Something which I’ve been working on a lot recently is wire-framing and increasingly finding the need for a tidier version than simple sketching. Over time I produced this iPad wireframe set in Illustrator to work from. Every time I start a new project I use this asset file as a starting block. Big props must go to Fueled as without them I would never have had the chance to do so much wire framing or had the need for this set to be created. Within the downloadable .zip, there is an editable Illustrator and PDF file to work from.

Download the Set

A small collection of free vectors including a beer glass vector, a wine glass vector, a pitcher glass vector and a soft drink glass vector.

Free to use as you see fit. Within the downloadable file there is a .ai and .pdf file.

Download Free Vector Files

One of  the things when you’re starting out in a design career is how to collect design requirements from a potential client. Granted it seems easy enough to sit with them and write down everything they say but you’ll get back to your desk and feel yourself staring at your notes without a clue of what the job entailed.

There are a few valid reasons as to why you need to collect designer/job requirements in an effective manner.

THE THEORY

Understanding the Job

A client meeting is the time for you to impress, and one way of impressing a client is to show a complete understanding of what they require. You can do this in various way or simply by listening and asking pertinent questions that you get clear answers back for. If you sound like you know what you’re doing then the trust built in that one meeting, might be enough for you to win the job all together.

Understanding the Client

All of our clients have their own expectations, whether it comes down to design or function. If we can ask all the questions we need, at least then we’ll have the information to work from. It doesn’t matter if we as professionals know better, at least we can discuss their points with them. We can ask for favorite color schemes, we can inquire about ‘look and feel’ aesthetics that they like. All of this information can help in setting up a mood board.

Being able to Quote Correctly

Collecting detailed requirements of a job enable you to quote more effectively as you will have all of the information to plan out time and resources that will be required to complete the project. It is important to quote correctly for both you and your prospective client. Clients certainly don’t want to be surprised by an over compensated quote, after all you’d like to take on the work you’re quoting for and you want to make sure you quote exactly for what is entailed within the job requirements. Not quoting correctly will mean that you’ll be doing a lot of work for little reward.

PRACTICALLY COLLECTING REQUIREMENTS

Various designers use a different means to collect requirements. Below are a few hand-picked designers showing how they collect information.

Sam Brown (Massive Blue)

Sam Brown uses an online form on a contact page for prospective clients to input a minimal amount of information including a potential client budget. This helps to narrow down and possibly ween out any unwanted clientele.

Sarah Parmenter (YouKnowWho)

Sarah goes in to a lot of detail asking a list of specific questions to potential clients. These are all initial questions as Sarah also provides a website worksheet for you to download, fill in a upload back to Sarah.

Andy Clarke (Stuff and Nonsense)

Andy Clarke goes for a smaller amount of questions with the addition of a ‘Work requisition sheet’ which can be downloaded, filled in and sent back. Andy adds a project budget drop down on to the contact form with general budget guidelines.

David Pache (Helvetic Brands)

David Pache’s primary work is branding, and the rules certainly don’t change for the way requirements are collected. David’s primary way of collecting the design/job requirements are via his website using an online form. The form is quite extensive but asks all of the relevant questions that will aid in writing the correct quote.

HOW DO YOU COLLECT REQUIREMENTS?

If you don’t have an online form on your website you can use services such as Wufoo.com and Icebrrg.com, online form creators where you can build your own form. They have various memberships that allow different various additional perks like being able to upload documents etc.

Of course you can do the same as some of the above by using downloadable word documents, every business will need a different worksheet depending on the work you deliver however I’ve put together a rough outlined document which is free to download and use. All you need to do is add in your own questions, company name and contact details.

Download PDF / Download Word Document.

Is there anything you would add in or change? Let me know in the comments below as I’d like to update this from everyone’s feedback.

Don’t forget to follow me on twitter for more upcoming interesting articles.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter!

