Here's how you can accurately portray your clients' vision as a computer graphics professional.

The initial step to execute a client's project successfully is to Listen Carefully. Listening to what the client needs, what the client is envisioning, the problems they are facing. Not only during the First call or the meeting but listening to the feedbacks, agreements, disagreements. While listening you can also observe your clients, A Brand or a company is a reflection of the clients personality.

Open communication is key. Make sure your client feels comfortable to share even what they might see as disconnected ideas. Anything can spark new connections that lead to the desired solution. Our role as designers is to guide the client in this exploration.

Gather Detailed Information: Start by having in-depth conversations with your client. Ask open-ended questions to understand their goals, target audience, desired style, and brand identity. A lot of times, the client doesn't what they want. You have to help and guide them in my experience. Clarify Expectations: Ensure clear communication throughout the process. Ask clarifying questions to confirm your understanding of their vision and avoid any misinterpretations. Actively Listen: Pay close attention to both verbal and nonverbal cues. Notice their enthusiasm for specific elements and adjust your approach accordingly. It's better to get understand what they want and are looking for at the beginning than when the project has started.

Na minha experiência o briefing é uma fase muito importante do projeto. Um briefing bem construído evita que o trabalho precise ser refeito e diminui o número de correções.

Create clear open communications with your client. Talk, listen and take notes. Find out everything physically possible about the project. Sometimes things can be unclear, or more complicated than they need to be, impracticality or just unrealistic. Essential things may be overlooked or not even considered by the client. Providing support, advice and guidance from a design or practicality prospective will help the client understand any concerns or issues you may have within the project. Enabling you to manage their expectations and reducing any unnecessary disappointment for your client. Establishing further discussions with your client about next steps, research, concepts, mock-ups and development of the project moving forward.

Um coisa que acho útil é a construção e apresentação de um moodboard, construído a partir do briefing, com cores, fotografias, tipografias e projetos semelhantes, etc. É um bom termômetro para verificar se o entendimento do briefing pelo designer corresponde as expectativas do cliente.

I always spend the first few days of a project researching the topic and gathering references and ideas to figure out which ones best align with the project and what the client is asking for. This is when brainstorming and making mood boards come in handy!

Researching the market, and making a mood board is a crucial step. Sharing this pool of references with the client is also a good way of fine-tuning your understanding of the briefing, and managing your client's expectations - with a mood board they can SEE what things can look like, and what paths we can start to follow.

Have fun, deepdive into the web, start looking at similar projects, look at what their possible competitors have done. Develop your ideas, create moodboards. Play with drawings, use an AI generator like Adobe Firefly to see if that can give a different slant on your ideas. (It doesn’t always produce what you are looking for, but it could trigger a design journey). If you work as part of a team, collaborate with your colleagues, throw around ideas. If 20 years of design experience has taught me anything, it’s don’t spend too much time on one idea! If it feels flat, move on, and don’t think too much about it. Play, the best ideas are the simplest. I can guarantee you, your client loved the design idea that literally took you no time at all.

Stay updated with the latest trends and technologies in computer graphics to offer innovative solutions. Look at what similar projects have done successfully to provide informed suggestions.

Sketching ideas is an essential step in any creative project. It serves as the foundation for conveying your intended message and vision. During this phase, both you and your client can visualize what works and what needs adjustment. Over the years, I've learned a valuable lesson: never force a sketch. There have been countless times when I've tried to perfect a drawing, only to realize that my struggles often stem from a lack of genuine excitement about the idea. When a concept doesn't resonate with you, it shows in your work. The beauty of sketching lies in its ability to reveal these misalignments early on. By embracing this process, you can ensure that the final product truly reflects a compelling and cohesive message.

This is one of the most important steps to any project before starting on the final. It’s likely that what your client is looking for will change slightly from the prompt and by presenting sketches to them early you can pin point more clearly what it is that they really want. Depending on the project I will do 10 or 12 sketches or thumbnails and ideally narrow it down to the 5 or 6 best ones to discuss with the client.

Either with wireframes, lo-fi structures, or even paper scribbles, sketching is a good way of bringing your idea closer to the real world. Abstract thoughts are perfect, we can only find their limitations when we start shaping them into reality. Sharing initial sketches with clients is another way of communicating and making sure we're all working towards a shared and agreed-upon goal.

Sketching is an essential tool, don’t take it for granted, it doesn’t matter if your doodling while on the phone, just get the ideas down. Everyone’s process is different. But you can get designers block, it happens to all of us. If this happens, I suggest just sketching until you get bored, then stop. Have a break, take your pad with you. Get a coffee and go for a walk, and listen to music, you want upbeat positive music without words, classical, games ost, whatever works for you. Just observe your surroundings and have a nice walk. The activity of problem solving an idea will be stuck in your head. You want to unlock your subconscious to start developing new ideas.

