However, I can’t help but think that us poor graphic designers are one of the biggest victims.

This is what has happened to me:

1. I do a draft. The client loves it. I send out quote. Client wants a phone call to proceed. I call. No anwer. Left message. Called again & left message…and the client..oh no..did not call back. Then I find out that the client decided to go ahead with another designer.

Fair enough!

But…why would you approve the design and want to go ahead with it and then out of blue decide you want someone else? And..no…I did not ask and receive a deposit. Not answering my phone calls was very lame too… I mean come on! I am a big girl I can handle it.

 2. Was approached by a client to do a business card design. I did sooooo many designs. For a whole week this client was driving me insaaaaaaaannnnne. Even calling me at 11pm. The client did not know what they wanted and they kept making me do all these silly changes only to, once the changes have been made, to tell me that they liked the design before all the changes were made. I had to give the client 10 designs with a different shade of pink as background- crop it to the actual size of the card- and then create an image showing both back and front- for all the different shades + previous designs.

After tormenting me for a whole week- the client finally decides the design is good. All I needed to do was to slightly increase the font size and that is it. The next day..again of out the blue..the client advices me that “the design is not quite what they wanted”. Heeeeelooooooooooo?! You said you liked it.

And…once again..no I did not ask for a deposit. This is where my good faith got me.

A whole week wasted! Then the client adds insult to injury and says something along the lines of I was given a lot of artistic direction by the client… OH MY GOD! Driving me insane with “can you make this font smaller, oh actually I liked the previous font size, can you have a slighthly lighter pink, etc….” does not equal to artistic direction.

If you are a client understand this: accomplishing the perfect design is a process or refinement between US THE DESIGNER and YOU THE CLIENT. After all, you know what you want..or at least you should know.

In addition..I am convinced the client took my design and went to another designer with it!

These are only a couple of examples of my coming in contact with the CLIENT FROM HELL!

From now I shall be smart and charge my up-front non-refundable deposit! If the client does not like it..oh well..

Have you had a similar experience?  How do you deal with them?

  If you are a web designer you need to know some of these points when designing a website. If you are a business owners that has a website or is about to have one designed, you too need to be aware of the followings hints on how to maximise the benefits of your website.

1.  What is your business selling? Do first-time visitors immediately know what your business is selling and offering? Or will I get confused about the marketing messages you are trying to communicate across? I understand that sometimes businesses feel they might be missing out if they do not mention all the great services that offer on their home page. NO! Mention your best offer; mention something that sets you apart. Once you have obtain the interest of prospects they should be willing to further explore your website and find out about what other services your business offers.
2.  Ask yourself what the goal of your website is and then work the design and content based on that goal. Make sure there is just enough information on the website: enough to entice and not too much to be an information overload. You need to present yourself as the authority in your field and industry. But do not give out all the information there is about your service on your website because you might make potential clients feel that you do not want to be contacted.
    Give potential to be contacted and asked more questions.
3. Show who you are: one of the things I recommend to most of my clients is to put a face on the website. As scary as some individual think this may be, you need to get over it. Having a picture of yourself and your staff makes you seem approachable and trustworthy.
   Think about it: if you were a client and you saw a picture of the person whose website you are visiting wouldn’t you feel more inclined to trust this person.
   What bad can this person do?
   They have their picture on their website!
4. Make sure your staff know what is on your website.
   It sounds bad if I call you up and say “oh you know that picture on your such and such page can you tell me what product is” and you think “we have a gallery on our website. What picture is he talking about”?
5. Who is your target audience: are you speaking to them in a language they can understand and in a language that appeals to them and triggers an emotion or response (I know a lot of and and and and….)
6. Get your customers involved: do a quick online poll or survey, there are many free ones, and ask your customers what they think of your website and what they think should be done to improve it. Do not be afraid of negative feedback; it is good for you!
7. Professional design: does your website look cheap? Amateurish? Doesn’t represent your brand image? I keep saying this to people: people are mean! They judge based on what they see! Imagine your main target are sophisticated high-end clients and the first time they come across your business is through your website that doesn’t look sophisticated enough for their taste! People buy a Mercedes for a good reason…they feel good in it, driving it, owning it.  Need help in this department, then…contact moi: Web Design Melbourne

 Remember: a website is a great and inexpensive way to promote your business and grow your brand! Do not take this opportunity for granted. Do not make the mistake of seeing your website as a small part of your business.

 This is it for now.

Cheers from Graphic Design Melbourne | Web Design Melbourne

Just a quick update that my new website is up and running.  It is still in the “Oh dear why isn’t this working?!?” stage, but I think it is not tooooooooo bad. So please do check it & remember…POSITIVE feedback is welcome

Here is a screenshot:

  Graphic Design Melbourne

Also, the new website for the Rotary Club of Box Hill is uploading as I write this. The new design was actually live 2 days ago, but I had to change a thing here and there and there…so I am just uploading everything…and as per Murphy’s Law it is sooooooooooo slow. Anywho, here is a bit about this design:

The Rotary Club wanted a website that is young and fresh in order to attract younger members. There is a sterotype about Rotary Clubs- old retired businessmen- which is certainly not reflecting current Rotary World. So, I thought to give them a really fresh and exciting..and..uplifting design. I was hoping that the club members would be open to this drastic change to their online image. So far so good

PS: I did not charge the rotary club for this design nor do I charge for any changes and updates. It is my gift to them. Yes, I am wonderful

So, do check it out please and any…POSITIVE…feedback is most welcome.

Rotary Club of Box Hill

What do I buy?
I have read soooooo many reviews and just when you think you have found the right printer you read a negative review. heart breaking….

Any suggestions?

I can see that more and more of you are searching for unique and crazy business card designs hoping to find just the right design to inspire you. So here are a few more funky business card designs that I got from an amazing collection on [Flickr].

Graphic Design Melbourne│Web Design Company Melbourne │Business Logo Design│Internet Marketing Company Melbourne │Branding Consulting Melbourne │

Free Photoshop Brushes:

People, Nature and Animals- Graphic Design Melbourne

Enjoy.

Greetings Graphic Design Melbourne

Just click on the link below to download.
If you could let me know where and how you have used these brushes would be awesome.

Enjoy. Graphic Design Melbourne

DOWNLOAD HERE: graphic design melbourne- free photobrushes set

Increasing the number of customers is one step to consider when attempting to increase and grow your business. I would certainly do this before I start thinking about introducing new products.You can either get new clients with the current product mix or offer or you can try to reach clients in the existing markets or encourage repeat purchase by slightly modifiying your offer. As you already know, it is easier to keep current clients than obtain new ones. I say, this depends on your business, product and situation. May well be, that it is easier for you to try and get new clients on board.

When it comes to growth strategies there are general rules and options but I think that selecting the right strategy quite often it depends on the company and situation.

So, how do you find out what you need to do?

Ask the following questions:

1. Which clients have a need for your product?
2. What requirements, needs and wants does your product satisfy and meet?
3. Does you products meets the needs that you are already aware of in a way that offers added value to the clients?
4. How important is satisfying that parituclar needs to them?
5. How much are clients prepared to spend to satisfy that need?
6. How many clients with this need are there that you haven’t introduced yourself too?
7. How do you reach them? Once you work out your target audience you may be able to find the right and effective way to reach those clients.

To thoroughly understand the market, the benefit associated with your product and the clients you need to do market research. But if you are not able to do so, asking yourself these questions will make decision making more effective than not asking at all.