When it comes to any sort of design process for a client, the approval process is extremely important. Taste is subjective, and everyone has their own vision, even if their vision is bad. You might think you’ve done the best work of your life, and then you go to show it to the client and can see the disappointment on their face as they try to reconcile it with what they were picturing.
See, the thing is, even if you’re not skilled in a particular art form, that usually means that you’re not practiced at getting visions out, be it words onto paper, sounds recorded onto silence, or paint onto canvas. It doesn’t mean that you can’t hear what you want something to sound like, or picture how it should work, or what thoughts it should convey. Trying to properly get thoughts out for your artistic medium is something you’ll work towards throughout your entire life.
So, clients have an idea of what they want even if they can’t make it themself, and that’s sort of the whole point of the relationship. Listening becomes one of the most important skills for a freelance creator, not just hearing what they’re saying but coming to grips with what it is they actually mean. So, communication, like getting approval and feedback, becomes extremely important.
When this graphic designer’s client told them to stop “pestering” them with their reminders and approvals, they put the entire project on hold while they waited for responses and approvals. When, lo and behold, the client called weeks later, panicking, they had a suitable paper trail to refer back to.
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