Create mood boards and style frames that encapsulate the project’s look and feel. This helps in aligning with the client’s vision early in the process. For animations or complex scenes, develop storyboards to outline the sequence of events and key visual elements.

Taking client feedback positively is crucial, regardless of who the expert is. Embracing feedback ensures that clients feel valued and play an integral role in bringing their vision to life. Moreover, feedback from clients or colleagues can highlight errors that may have been overlooked, enhancing the overall quality of the project. By showing appreciation for their input, we not only improve the end result but also build stronger, more trusting relationships with our clients.

Feedback is another reason why it it’s important to stay in contact with your client over the course of a project. Feedback can help you learn and grow as an artist and improve your skill set, and can also insure that you keep your clients happy.

We love creating and we love our ideas, but in the end, the final product belongs to the client. So they need to feel represented, heard, and understood every step of the way. That's why communication is key, listening is so important, and also making sure you are creating according to what was agreed to and planned together.

There is a difference between creative and plain criticism. Everyone needs the ability to listen and take it, because you will get comments and opinions. Whether from the client, a colleague or your boss. Bear-in-mind, sometimes its not whats said, its how its perceived. Hey, no-one likes negative feedback, it sucks! But changes and adjustments are part of the process. You should always be understanding, able to grow and develop. You need to be able to graciously except positive praise, as-well-as negative criticism. Keep it classy, take on-board comments, valid or not, because the way you handle the views of others will reflect on you. Hey, worst case scenario, its pants and you have to start again, in which case, something did go wrong.

This is one of my favorite parts because the details are what make a visual project so unique. Make sure you use a logical grid, that each element is aligned by an invisible logic that needs no introduction to be understood. Spacing is also important and must be consistent, the viewer might not understand why something looks off - but if your spacing is logical, they won't even question it. Color, composition, sizing. There are so many details to consider, each one has its weight when fine-tuning a project.

Feedback is guaranteed, whether positive or negative. Lets face it if you smashed it out the park first time, fair play. However, there will always be a comment and your ability to positively execute the changes is vital. Sit with the client and review them, if you have your laptop and you can. Do what I do, say “if you like I can do them now with you”. Then the client feels like part of the process not just an observer. I recently did this, the client watched me modify her logo, then she saw why I had done what I had done originally. Which then led to a complete rethink. We worked together doodling and I made mockups in illustrator, we created a whole new logo together. We both had great fun. I then went off and created the final version.

It is very important to Present your Work to Confidently to the Client. Your client will sometimes have very weird vision about what they need or they are very stubborn about their needs that are out dated or don't fit in the current trends anymore. - For example, if a Restaurant owner wants a logo with forks, spoons and Pans as elements, explain why these are overused and suggest unique alternatives that better represent their brand. Show them how creative, custom designs can make their business more memorable. - You can also Refer to Sagi Haviv's interviews on how he Confidently presented and convinced Conservation International to Adapt the minimal and simple logo he did for them which they were not at all convinced initially.

This count for whatever step in the progress you present. Anything you present to a client, rather its a sketch, moodboard, work in progress update, give it the same love and care you would with a final product.

Presenta siempre opciones de las cuales tu mismo estés convencido de que son óptimas. No te sientas obligado a presentar 3, 4 o más opciones. Puede que luego de un arduo trabajo de conceptualizar y descartar opciones, solo queda una opción. Con toda la confianza que tu conocimiento merece debes presentar esa opción y justificarla con buen criterio. Usa las palabras correctas y precisas apoyado por todo el lenguaje visual necesario. No te compliques con discursos innecesarios y redundantes. Focaliza tu objetivo, se convincente y no utilices recursos teóricos abstractos.

Rather your working with a small independent company or a massive multinational. It’s important to build and maintain a relationship. Like a barber, or tattoo artist would. Talk, make it personal, grow closer. But stay professional. They’ll come back, recommend you to others, and will be more understand when dealing with issues.

Tantas etapas, cada uma tão importante quanto a outra! Depois destas etapas preliminares, desde o briefing, etc, gosto muito de "mergulhar e entrar" o mais próximo possível do desejo do cliente. O que ele estaria mesmo desejando, para a partir daí, fazer alguns rascunhos, prefiro manualmente mesmo, fico com mais liberdade. Tentar entender o significado do desejo do cliente para traduzir em gráfico com um significado forte, diferenciado e único. É um momento difícil, uma interpretação muito profunda, mas que traz ótimos resultados. Requer rascunhos e mais rascunhos, observações detalhadas.