Graphic Design Questions for Clients: What to Ask?

Understanding your clients is very important to provide better designs & satisfy them. Dealing with clients, especially those who are completely inexperienced in graphic design, can be challenging. 

If you provide graphic design services, you would obviously want to know in-depth about what type of designs your client wants. Now, how will you know that? By asking questions.

These questions will make clients feel more engaged in the design process & assist you in brainstorming ideas & fine-tuning your creative output.

Graphic Design Questions / Brief Questionnaire for Clients:

Here are graphic design questions for clients that you should ask before you start working on their projects. Consider using these questions to add them to your project intake form or your client intake form. The questions are laid around the idea of understanding the client & their thought process.

What inspired you for this project?

Discovering your client’s motivation provides you with a firm understanding of why your client wants to work with you & how to begin the project. When you ask this question, you’ll know whether your client wants to keep doing similar creatives as before or wants a completely different style. Often the clients would answer the questions by talking about how the company or product was born, which will give you some insights into their journey, their likings, & dislikes.

You can ask for a sample of any creative that they found interesting & inspiring for reference purposes. 

What are your objectives for the new project?

Setting objectives allows you to measure your progress & determine your design’s success. When you know the purpose of your design, you’ll be able to easily modify & fill any voids.

Majority of the time, the clients would want to achieve multiple things, like create Awareness, Educate, Generate Sales & other stuff all at the same time. Your goal would be to plan out how each of those objectives can be achieved with designs. 

Making early changes is always better than doing endless revisions later.

What are the strengths of your company?

Emphasize your client’s unique selling points. Understanding your client’s USPs can also be used to inspire the overall concept of your design. By asking these questions, try to learn about the company’s strengths without annoying the client. This will allow you to complete the job while surpassing expectations.

What sets your business apart from the rest?

Your client company may be attempting to demonstrate their quick service. As a result, including an element that indicates a fast & responsive service becomes vital for the brand. Graphic designs should mirror company values through visuals & branding in general. 

Every business is unique, & you should clearly portray that through designs.

Who are your top competitors?

This is one of the best questions to ask. It gives you a base for your research on which company/products your product is trying to compete with or align with. Also, it helps you get an understanding of how branding or communication works for the target audience in that niche. Personally, I like to go through all the competitors and create more out-of-the-box designs in order to stand out from the crowd, but then I think the client should be adventurous enough to take such risks.

Learn about your client’s industry & their competitors. Ask them to list a few of their top competitors & check out their website & branding overall. This will help you to create better graphic designs. 

Also, since your client & their competitors belong to the same industry, it’s completely possible for you to create the same creatives as theirs. Thus, researching competitors before working on graphics helps to avoid making the same or similar graphic designs. 

Who are your target customers?

Customers’ buying behavior depends on various factors & one is brand appeal. You must ask your client who their target audience is. Learning about what they do, how they act, what they are like, etc., will help you craft graphic designs specifically catering to that audience.

Different demographics have different expectations, needs & wants. Consider how effective your choices in color, shapes, typography, etc., are when designing graphics for them. 

Is this for a feminine, masculine or gender-neutral audience?

Certain companies may appeal to a certain demographic by appealing to conventional gender norms. Similarly, if your client informs you that they have a diverse, gender-mixed audience, you incorporate more gender-neutral components into your design.

For example, if your client is a beard oil-making company, then your graphic designs should be masculine to appeal to their target audience, i.e. men. 

Do you want to use existing brand colors, or are you considering a specific color palette?

Colors are one of the most important elements of graphic design, especially when crafting logos. Colors represent brand value & give brands their identity. 

For example, we all recognize Tide detergent with the color Orange while Surf Excel with the color Blue.

Ask your client whether they want to keep the same color or want to change it. When brands want to rebrand themselves, they typically ask for a color palette change.

So, make sure you clear this before starting your graphic design work. 

What are the must-have elements required for your design?

Check to see whether your client has any preferences or requests. This question will ensure that you do not overlook any copy, pictures, or concepts that are important to the design.

Sometimes, clients might not know what exactly they want. In such cases, use your expertise & suggest to them a few ideas. This will give them & you an idea of what they would like. 

Where is the design going to be used?

Graphic designers should be aware of the mediums in which their work will be used. For example, complex logos may not look prominent when printed in smaller formats, such as business cards. However, successful logos will look fantastic in all format sizes.

How do you wish to communicate?

You should ask your client how they wish to communicate. Some clients want you to give constant updates, while others may leave you be. Knowing how your client operates will enable the smooth functioning of your project. 

You should also ask which medium your client is comfortable talking in. There are various platforms, such as Google Meet, Trello, Tawk.to, etc.  

What is your budget for this project?

Asking your clients how much they are willing to spend is important. No matter how shy you may feel, it’s important to have this conversation. 

Be clear from the get-go about your base rates or if you charge for each revision or not. Sometimes, your clients may have a few new ideas they would want you to include; consider all factors & determine your fee based on that information. 

How soon do you need this done?

Ask your client how much time they would want the project to be completed. This will give you an opportunity to estimate how much time & attention you need to spend on that particular client’s project.

Sometimes you may work on multiple tasks for different clients. That is why it’s important to ensure you leave yourself enough time to complete a project & other tasks. 

Depending on the project’s complexity, you can always ask for additional time. Also, consider creative block, procrastination, & such obstacles when assuring your client of the ETA. 

I also like to go with the golden rule, whatever is fast & good won’t be cheap. If it is cheap & fast, then it won’t be good.

Is there anything else you need to mention that wasn’t covered above?

Always have this question at the end of your questionnaire. There’s always a chance that you might not have asked everything a client would like to tell you. Doing so ensures that you’ve collected all the information needed to start working on your project.

Final Words

These are the graphic design questions for clients that you should always ask. Since every client is different, you may add or remove a few questions from this list. It is very important that you do that before starting your project. After all, a clear idea will yield successful results & a satisfied client. 

We’ve got more such informative blogs on our blog page. Leave a comment below if you have any fresh questions to add to this list.