Advanced Clienthood #1 — 7 ways to get organized with your web designer

So you own a small business, or you're a self-employed freelancer type. You're hiring a graphic designer or web designer to help you get the message out that you have a truly rockin' business, and all those potential customers out there are missing something extra special if they don't hand over their cash to you. But... maybe you're experiencing a major clue shortage. No worries. In this series, you'll find out what it takes to get the most out of your relationship with — and your budget for — your creative vendor, and earn your degree in Advanced Clienthood. (Cap and gown optional.)

You say you want to be a client? Here are some general tips on coordinating with your graphic designer, web designer or other vender to build a well-oiled creative machine. Some of these apply more to web projects, but most are useful for any creative project. Use these tips and you might save some time, and you might save some money, but you'll most likely do a graceful little pirouette around that massive defensive lineman known as frustration.

1. Become one with the universe. Or, for now, maybe just your project. Talk to your designer and get a feel for the scope and time involved. But more importantly, figure out who's going to do what. Get a solid overview of what they will provide, and what they need to get from you.

What you provide can range from text to photos to logo art to audio or video files. These tangibles or digital files are often called "assets". There are also goals and feature wish lists and other details that either you or the designer needs to produce and share at some point.

Different people work in different ways, and different provide different services.

Some web designers crank out websites like a robotic car factory, slapping your logo and text and maybe a few stock photos into a web template, getting your site online fast, and with a minimum of interaction and cash from you.

On the other end of the spectrum are web designers and developers who create unique, custom websites from scratch. They might provide copywriting or editing, or need you to provide copy. For many kinds of websites, they'll need to get photos from you. If you create something that customers need to see, you'll need to figure out how to get the photos done. If you're in a business where clients expect to see your smiling mug on your site, you'll need to provide one or more pics.

Will the web designer write your copy for you, or work with a writer? If so, and you hate to write, they've got you covered. But you'll at least have to send them bullet points, or maybe do a phone interview. Other web designers will need to get finished copy from you.

All of this more tangible stuff is in addition to the big-picture info that your web designer may need. The template-grinder may not want to hear about your positioning strategy for cornering the needle-free cactus market... but a designer/developer who creates custom sites more likely will.

It's going to sound painfully trite, but the more you put into your website, the more you'll get out of it — and that means not just budget, but time, thought and at least a little effort.

2. Make a list. Check it twice. A day. Your designer can provide this for you after you have your overview meeting. The list should include every piece of raw information or art that will be needed to complete the site -- or at least a list of categories of items.

Be sure you know who's going to provide each item... you, or the vendor. Helps you avoid that awkward, "Oh, I thought you were going to do that." "No, I thought you were going to do that." "No, I thought you were--" conversation.

3. It's a date! And a second, and a third... Make a schedule. Again, your designer can provide this, noting when each item need to be provided by you or them. If you have an event-based deadline—like the roll out of a new product, or your departure on a round-the-world cruise—make sure the designer knows, so delivery of assets and finished items can be timed before the tide goes out.

Not every web project has a tight schedule. Some have no schedule at all. I've found that design life is much easier with one, no matter what the pace. In any event, you and your designers need to talk about expectations.

4. Figure out how to move your assets, slicker than mortgage-backed securities.

To make the design process easier, you need to move images and text documents ("assets") back and forth without much effort. Even if the SEC isn't watching.

Maybe you've never sent a large number of big photo files to anyone... so you may not know that a lot of e-mail servers don't allow messages over a certain size. So if you attach a 20MB wad of pics to an e-mail and fire it off to your designer, don't be surprised if they never get it — even if you don't get an error message.

If a client needs to send more than about 5MB in assets, I generally suggest they use a service like the very popular and super-easy YouSendIt.com, or upload the items to my iDisk, or use some other techie thing that's built for bigness. Ask your designer. If they've been around for more than ten minutes, they can help.

Slick, bro. Even if your assets don't end up in the Caymans.

5. Get yourself a manager. Items 2 through 4 above can be handled through an online project management service, like Basecamp. Services like this allow you to create to-do lists, schedule project milestones, store and share files (with version tracking), and even collaboratively write documents online. The service can also send e-mail reminders of due dates, and do basic time tracking (although I use Harvest for that).

Now, since we know that clients come in different flavors — from super nerds to technophobes — not everyone will be comfortable right away with a project management system.

All you need to do is figure out a "workflow" that's the most efficient and least angst-inducing for you and your designer. There's no real wrong way to organize. Some methods just work better for some individuals and teams.

6. I know you love it when I talk geeky. Ask your designer for details on file formats and other distasteful technical minutia.

They'll probably be JPEGs, but how big do the photos need to be, in pixels? Should they be compressed at all?

How does your designer want your logo? A low-resolution JPEG often won't cut it. A vector-based file can give your designer more flexibility, and possibly save you money.

What about audio or video? What format does your designer need to get the content on the web?

As for text, most people's computers can open, read and save Word documents, but it never hurts to ask.

If you're a semi-luddite and all this tech talk has you reaching for the Xanax, you have a few options. A) Take a deep breath and just dive in. Ask as many questions as you need to in order to get your designer what they need for a kick-butt website. B) Resign yourself to having a generic website that may not be compelling enough to drive business to your door. C) Get your 12-year-old son/daughter/niece/nephew to handle the tech stuff for you. You'll get a little quality time, and you know they love showing off.

7. Name a designated driver. You probably know yourself well enough by now to have discovered your level of multitasking. If it's high, you may want to take the wheel in terms of moving the project along. But if you tend to get wrapped up in other tasks and lose track of long-term projects, letting the designer drive may help you avoid a crash. they're probably used to acting as project manager.

And don't be afraid to switch drivers in the middle of the trip. I have known a fair number of clients who thought they had things in hand, but their "day job" grabbed most of their attention. When this happens to you, ask the designer to send you reminders and give you an occasional call to keep you from veering off the road. Keeping the conversation going is a great way to keep you both awake. Try a word game. If you're in the southern U.S., stop at a Stuckey's for a pecan log and a cold R.C..

. . . .

Okay, so all this pontificatin' might make it sound like like my clients and I have glass-smooth machinations rollin' 24/7. Truth is, it's taken me some time and painful experience to realize how much these steps help the flow and the quality of the work -- not to mention the quality of life. In fact, I sometimes get a little lax with some clients when it comes to organization, especially if the project isn't on a tight schedule.

This is why the designated driver thing is important. In fact, I've found that for the majority of projects, with the majority of clients, it's a safer trip if I've got the keys, since I know the road.

I've been getting more and more structured in my work with clients, creating more systems and shortcuts and formalizing policies. So even though business has been going nuts lately, my clients and I have been happiest when the machine is humming and the WD-40 is within reach.

Schedules and budgets make everything clearer. Milestones are generally good for morale, and boundaries give you structure. Structure makes for comfort. While creativity often blooms in chaos, you can't fly without the laws of physics. (Man... Did I really just regurgitate that old chestnut?)

There are tons of other details, workflows, best practices and widgets that can keep you organized. I'll cover some of my favorites in later posts.

"But what about budgets??" you cry. Oy. Budgets. That's a whole list unto itself. We'll get to that.

For now, keep the big project picture in mind, but remember that deity is in the details. It's the project management analog to thinking globally and acting locally.