question on design

dbnavan

I am currently working on a website for a guy who hasnt a clue what he wants and said he would leave the design up to me, so I went away and designed a website for him, and he came back to see he doesnt like the color scheame, meaning I have to do his everything including his logo again, he has given me nothing to go on not even a base color.


I have a funny feeling I might end up doing 3 or 4 sites and maybe get something he likes. Anytime I ask him he to sit down and look at stuff he hasnt got time, I had someone like this before and I ended up telling them to shove it cause I did 5 designs and they liked none, and were wasting my time. I am not a graphic artist so only play around with fireworks etc. I have no problem putting something together if someone has their graphics done already for brouchers etc. I am not a designer and dont claim to be, I just know how to use dreamweaver and some graphic progs but my downfall is my eye for design. I woudnt even have a problem reproducing a logo or something that was already done.

jjmax

You'll have to sit down and work out the colours, layout, content, etc with him...
Don't waste anymore of your time until you get that sorted.

misterq

if he can't tell you what he wants, you can't give it to him. Simple as.
Don't waste another minute on it until:
a) He gives you some clear direction
or
b) Gives you carte blanche to do what you want

seamus

As others have pointed out, there's nothing more frustrating than a client who refuses to give you some direction. You will tear your hair out because he says, "I don't know what I want", and then tells you he doesn't like anything about your ideas.

What you have to do is ask him to send you a list of sites that he likes, and what in particular he likes about them. Then tell him to go off and have a wee think about what he imagines his site should be like, and to come back to you. If he says "I haven't got time", then tell him that you've no problem waiting for him.

If he eventually pisses off with someone else, then consider it a lucky escape.

Imagine going to an architect and saying "Make me a house". "OK, what type of house do you want?". "Uhh, I dunno, surprise me!"

If you're really stuck, stop thinking about the site. Start small and ask him to think about a logo. Ask him what style he wants (retro, modern, old-fashioned, postmodern, <insert buzzword here>), and if there's anything which he would like in it to particularly stand out.
The try design a simple logo for him, see if he likes it, and ask him to expand on what he does and doesn't like about it.

Once you have a logo finalised then, you can start on the site, because you already have a style and colour base to build on.

heggie

the fastest way to get him to give you some direction is to charge by the hour. he'll soon know what he wants then.

DonkeyStyle \o/

I don't get how you can show him your work, yet can't show him other sites while you're at it.
What you could do, is go to a free template site, pick out four designs you think would suit... then the next time you see him, show him those first .
If he can only window-shop with finished designs due to having no imgaination or direction, then doing this saves you absolutely shítloads of design time... then you can either run with one he likes, or make something similar to it from scratch.
But the best part, is that if he turns out to be a time-waster; you haven't wasted anywhere near as much time.

This whole crap of him saying "I don't have time" though... it really doesn't sound good... and unless you plan on writing the text/copy for his website yourself, then he's going to have to bloody well make time and give some proper input.
Do you at least have the content for the site?

I had someone like this before and I ended up telling them to shove it cause I did 5 designs and they liked none

Maybe your designs were all just really bad
Another good reason to present him with prefab templates... show him some of the most highly rated templates out there... and if he doesn't at least "ooh!" at one, then he's never going to appreciate anything you give him.

heggie

the breif or lack of is the problem. if your designing a website, i'd never dream of showing templates to someone and asking them to pick. a 'design' should be a custom one to suit their needs. with no brief, you should do no work at all.

impr0v

seamus wrote:

What you have to do is ask him to send you a list of sites that he likes, and what in particular he likes about them. Then tell him to go off and have a wee think about what he imagines his site should be like, and to come back to you.

This is what I'd do.