It is a natural instinct to be wary of getting feedback on your designs. It’s not normal to let someone tear your work apart on purpose, it is something you would associate with a jealous competitor wanting to ridicule you.

It took me a few years before I had the confidence of openly sending designs out for feedback, I took everything personally. If someone picked up the smallest change it was clearly the end of the world for me and I’d argue back accordingly stating they didn’t know enough about me or the design to have an opinion.

Experience and feedback from others in the community helped me understand that feedback was a good thing. The first time that I thought about feedback the right way was when I read ‘Playing with Fire – Gordon Ramsay’, Gordon makes sure that all of his restaurants sit down on a weekly basis to go through letters received in the post, the majority of these letters are feedback, some good and some bad. Gordon explains in the book that the only way a restaurant can get better is to receive feedback, listen to it and learn from it.

As designers we generally think that the client is not always right, I’m certainly not going to get in to that discussion now as client feedback has 90% to do with design being subjective and that all clients are unpredictable. <– That discussion is for another time.

Let’s think about the designer/designer relationship for a moment. There is nothing better than designers talking to each other, well maybe there is but not when it comes to our work. There is so much that can be learned from discussion around design, whether it be about a design process or just general feedback on something you’ve done. It is easier to explain to a designer why you’ve done something in a certain way, and it is much easier for them to provide feedback when they have a background knowledge of design. We do some things for a reason, and this is something that most clients would never understand hence the reason why it is best to get design feedback before a design presentation.

Take Feedback, even when not asked for.

No designer can do their work without feedback. There are hundreds if not thousands of designers who are happy and willing to give you a helping hand towards creating a better design. They do it, not to hurt your feelings but to aid you in becoming better. Sometimes we act without being asked, this isn’t to have the first bite but more because we genuinely want to give a helping hand. There are many places to get feedback on your designs and why wouldn’t you accept it wherever it might come from?

You should always take feedback. There, I’ve said it. Don’t get me wrong, there were times when I was completely different as I hated getting feedback on my designs. Generally you don’t ask for feedback in an open manner as it could compromise your overall design. Sometimes we’re engaged in to a non-disclosure agreement where we cannot publicly show our work. When we do have the chance, we should always take feedback and accept it as the norm. It can only make us better!

Where to get feedback

pleasecritiqueme.com – Please Critique Me is a venture by Tony Chester and the rest of the guys at On Wired. On Wired were receiving a lot of requests via Twitter to critique work, so they set up a website where designers could submit work to be critiqued. Since the time that the website was setup they’ve covered a lot of ground and had some awesome designers critiquing work. Submitting your design to please critique me enables you to get feedback from one of the critics. This is quite a closed feedback session with only one view on your design.

Twitter – Getting feedback in 140 characters or less. If you’re active within the design community on twitter it can be massively beneficial to get feedback from your twitter followers. Whilst you might not get a lot of feedback due to the character restrictions you will get specific feedback from more than one person. Asking for feedback on twitter might grow your relationship with other designers via email or IM where you can ask for feedback more often.

Your Community/Network – Whilst you can send out your potential design to a full twitter network, you could also send a tweet to a good designer friend who can present more detailed feedback. I personally have a small group of people who I can ask and they happily respond with feedback. This ensures that you get more than a 140 character reply but then you can also discuss the theory behind the design you have presented. The more detailed feedback you get the easier you job would be in changing your design if need be. I’d advise anyone to build a good relationship with at least a few people to get more detailed feedback from.

dribbble – I’ve been a dribbble user for a little while now. It’s a fantastic idea by Dan Cederholm and Rich Thornett that allows you to ‘dribbble’ a 400px by 300px screenshot of a design you are working on. dribbble, with an invite only system is closed at various times to new users to prevent a free-f0r-all system. This enables Dan and Rich to keep quality within dribbble as opposed to quantity. Once you’ve ‘dribbbled’ part of your design, other dribbble users can leave comments or feedback regarding the design. It has been argued dribbble shouldn’t be used as a feedback format due to the small area of design that you can show and not knowing the bigger picture. My personal opinion is that you should accept feedback where it is offered, you know yourself whether it is applicable to the rest of your design.

