Designing for the Empty-Handed Client
I’m in the midst of a drafting a long post titled “Making the Most of Mediocre Content”. As you could guess, it’s about molding client-submitted materials into something more organized, focused and attractive. But what happens when a client has nothing to submit — no photos, no taglines, no logos, no text, no identity?
This begs the larger question of what defines content. Zeldman posted awhile back (citing his own tweet, no less) that,
Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design, it’s decoration.
Obviously a project can begin without all the materials, but it’s far from ideal. In the absence of photos and text, you can help the process along by quizzing the client about their industry, business philosophy or desired audience. In this sense, you’re getting a feel for “content” even without materials. Or as Zeldman says,
‘Content’ doesn’t mean ‘having all the copy.’ It means knowing what the site is about, what kinds of information it will present; it also means knowing something about the intended users and what they might want to be able to do on such a website.
So in this quest for content, you’ve researched an industry and analyzed an audience, yet the client has no prior business identity and no input when asked about basic look & feel. You’re the designer, he insists. Design something.
You stare at a blank canvas in Photoshop, wondering how to proceed.
- Do you freeze the project until the client can provide materials?
- Do you refer the content-less client to a branding firm that can provide a logo, tagline and copywriting?
- Do you recommend the client to a photographer? Do you research stock photography? Do you ask the client to do it?
- If the client is on a budget, do you improvise a basic logo or typeface yourself?
- Do you write copy and improvise marketing blurbs and taglines? Do you charge a different rate? Do you already consider this part of your role as designer?
- Do you take baby-steps with the process and present one element at a time (palette, typeface)? Do you use wireframes and moodboards?
- Do you improvise a rough mockup just to get preliminary feedback or do you jump straight to a polished mockup?
Every designer has a different strategy, so I’m interested to hear how you guys handle the empty-handed client dilemma.
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No, I never freeze a project due to lack of content from the client. No photos — I use stock photos, no text — Lipsum generator is the best friend. I always start with researching the client’s marketplace, target audience, competition, the site needs. Then put together a contract, follow it with the Information Architecture for the site. Proceed with the colour scheme, get the feel of the client’s taste&style (asking for samples of the sites/logos they like), put wireframes together, then design mockups. Each step is completed with the client’s sign off.
For my CMS projects, the clients are responsible for populating the content afterwards, for others the content usually comes at the latest phase of the project.
Of course, sometimes I get lucky and get ideal clients who give me all the info/data right at the beginning.
The old adage applies “Content is king”. Especially in the world of blogs I hear so much emphasis on SEO this and that, but most of those same people tend to disregard their content as having the biggest overall impact on their site. If your content sucks, no matter what field you are in, people aren’t coming back to your site. The most beautifully designed layout is nothing without compelling content to pull the reader back time and time again.
With that said, I agree with inspirationbit’s comment. Proceed with stock photos and lipsum text. If you know what info they want to display you can work around the lack of content. It helps to have an understanding of the clients market so you can anticipate what sort of content and features they will expect. I used to do a lot of real estate site and had a stock site with about 10 pages that covered 90% of our new clients needs. I’d just build a new template for each client and add the extra 10% that they required. Made for a quick and profitable turn-around. It helps to target a niche market and understand that market well.
Proceed with stock photos and lipsum text
I’ve got no problem with small bits of placeholder content, it’s often necessary. I’m thinking more of fundamental brand issues.
For example, 90% of my clients have established businesses which have been around for, say, 20 years. In that time, they have already paid for previous identity work in the form of logos, color palettes, textures, typeface, brochures. That content is usually my direct guide for designing something interactive.
But, if this client’s business is brand new, or if they’re very old school and have never invested much in branding, how do you proceed?
An ever-present chicken/egg content/site issue! Argh! I usually am able to develop a good site structure and blah-blah content place holders to show clients — after asking a lot of Qs about their business. And I find that, when they see the structure and flow of the site, they can generally come up with fairly good content that requires only minimal editing. I am still waiting for The Client who will hand me great content up front. Sigh…
“Design in the absence of content is not design, it’s decoration.”
