Have you ever started a graphic design project for a client before you had all the details and agreed on all the terms? Unfortunately, you’re not alone. One of the biggest mistakes made by designers is starting on the design before being completely informed. Before you start your next project without all of the information, consider these four graphic design essentials:

Know Your Client

Every client has different expectations and you won’t know what they are unless they are spelled out. Don’t be caught in the middle of a graphic design project without a contract that clearly defines the scope of the project, number of revisions, number of initial versions you will make, etc. Understanding your client’s expectations and having them written down is one of the best time-saving approaches you can take. Make sure you also understand the timeline for the graphic design project as well as other requirements.

In addition to using a contract, you should also research and learn about the client you are doing work for. What have they done before? Get samples of their current printed material, visit their website and visit their office. What are there company values? What does their company currently communicate to you? How do they want that changed or reinforced? These are all important questions to answer in order to better understand your client.

Know Their Audience

Imagine designing a brochure for a veterinarian clinic and an attorney’s office. While they are both established businesses their target audiences are completely different. A fun, animal theme might be appropriate for the vet clinic but not for an attorney’s office. For them a sophisticated and corporate look with less bright colors would be a better fit. So it’s important to know what their customers are used to and what’s accepted in their industry.

Know the Medium(s)

You want your graphic designs to look their absolute best! In order to do this, you need to know on what mediums will your design be used. Common applications include: presentations, online, in print and on a billboard. Designing bigger is almost always better. If you’re doing print resolution make sure your designing in a vector based program or 300 DPI or higher in programs like Adobe Photoshop.

Know its Value

When I started doing web & graphic design many years ago, my tendency was to price too long and accept every project that came my way. I was starting out and wanted to be successful. As you can imagine it wasn’t too long before I realized that I was being underpaid and underappreciated for the work I was designing. Avoid this pitfall and charge a price that will accurately reflect what your time is worth. Find out what competitors charge for the same work. Also, don’t be afraid to charge clients for your time, whether it’s one the phone, in a meeting, making changes, etc. Doing this gives them the freedom to ask for what they want and expect to get it. And this approach pays you for your efforts and makes the work more rewarding.

When you accurately know the client’s expectations, their audience, the type of work you’re doing and it’s value and you have it all spelled out in a contract it will allow you to focus on what you enjoy most: graphic design.