Opinions on Feedback

I asked a couple of designers a few questions on their opinions of feedback. Thanks to Sam, Jon, Grace, David and Chris for getting back to me.

Sam Brown – http://sam.brown.tc

Occasionally when I am unsure about a concept I am working on I will fire it around a few of my close contacts who are also designers. This kind of feedback is usually of the Yay or Nay variety – we are all busy and I don’t look for specific or detailed feedback just their general impression. The majority of the feedback I get is from my clients directly.

I have found Dribbble to be a fantastic source of good feedback on design work while it is still a work in progress, hopefully they implement some Privacy Settings soon so I can continue to use the limited and high caliber community as a design soundboard.

Unrequested feedback can be both a positive and negative thing, you have to take it with a pinch of salt – design is subjective and what one person likes might not suit someone else. What I will say though is that if you are giving or receiving feedback, make it constructive – “this sucks” or “don’t like it” is useless unless you explain why and how you think it could be improved.

Grace Smith – http://gracesmith.co.uk

Do you actively look for feedback from other designers before sending your designs to a client?

Usually I don’t ask for feedback, however If I’m struggling or indecisive on a certain aspect of a design or build then I find the feedback and critique of my peers can be invaluable. It’s often useful to have objective, qualified people within the community to give actionable, practical advice.

Do you mind if people give you feedback without being asked?

Not at all, as long as it’s constructive, “that sucks” isn’t exactly going to help me improve or refine the concept. I’ve actually had a few people email me about either my personal sites or clients sites to suggest tweaks and I welcome it, especially if someone has taken the time to review your work with the aim of helping you improve it.

How do you take feedback? Positively or negatively?

I take all feedback on board (positive or negative), sometimes you just have to put your ego aside and really listen to the feedback, because ultimately it’s about creating both you and your client can be proud of.

What tips would you give for looking for feedback?

1. Make it easy for people to give feedback – you’re asking people to give of their time, so make it simple for them to do so!

2. Ask a group of trusted peers for private feedback before opening it up to the public. This means you can get an honest critique from your close circle to put the design through it’s paces.

Chris Spooner – http://blog.spoongraphics.co.uk

Do you actively look for feedback from other designers before sending your designs to a client?

While I think designer feedback could be useful in some scenarios, I don’t usually ask for critique for most client projects. The main reason is that I usually have a thorough creative idea in mind that relates specifically to the client through the research and brainstorming process I went through before the project, so unless this whole concept was explained to fellow designers each time, feedback might be on a more subjective level, which could inhibit the progress of the project.

Do you mind if people give you feedback without being asked?

I often showcase my design project processes on my blogs, and write about all the ideas I went through during the job. Having designers share their opinions and even giving additional advice is always helpful. Often this feedback will highlight areas I might not have considered fully, which then motivates me to improve my skills in other areas. All in all this helps me grow and develop as a designer.

How do you take feedback? Positively or negatively?

If the feedback is given appropriately and constructively, then it’s most certainly taken positively. It’s always difficult to keep a cool mind with general comments like, “This sucks!”, although this kind of feedback can be avoided if you ask the right people in the right places!

What tips would you give for looking for feedback?

Develop a core group of designers who you admire and get along with, ideally these would be designers who also look for feedback from others. Being able to bounce ideas back and forth between these people is a great way to receive useful critique on your work. Remember to always give a background on a particular design or project, to avoid the work being critiqued purely on aesthetics.

Jon Phillips – spyrestudios.com

Do you actively look for feedback from other designers before sending your designs to a client?

I can’t say I ‘actively’ look for feedback but there’s 2-3 people in the design community who I always ask for feedback and advice and so far its been working great. I think you don’t need to ask a hundred people for feedback, it’s usually way too much info. Asking 2-3 key people some specific questions seems to work best in my experience.