I think he got it all wrong. Decorate to me means “to embellish or make more attractive” (the content in this case). So design when you have the content is closer to decoration. Still design should be many other things as again decoration implies not changing the shape of the product.
What to do if the client has no pictures, has no logo? Wait aren’t you suppose to deliver his complete brand image including the above things? So if not a designer who did his logo in the first place?
Design is so much regarded these days as changing colors in a template that we even come to ask what a designer should do if the client doesn’t already have everything.
Clients are not trained like designers they don’t know what colors to use and usually they pick the wrong pictures and besides that any designer should be able to do a layout with place-holder text.
What to do if the client has no pictures, has no logo? Wait aren’t you suppose to deliver his complete brand image including the above things?
Complete brand delivery? Honestly, never. Designing interactivity and creating a brand (vector logo, letterhead, brochures, style guide) are, to me, two very different disciplines that should be left to two different parties. Unless of course your design firm is large enough to accomodate both teams or if the web designer also has an extensive background in illustration and print design.
So if not a designer who did his logo in the first place?
As I mentioned, when clients meet with our web design firm (not generalized “design firm”), they are 90% of the time seeking a web presence that incorporates their existing print materials. Those materials were usually created by branding experts who might have designed them decades earlier.
Design is so much regarded these days as changing colors in a template
Depends on who you talk with. Design process for our team usually involves a lot of information design and talk of hierarchy. Then we meet with the dev team to discuss interface design for whatever dynamic features will be included. This all happens before any look and feel is discussed.
If client are paying pro designers to simply have “a few colors changed around in a template”, they’re getting really mediocre service.
any designer should be able to do a layout with place-holder text.
It’s not simple layout that’s the problem. It’s how to scope a realistic design budget that accounts for lack of prior branding.
Yes, designing interactivity and creating a brand are two very different disciplines, but don’t see a reason why a design firm cannot or shouldn’t deliver both, of course not within the same budget.
Your comment is particular for your design firm while the article is not. And of course I was not talking about your firm or team. Having clients that already most of the time have a strong and even established brand is a very good thing ;)
How to scope a realistic design budget that accounts for lack of prior branding? Well, a realistic budget from the designers perspective would be to ask for a branding budget also.
As for question 7 - usually clients don’t handle very well rough mockups, they are most of the time unable to understand how the final work will look.
Yeah, I’m batting about .500 on giving clients a rough mockup. I’ve found that when presented with extensive notes on why we’re taking small iterative steps, they’re usually pretty patient. Then other times they don’t feel comfortable because, as you said, they’re not able to put it all together mentally and envision the finished product.
Great post. Just found your site. Thought I would jump in and ramble a bit ;-)
For me there is no fixed answer.
It varies from client to client. I tend to get a feel for a client and make the call on the fly. Why? Because one-size does not fit all. Each business is made of people and they are all different. When building a site say for a start-up or sole proprietor who does not have any marketing experience or materials, I am more inclined to help them establish a presence and brand (even donate a logo), so that their website looks professional. Even the most beautiful website can be taken down a few notches with a hideous logo.
I have had client sites I have started and did not complete for over a year, because they were unable to provide me with content (thankfully I have a contract to protect my business interests during such instances). When this happens it is less than optimal as the whole creative process and energy flow for the project can become jaded.
In my opinion, nobody knows a client’s business better than the client, so it is imperative they provide input for their website. Most of my clients do not have budgets to hire copywriters. And even if they do have the budget, they still have to find the time to be interviewed and moderate what is being said. Some times business owners/clients do not have the time.
So it really boils down to the client’s urgency/need for the website. Until the pain of not having a site is greater than the pain of having to compile content, the site will not get built.
The clients I worked with who took over a year to provide content simply got too busy after we got started - sales were booming. They were busy running their business, so when money is coming in, people tend not to worry about their advertising as much (the opposite of how it is suppose to be - but that’s the reality). Once business slows down, they are then scrambling for new ways to generate business, and then the idea of finishing the website becomes a higher priority.
Thanks again for the question. You made me think and I enjoyed the other responses as well.
Thanks for stopping by, Scott, and good comments.
