Dealing with graphic design clients can be a tricky business if you are meeting them for the first time. It could be even more cumbersome if they are unfamiliar with the design process. However, nothing compares to the hassle a clients puts you through if he is unorganized and/or unprepared.

Here are some key strategies I use with my own clients to bring them on track.

• Assess The Clients

Clients are supposed to be the focal point of a graphic design business.  Before accepting a project, you need to assess how well you two can understand each other’s work.

Just like you need to dig details of their business to provide them accurate results, they also need to invest some time in understanding how you (a graphic designer) would be able achieve that.

Unfortunately, a designer would come across innumerable clients who are either indifferent to the design process or too disorderly to find time for it.

Experience teaches valuable lessons, and with time, you must learn what type of clients you must avoid. Unless you have what it takes to tackle them, you must steer clear of them.

There are some very distinctive client personalities. You should know what you are dealing with before getting into a contract with them. Sometimes you need to go with the gut feeling that tells you how it’s all going to end up.

• Guide Them About The Design Process

Where some clients seem neglectful of the branding and design process, others simply need a little guidance from their designer, and, if they fail to understand the technicality of a graphic designer’s craft, they take a leap of faith and let them do, what they do best.

With such clients, you need to become the educator. You need to help them understand the requirements of a design project and what you need from them in order to make it a success.

Being disorderly doesn’t always mean they wouldn’t cooperate with you. You need to tell them the design elements that affect the feel of their website and how the audience views it.

You can also take advantage of this opportunity and familiarize them with other areas of branding such as business cards, brochures, or even social media marketing.

• Send Polite Reminders

Mostly your unorganized clients will be willing to do their part, but simply unable to do it because of their unsystematic life/workstyle.

To help them act upon their intentions, you need to send them polite reminders about their promised input prior to any meeting or deadline.

For example, if a client promised to send you files on Monday, you should send him a civil yet clear-cut message on Friday reminding of the things he promised and what consequences he would have to face if he failed to deliver them.

• Pay Attention To The Contract

Contract is something you should always take care of. In order to avoid being bullied by the clients, you need to get professionally organized yourself. A graphic designer must not take all clients as equally naïve and innocent. He should be prepared to meet any eventuality and the first step towards achieving that is the preparation of an unambiguous contract.

There are clients who deceive the graphic designers, not realizing that they are losing their own credibility in the process. Their type soon becomes an unwelcome phenomenon in the design community.

For the unorganized clients, you need to be specific about the input required from them and how its unavailability may affect the final result.

• Caring Is Sharing!

Have you encountered any clients that drove you nuts with their immature or unorganized behavior? If yes, share you experience with the rest of us. You might just save another person from learning it the hard way.