Do you mind if people give you feedback without being asked?

I don’t mind at all! For example, I love getting emails from readers and users about a site design, they’re the ones that matter since they use the site(s), so their feedback is very important to me. Of course it all depends on the context, presentation and ‘tone of voice’.

How do you take feedback? Positively or negatively?

I usually take feedback positively. In most cases those those bits and pieces of information help me make my site(s) better, so I definitely see it in a positive way.

What tips would you give for looking for feedback?

Use tools like ConceptFeedback and FeedbackArmy, they’re great for getting a lot of data for pretty cheap. But, don’t rely only on those tools, ask 2-3 designers you know and trust, and ask some people who are not-designers and who can help with a fresh set of eyes and a different perspective.

David Perel – obox-design.com

Yeah I am always looking for feedback from another pair of eyes. My main goal is to get as much negative feedback as I can find, I then measure that up against my positive thoughts of the design I have created and make changes where I feel necessary.

It is critically important to have a balance between using other’s feedback and trusting your own instincts. You need to be able to accept the good and, most importantly, the bad. The bad feedback is where you learn the most about yourself as a designer.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve decided to start ticking off my ‘to do in 2010′ list and one of those was create a set of 16px icons. I’ve been working on various forms of these icons and posting them on dribbble to get feedback. It’s the first time I’ve worked on such a small scale so working to get all of the detail has been quite difficult at times. I believe now they are at a stage where they are in a usable condition.

Within the downloaded file there is the full set of icons in .png format as well as a flat JPEG and full .PSD file which is similar to the image above.

The icons are free to download and use wherever you like, a simple comment below showing where you have used them will suffice as a thanks. It would also be great to see how/where you have used them.

If you liked this post, you may want to download my 1080px Photoshop grid. It’s all setup and ready to go with 18 columns.

The most used word in this brain dump is going to be ‘probably‘, I can tell you that right now. That’s even before I’ve fully thought how this is going to pan out. It’s something I’ve wanted to talk about for a while and obviously more about the reasons behind it.

I currently work at Codeworks, and don’t get me wrong it is brilliant. Working on such projects as Thinking Digital and the DIBI Web Conference is crazy good. I wake up every morning stoked that I have the opportunity to do it. It is hard work, my weeks feel more like days and there is always a to-do list but it’s exciting. I’m doing everything I want to do and then some. I’ll probably be doing this for some time as I do enjoy it that much.

Natural progression in my head stated that when I was freelance a few years ago I needed agency experience to see ‘the other side’. That agency was small in size and big in ambition and there were some great times but at the end of the day the agency wasn’t mine. My views and my way of doing things would never have been implemented and I would never have seen the outcome of how everything in my head would have worked live within an agency.

The opportunity to work within the agency on various projects was great but I never had the opportunity to run the agency like I would have liked to.

In an agency there are always more people involved in the company than you and certainly more than the thoughts going round inside of your head. When you’re freelance or working for yourself, every decision you make is down to you, you in essence are the control freak running everything. You don’t have to rely on other people, you don’t have to carry people and you don’t have to wait for things to be implemented. Everything happens right there and then as soon as you think of it when working for yourself. If you are working within an agency you probably never have the opportunity to implement things that you’d like, unless you’re the MD/CEO.

I now feel after having the experience of both sides of the coin that I need more control in that scenario. I probably need to relax somewhat but when you’re putting your working reputation on the line you certainly don’t want to have to rely on other people. If I was to work within an agency again, it would be small and it would be my own. I’d keep it very small working with people I’d trust my life with with the same amount of ambition and love for their work as I do, but again this may probably never happen as I’m enjoying myself far too much.