I am more inclined to help them establish a presence and brand (even donate a logo), so that their website looks professional. Even the most beautiful website can be taken down a few notches with a hideous logo.
I think if I was freelance, I’d take the same route. Working with a team of managers with contracts, nearly everything is a line item, so budgeting extra time for basic branding can be tricky. This is partially because I’ve always urged we seek that help elsewhere. I have respect for experienced print designers who can put together an entire brand package + style guide, though that cost can be prohibitive too. I’ve seen it anywhere from $5000 to $50,0000 just for small businesses.
And no kidding about trying to design around an ugly logo, as it has a ripple effect on the rest of the design. You end up fighting your perfectionist tendencies, knowing the final product will have weak spots you can’t do anything about.
1. No
2. Sometimes, most clients have it in some form or the other
3. Yes most times.
4. I try, but I a 2 (or at best a 3) at graphic design, so I rely on my my wife who runs her own site or in rare cases, friends.
5. Not often, I suggest, but never write copy, again, only because I am not good at it.
6. Yes, yes, and no.
7. Rough mockup and sometime rough coding to show a demo.
My rule? I don’t start work until I have a significant chunk of the site content in hand. Period. I have more work than I can handle, already. If a client can’t get it together enough to pony up at least some portion of the content for their own site, I’d just as soon let them be someone else’s problem.
Anne, that’s my rule as well. Nothing annoys me more than someone who calls and says “I want a website, how much does one cost?” When I ask what kind of content they want to be on the site, it’s often I hear “I don’t know… how much will a website cost?” If people aren’t serious about the project, there’s no way I’m wasting my time with them.
Anne, Tony: I think you’re right.
But then, we’re caught between the urge to be client friendly(being flexible with the client) and the frustration of being treated as a second class by the client.
ah well…
From the client’s perspective, I have truly appreciated the times someone has taken me by the hand and provided good guidance. As a client, I have no knowledge of anything on the web (I do now, of course, but it took several years), much less have concrete ideas about suitable design. When I started, I didn’t even know what functions the website should have. And form follows function…
The most valuable web designer is someone who provides good guidance, visual examples and takes the time to elucidate the actual needs that I have. Then he will help me prioritize the goals so that he can provide me with a good result.
No disagreement there. They should expect guidance and visual examples, but sometimes it’s hard for them to see the problem of starting a project with no branding or identity. Certainly you can still improvise something, especially if the client’s on a tight budget.
Realistically though (to me), designing identity and designing interaction should be treated as distinct design phases, probably even billed differently. Communicating that can be tricky.
For me, actual content may not be provided but at least the idea of what the content maybe should be provided. ‘Lorem ipsum’ has provided me ‘content’ if I ever need some ‘text’.
Communication is the best thing we have with the client for every project.
The way I visualise this question is this:
Content is marked up in html.
The CSS is then applied to the markup.
Did I mention design anywhere?
Latin text merely perpetuates and facilitates the ass backwards photoshop first approach. A site is a site of content. Without content there is no site and no starting point. Maybe we need to drop the word *design* altogether and talk about a proper process for building, constructing or developing successful web sites.
Furthermore IMHO once you go with my model - it seems madness to leave the mission critical task - the content - in the hands of a client. Are these people suddenly experts in writing hypertext? Have none of us ever seen the Zen Garden and really absorbed its message? Style is just that. Style. And don’t get me started on semantic markup, usability, accessibility, SE friendliness, scripts and servers. What use is photoshop in all that?
I just want to say You have done a great job as one of the best designed in the industry.You have enough scope for earning by your excellent visualization capability. but by releasing this kind of work you have gifted some other who are poor in programming logic and designing.
Thanks
I think that most clients in these situations will tend to be small businesses who either don’t have the time to get the content together, or the budget to pay someone else to do it for them.
Another issue might be that the client doesn’t understand what they need for their website or what is expected from them. This is probably more true for non-technical clients.
In this situation, it’s part of your job as designer to help the client to understand the best way to present their business online. Offer advice on how to best present the client’s services or products and show them examples of how you’ve solved similar problems before.