“Draw me several design options so that I can choose ...”
The thought of this post brought me a view of the mountain of spam located in our corporate mailbox. The interested letter read - “Operational polygraphy. Printing business cards in 1 hour. Design business cards - 2 options for 500 p. ". The thought was not yet fully ripe when our regular customer surprised me a lot by writing a letter asking for a couple more options for the design of its new site. And then I thought.
Often customers at the stage of estimating the cost and timing of work are interested - “how many design options will you give us?”. And this applies to both sites and corporate identity. Of course, it would be possible to answer - we will provide 2-3 options, to which the customer nodded satisfactorily and signed the contract. Everyone would be happy. In fact - no problem. Often, studios are not difficult to make 2-3 options, because there is a full-time designer on the salary, and the customer is pleased to give the opportunity to choose what he needs most. But no… Some answer that they develop a concept, an idea and in the end a sketchy project - how to make a website both beautiful and convenient, and also to present the products and services of the customer in a profitable and tempting manner. But if you really think through, you create such a sketchy project, what can there be 2-3-10 options? This is absurd. With this workflow, there is only one, but the most optimal option is the one that, in the professional view of the developers, solves all the tasks assigned to representing the company in the network. There simply cannot be many such options ideologically. It is impossible for several months to develop the flow of ideas for one project - it is unprofitable for the studio (huge labor costs for meager money), for the customer (often it is limited in time). Even if the project budget is huge - the studio will be occupied with only one site for half a year - the “ideal idea” will still be one (most likely the initial one) - and the rest of the layouts are variations of this elaborated one.
Another important point is that often one well thought-out layout is equal in value to several “ones to choose”. Labor costs in time in both cases are the same or differ slightly.
')
Customer's opinion - at the same price I will get more and I can choose.
Owing to all this, clients often go to other studios, where they will be drawn both a mock-up and 2 more to make it free. But what are these layouts? What does it mean - several different layouts for a certain amount, and the rest for extra money? What is meant by “different” layouts?
But this is the trick. The extensive phrase “different layouts” gives the developer a tremendous freedom of action - to provide several layouts that differ in the location of the logo, fonts and clipart. And a customer who later realized the state of affairs, but who had already donated money for his “mountain” of mock-ups, had to choose the lesser of the evils - the most good mock-up. And making another - fundamentally different - costs money, and, most likely, exactly 2 times the amount already given. Because he agrees that there is. He is disappointed in the site already in advance and tries not to think about the money spent in vain.
Another option. The studio draws well, with an average quality. Layouts are clean, neat. Or, suppose, in the studio, several designers and each of them draw a single model based on the concept developed by the manager (or with the manager). They are different - after all, people are different, and therefore their vision of the same things may be different. As a result, the studio provides the customer with several different options. From this possibility of choice at the customer's eyes, and instead of choosing one of the options and starting the programming stage, the customer asks to finalize one or the other. After that, he doesn’t like anything, he gets upset and asks him to draw more and more. And so on to infinity. Usually, then the studio gets tired of the infinity of the process, tells the customer that the following refinements are for extra money. And he has to take any layout, which, perhaps, he does not like at all.
These are the parties to this wide choice.
Then, after all the ordeals of the first and second cases, the customer lives for some time with the fact that he was painted, then still remodel from another studio and achieves the ideal result for him. And it happens that you need to go through more than one studio to achieve this very perfect result. And at the same time you have to overpay for a decision made earlier in favor of the illusory possibility of choice.
Therefore, it is necessary to clearly design the site before the layout is drawn. To draw a model not according to a lengthy TZ - “so that it is beautiful, forms a positive image ..., etc.”, but already according to clearly constructed schemes, at least in a Word. Page layouts and the site concept would be better developed by the manager together with the designer, one knows exactly the needs of the customer, the second knows how to profitably and “tasty” them visually. It is desirable to approve all sketches, intermediate ideas and of course the main final scheme-project of the site at the customer. And after that, having a clear project - draw one, but normal and, most importantly, version of the site that the customer needs, which will then bring him customers and profits. After which he will tell you - “thank you”. Otherwise, for the possibility of a wide choice, the “mean” will always be “pay twice.”