I wonder how many other people who have both been freelancer and agency employee think about this? Your thoughts would be great on the subject. Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter, 600+ other people do…

There are somethings that I stand by, in life and in work and these are morals. I would say I am a very moral person, possibly too moral to some people but it’s how I live my life to make sure I’m keeping on the straight and narrow. There are six specific morals or values if you want to call them that I stick to and below I explain why you should use some morals/values in design even if they’re not the same as my own.

Selfless Commitment

The design world is vast! I’d love to know how many people in the world classify themselves as designers whether it be graphic, web or product there are a lot of us. A value that I believe in quite strongly is selfless commitment, to put the industry and other designers before myself. I live for this industry, I love what all designers do and know how hard it is to get anywhere so whenever people ask something of me then I’ll do my best to help other designers out where I can.

Courage

Courage, we designers sure do need a lot of it. At times we need courage to get out of bed and answer emails never mind when it comes to getting feedback and presenting designs to clients. We also need the courage to stand up for what is right in our industry, to stand against spec work and put value back in what we do instead of pushing design auctions where the value of design is so low. We designers need the courage to do the right thing, day in day out.

Discipline

We should stand up and be counted and show that we have the discipline to stay within one of the best industries in the world. Self-discipline is the best form of discipline and if we stick to this and our own personal high standards then we will gain the respect of our clients and peers. Stick to doing things right always and have the discipline to do so.

Integrity

Integrity means being honest. Don’t cheat, lie and steal another designers work. If you’re inspired by it and want to use elements of it, ask the designer as you would probably be surprised about the answer you receive. All it takes is a little bit of respect and a lot of back-bone to stand up and be counted and having some integrity.

Loyalty

What goes around, comes around. You wouldn’t cause trouble on your own doorstep now would you? Help people out, there are A LOT of people in our industry who are just starting out and need that helping hand to get them on their way. Be kind to one another and believe me, in time something will happen where you remember that time you were loyal to your own and gave that aid to someone who needed it.

Respect for Others

We deserve to be treated fairly and it starts within. We should have respect for everyone including our clients. We should not determine that some people should be treated differently because they’re not ‘one of us’, we should treat everyone as we would like to be treat yourself.

What other designers stand by?

Aaron Irizarry

What moral’s or values do you stand by in your work?

1) Honesty… always (even when it can mean less for me)

2) Make myself better, by making my teammates better first(when working in a team environment)

3) Family first… no point in making all kinds of money only to end up with no one to spend it with.

4) Give the benefit of the doubt as much as I would want it.( even when it is the last thing I want to do)

5) Don’t suck at Life

Liam McKay

The main morals and values I stand by are those that ensure I’m free to do what what I know works in each project. Ensuring that a client isn’t going to take advantage, or overlook your input. A certain amount of freedom and creativeness is essential for any project I work on. I try, as much as I can, to give myself a new challenge with every new project. I’m always trying things I’ve not tried before, whether they work or not. Working with a client that respects your role and gives you room for experimentation is what we all hope for with each new client, but there are exceptions and varying levels of freedom. I try not to get involved in projects where I feel that I won’t be given the time of day to explain, educate or put my point across. You don’t need to take on every project that get’s put through to you. For me it’s all about ensure that you get the respect you need, and if you’re not feeling that from a client you don’t need to sacrifice your own integrity and personality just to please them.

Elliot Jay Stocks

I have some morals and values I always keep in mind when deciding what work to take on or turn away. I’ve actually turned away a number of high-paying projects because I want to stay true to my own personal beliefs. For instance, I turn away any work for religious organisations. And of course I’m always cautious about projects that may discriminate or harm certain groups of people. I think that goes without saying.

Ryan Downie

The morals and values that I stand by is to be totally transparent with my work and clients. I personally cannot stand people who fabricate the truth, so I am totally honest and upfront with clients straight off the bat.

Your thoughts?

I’m interested to hear your thoughts on the subject! Don’t forget to follow me on twitter.

Is there good money in design as I’m fed up wtih my job and want a change?

I replied;

I didn’t think you were in to design?

Which they replied;

Well I dabble a bit so thought it would be good if the money was in it.

