Explaining Design Stuff to Non-Designers

Explaining Design Stuff to Non-Designers

Explaining Design Stuff to Non-Designers

This post comes after a frustrating meeting with a group of marketing personnel, who really have no idea what design really is. Basically the whole meeting was based around two colours they absolutely needed on the page, one colour to be the font and the other, the background.

 

And it begins

Sounds simple enough? Just wait… I told them we couldn’t use that combination for the font and background because they are the same tone. Say, what? Yes, they may be different colours, but because the tone is very similar, the font will not show up, or will be very hard to read.

They didn’t believe (or trust?) me and told me to “just try it and see what happens”. I gladly did so, because I knew this colour combo would not work in this particular case. I came back to the meeting with a printout in hand, showing them exactly what I was trying to explain to them.

 

Visual Aids

Now, there was a piece of paper on the table, which 90% of the room could not read. The other 10%? No, they did not have super powers, they had a fear of being wrong, so they insisted that they deep red font and deep purple background were the perfect contrast. Any designers reading this are probably rolling their eyes right now, as am I, as I write this down and re-tell the situation.

I simply told them they must have amazing eyes, but most people in the world don’t have as great vision. Also, we aren’t playing eye-spy with the customers, we want the product to stand out, not blend in. We need the packaging and text to pop so the customer knows exactly what it is that they are looking at.

Finally, after saying the line no body selling anything wants to hear, “products blending in and not standing out”, they agreed to look at some other contrasting colours.

 

Speaking their Language

I thought the best way to explain the tone-on-tone example was to give them visuals: black text on a white page vs. black text on a navy blue page. For some reason, it wasn’t working. My conclusion: some people do not like to be wrong. Find a way to speak to them in their “language”, business people don’t want to hear the words “blending in”, “cheap”, “boring”, “overpriced”, etc. The only way I could get the other 10% to understand that this colour combo was not the right choice was by using their language.

 

It’s all about how you present it

As designers, we think everyone knows what colour vs. tone is, or colour vs. saturation. Contrast vs. tone-on-tone. Just like I don’t understand anything to do with stocks, a stock broker may not understand colour theory. Go back to the basics. The best thing to do is use a visual example. Also, keep an even tone when speaking with clients, never speak in a way that makes you sound superior. Many authoritative figures do not like being wrong, some may even refuse to acknowledge when they are proven wrong, especially if they are being spoken to in a patronizing voice. It may become frustrating, just remember to take a deep breath and try to explain yourself in their language.

Let us know some of your experiences with clients who think they know everything and refuse to be proven wrong.

 

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Why I Use Fiverr(.com) as a Freelancer

Why I Use Fiverr(.com) as a Freelancer

Why I Use Fiverr(.com)

Becoming a Freelance graphic and web designer is a dream of mine. Although, I’m also a little skeptical about the whole freelance career. Here are a few reasons I started using Fiverr.

 

Getting Started on Fiverr

When I first signed up for Fiverr, I wasn’t really sure how it worked. How was I supposed to rely on people finding me, when there are thousands of other graphic designers on there. After the first week of signing up, I stopped using it.

At the time, there were many other sites to use: freelancer.com and upwork.com were two of my favourites. I made two clients on each site in the first month of using them, before it went very quiet. I did like the fact that I could apply for jobs, as many as 10 per day, without having to pay. Of course you have to pay the hosts a % of the money you make. Which in reality is a couple of cents to a few dollars, depending on the job, of course.

After a while, I was tired of applying for all these jobs and never hearing back. Plus, I had a few scams happen to me while using both Freelancer and Upwork. Luckily, I didn’t fall for them, although, this really turned me off of the whole freelancing game for a while. A month ago, I decided I would try using Fiverr again. I decided to read all I could on how to use Fiverr efficiently. I learned quite alot, in fact, I decided I would share my insights with you all!

 

It’s Easy to Use, Once you Know How to Use It!

Like I said earlier, when I first signed up for Fiverr, I had no clue how to use it! I thought you just made a profile and that was it. I was very wrong, and this is why I wasn’t getting any customers! Here are a few ways to seek out clients and get customers attention.

#1: Add Gigs

By adding Gigs, you are showing potential clients what you know how to do, how much it will cost them and more. Go to Selling > Gigs.

Why I use Fiverr

Why I use Fiverr

Now that your in your Gigs, click on Create a New Gig. Also note the Different options you have. You can turn on Vacation Mode, so that customers know you are away (this is good for keeping your stats up). You also have an option to Accept Custom Offers. Basically this allows customers to ask you to work on design gigs other than the gigs you have listed.

Why I use Fiverr

Next, you’ll want to create your gig. It is pretty simple to do this, but it does take about 10 minutes to create each gig. Make sure you don’t add any web page links, otherwise your gig will not be accepted. There is also a short video to show you how to create a great gig, if needed.

Why I use Fiverr

#2: Check Out the Buyer Request

Customers can create Buyer Requests, to let creatives know what they want. Creatives can then big on the project (similar to Freelancer or Upwork). You can view Buyer Requests by going to Selling > Buyer Requests.

Why I use Fiverr

Why I use Fiverr

 

The next window you will see is a list of buyer requests in your creative domain. You can send 10 bids per day on Buyer Requests. Which is a decent amount, considering you won’t want to apply for all of them. The Buyer Requests look something like this (see below).

Why I use Fiverr

 

Hope this helps you all in becoming freelancers on Fiverr. Let me know if there’s anything else you need me to cover and I’ll send you a reply. Or send me an email and I’ll answer you that way!

 

 

 

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