Often customers at the stage of estimating the cost and timing of work are interested - “how many design options will you give us?”. And this applies to both sites and corporate identity. Of course, it would be possible to answer - we will provide 2-3 options, to which the customer nodded satisfactorily and signed the contract. Everyone would be happy. In fact - no problem. Often, studios are not difficult to make 2-3 options, because there is a full-time designer on the salary, and the customer is pleased to give the opportunity to choose what he needs most. But no… Some answer that they develop a concept, an idea and in the end a sketchy project - how to make a website both beautiful and convenient, and also to present the products and services of the customer in a profitable and tempting manner. But if you really think through, you create such a sketchy project, what can there be 2-3-10 options? This is absurd. With this workflow, there is only one, but the most optimal option is the one that, in the professional view of the developers, solves all the tasks assigned to representing the company in the network. There simply cannot be many such options ideologically. It is impossible for several months to develop the flow of ideas for one project - it is unprofitable for the studio (huge labor costs for meager money), for the customer (often it is limited in time). Even if the project budget is huge - the studio will be occupied with only one site for half a year - the “ideal idea” will still be one (most likely the initial one) - and the rest of the layouts are variations of this elaborated one.
Another important point is that often one well thought-out layout is equal in value to several “ones to choose”. Labor costs in time in both cases are the same or differ slightly.
')
Customer's opinion - at the same price I will get more and I can choose.
Owing to all this, clients often go to other studios, where they will be drawn both a mock-up and 2 more to make it free. But what are these layouts? What does it mean - several different layouts for a certain amount, and the rest for extra money? What is meant by “different” layouts?
But this is the trick. The extensive phrase “different layouts” gives the developer a tremendous freedom of action - to provide several layouts that differ in the location of the logo, fonts and clipart. And a customer who later realized the state of affairs, but who had already donated money for his “mountain” of mock-ups, had to choose the lesser of the evils - the most good mock-up. And making another - fundamentally different - costs money, and, most likely, exactly 2 times the amount already given. Because he agrees that there is. He is disappointed in the site already in advance and tries not to think about the money spent in vain.
Another option. The studio draws well, with an average quality. Layouts are clean, neat. Or, suppose, in the studio, several designers and each of them draw a single model based on the concept developed by the manager (or with the manager). They are different - after all, people are different, and therefore their vision of the same things may be different. As a result, the studio provides the customer with several different options. From this possibility of choice at the customer's eyes, and instead of choosing one of the options and starting the programming stage, the customer asks to finalize one or the other. After that, he doesn’t like anything, he gets upset and asks him to draw more and more. And so on to infinity. Usually, then the studio gets tired of the infinity of the process, tells the customer that the following refinements are for extra money. And he has to take any layout, which, perhaps, he does not like at all.
These are the parties to this wide choice.
Then, after all the ordeals of the first and second cases, the customer lives for some time with the fact that he was painted, then still remodel from another studio and achieves the ideal result for him. And it happens that you need to go through more than one studio to achieve this very perfect result. And at the same time you have to overpay for a decision made earlier in favor of the illusory possibility of choice.
Therefore, it is necessary to clearly design the site before the layout is drawn. To draw a model not according to a lengthy TZ - “so that it is beautiful, forms a positive image ..., etc.”, but already according to clearly constructed schemes, at least in a Word. Page layouts and the site concept would be better developed by the manager together with the designer, one knows exactly the needs of the customer, the second knows how to profitably and “tasty” them visually. It is desirable to approve all sketches, intermediate ideas and of course the main final scheme-project of the site at the customer. And after that, having a clear project - draw one, but normal and, most importantly, version of the site that the customer needs, which will then bring him customers and profits. After which he will tell you - “thank you”. Otherwise, for the possibility of a wide choice, the “mean” will always be “pay twice.”
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/73187/
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