This really struck a nerve. Not in a bad way, Drew and I get on really well, and I know his current job situation but more because there is obviously a perception that you can jump in to a career in design on a whim because you may ‘dabble’ in design.

Let’s get over using the word design for a moment and concentrate on the creative industry on a whole. Creativity isn’t something you can dabble in, either you’ve got it or you don’t. Granted you can be creative in different ways but I firmly believe it’s certainly something that is ingrained in your blood from the first time you threw paint at an easel with paint brush to the time you sent your last design to a client for approval. Creativity is there from when you are born and throughout your entire life. You will hone your skills to make sure you can produce the design you’ve been wanting to create.

Is it about the money?

Everyone has to pay their way and everyone has to live. Unfortunately for the world, designers and creatives cannot be paid with boxes of chocolates and jammie dodgers no matter how often we are sent them. We do need money, but is money the only thing we want? Me personally, I’d like to be paid for my time. We don’t learn our skills over night and it can take years and years to get to where we are now and we should be paid accordingly. With any job in the world there are levels to how much we get paid depending on our skill sets and ‘time served’ in a career.

Do we design for money? Do we design to see our clients smile? Do we design to see the users using our design smile? Do we design to stroke our own egos? It would be interesting to see a ratio of how many designers design because they live it rather than it being just for the money. Our jobs aren’t like working in a retail industry where you go to work in shifts, do your hours and go home. We designers can end up working silly hours just because we enjoy what we’re doing.

It’s hard putting an ‘amount’ on it

It’s hard working out how much to charge for something you love doing but it has to be done. We can’t work for nothing and I’d like to think that we do not design just for the money. Yes you can make a good living from design, but it takes a huge amount of effort and a massive amount of creative skill to get to where you are comfortable financially.

I’d also hope that some people do not join the creative industry just for the money, especially when they’re not creative in the first place. Love what you do, do it because you would do it anyway and get paid for the privilege.

Over the many years I’ve been designing I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve had to present my designs to a client. It is the one thing you’ll never be able to get away from.

Presenting your design to the client is always one of the most daunting parts of the design process. After all, design is so subjective it can leave the client thinking we were mad and our idea of perfect is like being poked in the eye, twice.

There are many different ways of presenting our designs. We all design differently, whether we design in the browser, sketch or design entirely in Photoshop. Below I take you through various ways of presenting your client designs.

HTML/CSS (Build it in browser)

Building a design in the browser to deliver as a design presentation? Sounds quite mad doesn’t it? Let’s put it this way, how about designing in the browser? It still sounds just as dangerous… Well maybe not. A lot has changed in the past couple of months and with the improvements in many browsers including Safari, Firefox and Chrome with a little bit of IE7, IE8 and Opera we can achieve lots more with the likes of CSS3, webkit and jQuery.

Photoshop or Fireworks can leave a design looking so perfect that when you get to building the design it no longer looks like the original design. There is only so much a browser and code can do and some browsers do not display things in the same way.

If you were feeling extravagant, like Andy Clarke, you could present your web designs to clients in the browser. This allows them to see how the design will look normally as though they’re using it themselves. You can do all of the wireframes before the build phase and fingers crossed the client viewing it in the browser will see everything in the same light as you.

You could just present one template or you could choose to present many, however firstly look at your billing procedures to see if your first invoice (paid) covers the amount of time it’s taken to build your design in the browser. You certainly don’t want to be left high and dry if the client doesn’t like it and you’re then endlessly working backwards and forwards.

Design Board (Visual)

This method is very rare in web design and is mostly seen in the print design world. If you have to present a design to a committee or even large client you could print your web design on to an A3 sheet of paper and mount it against some board. This makes the design rigid so you can carry it into the presentation and even pass around A4 smaller versions to help the client see the design up close. You could add tags or mini-descriptions on to the design to aid in the explanations.

