadlines.

Results:
The effects of procrastination are simple. You fall behind your schedule and in the process disappoint your clients. Moreover, when your clients see that you have a habit of delaying tasks, they will consider you as a lazy and sluggish designer. Since they will be afraid of not getting their projects on time, they might not consider you in the first place.

8. Bad communication skills:

This is one of the things mostly overlooked by a graphic designer. Effective communication is an integral part of any business venture. Designers who are shy to communicate with their clients, cannot get their worth right to the clients. In the process, they are unable to get their terms and conditions upfront with the clientele.

Results:
Since negotiating with clients needs convincing power, introvert and reserved graphic designers often don’t clearly state their terms and conditions. Ultimately, they end up being undervalued and underpaid by their clients.