The Google Zeitgeist conference addresses issues concerning the overall intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of our generation. These insights are based on millions of queries received daily through Google’s search engine.
The most talked about presentation this year came from Isreali conductor Itay Talgam. Itay uses the metaphor of conducting a symphony to touch upon the topic of leadership and collaboration, the importance of interpretation within a structure, and what he calls “doing by not doing”. A fascinating video and well worth 30 minutes of your weekend.
The golden rules are based on the 3 most important factors that every designer should consider when it comes to project management - the duration of a project, the costs, and the quality of work produced.
It is imperative that you manage your clients’ expectations when it comes to these crucial factors. You must explain to them that even the top designers cannot offer the best of all 3 variables; clients simply cannot have their cake and eat it too! Normally, only two of the variables can favour your clients. They need to compromise and meet you part-way since the remaining variable has to balance out the two favourable variables, as illustrated by the 3 golden rules:
So you’re an art director at a big name creative agency, but you’ve grown tired of climbing the corporate ladder and decided to explore opportunities as a freelance designer. The idea sounds sweet as your mind runs through a check list of self-employment benefits:
Freedom to express your own unique style and aesthetic
Choose your own clients in industries that you like
Work to your own schedule
No longer need to deal with technically inept creative directors
And yes, you finally won’t need to argue with the account team aka “suits” anymore…
But, are you really ready to take on the role of a suit and manage clients, negotiate costs, sell your work convincingly, and take criticism without going on a tirade about how the logo is already frickin’ big enough? Well, if you’re not then here’s a list to get you started of the 5 things every freelance designers should know about managing clients.