A flat image in the browser – View the Demo

This is one of the easier ways of presenting a design in the browser. By setting the background as a flat jpeg with CSS and adding a png image into the html you can view the design within the browser. This eliminates any file sending issues with your client.

You can do this is in a sub-folder or sub-directory of your pleasing. For this demonstration I’ve simply created a sub-folder called ‘jpegbrowser’. If your design has a common place colour, set this with CSS so if there is over-scroll it won’t matter too much. Save your background whether it be tiled or flat as bg.jpg. Save your design without the background as a .png keeping all transparent aspects, transparent.

The code below shows that we’ve setup a .html page titled “Jpeg in the Browser Demo”. We’ve added the background colour, image and set it so it’s positioned to the center and top whilst making sure it doesn’t repeat.

We’ve then created an ‘image’ div setting the width to the width of your image. I chose 1440px as any ‘normal’ client user should have a screen size of at least 1440px even if they’re using a laptop. I’ve added the margin: auto line to make sure the image sits in the middle of the page if the client happens to have a larger monitor. You could go as far to pre-check what resolution your client is using and setting everything up for their screen size.

<html>
   <head>
      <title>Jpeg in the Browser Demo</title>
      <style type="text/css">
         body {
         background: #1a0f1f url(img/bg.jpg) no-repeat center top;
         }

         #image {
         margin: auto;
         width: 1440px;
         padding: 0;
         }
      </style>
   </head>
   <body>
      <div id="image">
         <img src="img/image.png" title="Presentation" alt="Design Presentation"/>
      </div>
   </body>
</html>

This then allows the .png design to sit over the main bg.jpg thus making it look like their website to be is in the browser. A plus point to presenting your design this way is that the client will get an idea of size, a negative being an image is just that, it’s a graphical representation of how their design will look and not everything will be the same once built. Obox Themes have kindly donated their ‘DEPTH’ Theme design to be used as the example in the demo, you can purchase the wordpress theme DEPTH from Obox Design. View the Demo

Flat JPEG sent via email

The easiest presentation that you can do is the simple jpeg via email method. This doesn’t leave much to the imagination and can cause many problems for not tech-savvy clients. Trying to write an email in a way that they will understand what you are talking about is quite difficult. Nine times out of ten, they will attempt to print the design off, in ‘fit-to-page’ mode of course. This shrinks down a possible 2000px long design to an A4 sheet. Great news is they will need a magnifying glass to see what you’re talking about.

You could send the file and then immediately ring them to make sure they’re opening the file correctly. And then talk them through it on the phone however this can with some clients seem a little un-professional especially if you’re working with some very big clients.

Use a Web App

You can present, share and annotate your designs online with a web app like Notable App. Created by the guys over at Zurb, Notable App takes the pain out of presenting a design and being able to describe it to a client. It also enables the client to provide feedback on your designs online. The app allows you to provide feedback directly on the web page, highlighting their own points exactly so nothing can get confused or miss-translated. With Notable App, feedback can be left over time, so if you’re a remote designers you do not have to be there exactly when your client is wanting to leave feedback.

The ability to make annotations within 60 seconds of receiving a link to your presentation can make the feedback process more streamlined than it has ever been before. Depending on who you client is could lead to feedback by committee and there may be more than one person involved with providing it. Notable App allows you to have multiple people accessing and leaving notes on the same design.

Other point of views

I was interested to hear other point of views on how to present design to a client. The designers below were kind enough to share their thoughts. (Thanks to all)

Tim Van Damme

I know there’s been a lot of discussions going on recently about how you shouldn’t present static designs to your clients, but it’s still my most preferred way. BUT… I only show them one page like this. I usually take the most complicated page of the entire website/-app and design that in Photoshop. After I showed them this page, I do most of the other pages straight in the browser (until there’s a complicated component, than I jump back in Photoshop).

