The Graphic Designer's Guide to Clients: How to Make Clients Happy and Do Great Work

Ellen Shapiro

Feb 2012 · Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

About this ebook

Here is the perfect volume for graphic designers who want real-life advice for long-term success. Renowned designer Ellen Shapiro reveals time-tested tricks of the trade-for making sure the clients you want to work with know about you, become your clients, and work with you productively.

Then, in a series of one-on-one interviews, leading designers such as Milton Glaser, April Greiman, Mike Weymouth, Drew Hodges, Marc Gobé, and partners in Pentagram reveal their personal experiences and insights on how to uphold creative standards while fulfilling clients’ needs.

Their advice will help you: identify what is distinct about your services; market yourself effectively; meet and court clients; learn the lingo of corporate strategy; make effective presentations; believe in the work you do and sell the work you believe in; obtain referrals from existing clients; keep clients coming back for more. CEOs and design managers from nineteen marketing- and design-savvy clients-such as Klein Bikes, The Knoll Group, Barnes & Noble, and Harvard-offer their own candid perspectives on the challenges, solutions, and triumphs of working with designers.

Whether you are courting your first clients or seeking fresh insights for achieving even greater success, you cannot afford to be without this crucial resource.

About the author

Ellen Shapiro is the founder and president of Shapiro Design Associates, which since 1978 has specialized in identity and print projects for corporations and non-profit organizations. She developed her passion for design under design legend Herb Lubalin, under whom she worked with such clients as Schlumberger Limited, L’Oréal Paris, and International Typeface Corporation, publishers of U&lc. A prolific design journalist who is known her witty, often provocative interview style, Ellen Shapiro has been writing about the relationship between clients and designers for many years and has been published in prestigious design magazines such as Communication Arts, Print, How, Step Inside Graphic Design, the AIGA journal, and Critique. Her book Clients and Designers (Watson-Guptill Publications, 1990) was voted a “must for every design library” by readers of Critique. Before starting her own design business, Ellen Shapiro graduated from UCLA’s College of Fine Arts, was art director for UCLA alumni publications and for the Barton-Gillet Company. She has taught at numerous eminent design schools, including Parsons School of Design, Pratt Institute, the School of Visual Arts, and the University of Baltimore, and is currently the Senior Seminar professor at Purchase College, SUNY.