Website Design Blog. Evoart

Lets get straight to the point. How many design concepts should you produce for a client? Quite a question isn’t it? And one that’s no doubt produced some debate in the past and most probably will continue to do so in the future. When I started out designing websites, producing more that one concept for a client hadn’t even crossed my mind.

Different companies work differently

I’ve had a few jobs now since my first when I was fresh out of college, and since then I’ve realised different agencies do things differently. Some stick with the one design, send it over to the client, gather feedback and make amends till it meets the clients expectations. Whereas others produce 3, ping those over and then wait for all hell to break loose! You might be able to work out already which side of the fence I sit on this matter! Fear not though as this is not a bitch, just my observations about the subject.

A Real World Example

This very  situation I predict is about to happen at work in a few days time. We’ve got a client, quite particular about design, who shortly will be receiving four, yes thats right, four concepts.

I think anyone faced with a decision as big as finally deciding upon the look and feel of their most important piece of marketing material wouldn’t know what to do with four different designs thrust under their nose.

I will update the blog with the outcome of this project just to see how it turns out. The clients initial feedback has been great. They’re impressed with each of the designs, but I have a funny feeling all four designs will end up being merged together. We’ll have to wait and see!

So, why offer more than one design?

Its all about money and making the client feel like they’ve got more bang for their buck. When I look at it this way I can see why more than one concept seems like a good idea….. for a split second.

Why more than one concept isn’t a good idea

In my oppinion more than one concept isn’t a good idea. If you are going to do more than one though, stick to two at most! Any more than that just over complicates proceedings. You’ll be shooting yourself in the foot and making much more work for yourself in the wider scope of the project.

I think when you begin to offer more than one concept it seems like you as the designer or company feel unconfident in selling your work for £x,xxx. Its like you undervalue yourself and feel that you won’t be able to hit the brief bang on the head first time around. Sure there is usually more than just the one way to skin a cat, but showing the client every possiblility is just going to confuse them.

Imagine going for a haircut and the hairdresser goes through three practise runs, gets your feedback on how he/she did, and then gets to work cutting your hair. Probably not a great example, but hopefully you can see where I was going with that one.

You’re the design professional, you know what your doing and the client should respect that and trust you to do a good job. Just like you trust a hairdresser to do a good job cutting your hair.

Last but not least I believe it puts you on the backfoot from the outset of the project. Sure you want to make your client feel special, but you don’t necessarily want to appear to bow and scape to there every desire.

Over to you…

So what do you reckon? I put this question to my followers on Twitter and the answer that seemed to come back was that its dependant upon how much the client is paying you as to how many concepts they’ll receive.

Please let us know your experiences. Does a project run smoother the fewer concepts you produce? All I know is that in my three years working in the industry, the projects that flow better seem to be the ones where only one design was produced.