Sam Brown

My clients are usually located overseas and communication is done remotely, so for me the best method to display static designs to a client is in the browser itself. I embed the design into the background of a blank page and with some simple CSS can control the format of the page, all I have to do then is send the client a link. This method has many benefits, not least of which is the client gets an accurate picture of how the design will look in the browser but it alleviates a whole host of other problems such as file formats and images not being viewed at 100% actual size.

The key however is always in the communication, I like to be ‘there’ when clients open design mockups so I can help explain the process, my choices and help answer any questions they may have. Lately however I have been doing a lot of design in the browser – sending links to static pages is also a common way I present designs to clients.

Grace Smith

Previously I used a subdomain to present designs to a client by creating a subdomain and a static HTML page which held links to the design and revisions (if required). This gave a good representation of how the design would look and feel like when viewed through a browser.

However at the start of the year I started using Notable and have been so impressed by it, I’ve now switched to using it to present designs (website and logo) to the client. It enables me to get instant feedback and allows the client to make notes on any piece of the design. Overall I’ve found it’s better empowered the client and made for more effective communication throughout the design process. Notable also allows you to create sets within a project workspace, thus allowing me to separate the project into discreet sections.

A recent client actually expressed to me how good the communication was throughout the project, I think a part of this is down to using a tool like Notable which allows for instant, open feedback.

David Perel

Once I made the mistake of sending a client, who was very much a layman, screenshots via email. We went through the whole design process via this method, everything from the home page to multiple sub pages. When the client finally signed everything off I got down to the CSS.

Once I had completed the CSS of the home page I sent them a link to preview it. Upon review they sent me back a message which said “Why is the site so big?”. This question blew up into a 2 day debate while I tried to understand why they didn’t like the design despite it being signed off.

I eventually figured out that they were infact viewing the emailed screenshots at about 70% magnification and were not viewing them in full size. The result is they perceived the site to be smaller than it actually was.

So my suggestion is that you never send your clients screenshots via email. Rather present it to them via a link in your browser, use CSS to size up the body and use the background-image property to display the design. This way the client can get a very clear idea of what the site will look like when live.

Matthew Smith

I present my designs to the client on basecamp in jpg format. Its not ideal for all clients, but my clients tend to have a pretty high level of web savviness to accommodate for the difference between image and html. Ideally, a web image would be presented in an html page with the image centered and the background-image repeated horizontally behind the image. This would be the most “web like” experience for the user.

I always talk my clients through the entirety of the design making points about each design decision and how that decision effects their business goals. I try to use plain language that communicates more about business and the actual use of the website rather than the art of design. The design calls are the time where I really earn the trust of my clients. They get to see how invested in their success I am, and how driven I am to produce a product that promotes that success.

Chris Spooner

Presenting my designs to clients has actually been something I’ve experimented myself. Usually I’ll supply a JPEG graphic with the design mocked up, and write out an explanation of the design along with some thought processes behind each element in the subsequent email. This often helps show reasoning behind a design and can help avoid changes. Generally speaking for logos, I’ll supply a A4 sized graphic with the primary logo prominently in the top centre, followed by three smaller variations showing how the logo works in single colour, mono and reversed. I’ve also tested out the method of showing a design in situ, for instance a logo overlaid onto a business card or a product. This can sometimes give the client that extra aid to their imagination so that they can see how this logo could work for them.

Jon Phillips

I usually ask as many questions as possible to get an idea of what the client wants and when I’m ready, I’ll either send mock-ups (in jpg format) to my client for review, or in some cases I’ll send a link to a test site with my mock-ups in HTML/CSS (pretty much like Meagan Fisher described in her 24Ways article and use things like border-radius and text-shadow to replicate the effects I would normally do in Photoshop. I think it depends on the project. Some clients prefer Photoshop mock-ups while others like to be able to interact with the site – which they can do if I send them a HTML/CSS mock-up on a test site.

How do you present yours?

I hope you would be able to share how you present your designs to clients so others can learn what the best approach might be. Don’t forget to follow me on twitter.