Someone approached me late last year to design a business card and possibly rebrand for them as they weren’t happy with their current design.
It was for a naturopath. I really wanted to take on this project. It’s just the sort of clients I’m looking for. Ones that care about the environment. Businesses that provide services.
Now I like to think that I’m a pretty good designer, but I don’t have all that much practise dealing with clients.
So after a few emails I mentioned that they would have to sign a contract for the work to begin.
That was my first mistake. Never again am I going to mention the word ‘contract’. From now on, it will be referred to as “an agreement” or simply “terms and conditions“.
Now I am very keen to design logos. Perhaps too keen. So I started designing it anyway without signing anything.
Why? Because we designers like to start projects early so that we can sit on designs for a few weeks to properly evaluate them. That’s why.
That was my second mistake. Without a contract, I wasn’t actually going to send anything to the client. I mean why should I? I have zero obligation to.
But then I sat on it and I thought about it for a while. And after about a month of no contact, which is too long, I actually sent the previous iteration of this logo to the client, along with two others, like a “free sample” of what I can do.
Because I thought: “well they should at least see what I’ve done, they might like it. It might show that I am enthusiastic about the project and keen to start designing”.
Because sometimes you have to do that in order to get started. You can’t be expected to design logos for people if you have none to show. Right? So it’s a bit like the chicken and the egg syndrome.
And again there has been no response. None. Regardless, at the time. I was still baffled as to why I lost that client.
I can only assume that the client either didn’t like it, didn’t think I was capable of refining my designs even further, didn’t want to sign the contract or perhaps they simply weren’t ‘ready’ to work with a designer.
Since then I have watched about 6 more hours of logo design courses. And I think I know now what was wrong. I think all the ones I sent were all too modern. To me they looked too much like they belonged on a bottle of suncream. But there was nothing more I could do. Without a contract and zero communication, I can’t really go any further. How can I?
I have tweaked in further since they saw it last, and I think this version is superior. And I’d like to show it to my potential future clients anyway.
I changed the typography, added some texture and made it more hand-drawn, so that it appears more natural. Who doesn’t like this logo? I think it’s pretty good…
I would have liked to see this logo on a shopfront. I think this logo could have gone a long way. A long way.
It could have been the start of a multi-million dollar brand. I can see this brand mark on naturopathy bottles. Who knows? Who knows.
As my father used to say “oh well”. I try not to let it bother me.
When taking on board clients, designers take risks. More as a note to my future self than to you, that is why we don’t work without contracts.
What I have I learned by this? Well I have learned that the word ‘contract’ freaks people out. I have learned to stick to my guns and not work for people without contracts, because it shows that they are not as committed as they think they are to hiring a designer.