This is a round-up of articles on client interaction and how to manage it during the various stages of the development cycle. All these articles are no more than approximately 2 years old.
This collection is divided by the 4 primary stages of client interaction.
In web design, client interaction (i.e. doing business with clients) can be divided as follows (note that this is not exhaustive in the sub-categories).
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Business Operation
This is how to run your business, in particular, the process, procedure, and technical aspects of client interaction.
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Client Relationship Establishment
This is how to interact with your clients in general, it’s the personal aspects of the client relationship.
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Project Planning Cooperation
This is how to plan your client’s project with them both technically and psychologically, the client gives you their requirements and goals that they want from you.
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Project Proposal and Project Presentation
This is how to present your ideas technically, you give the client what you propose to do for them.
Business Operation
- 3 Reasons Why Clients Don’t Choose You (brianyerkes.com)
- 3 Simple Ways to Get Paid More by Clients (Web Design Ledger)
- 5 Tips for Handling Pricing Objections (Vandelay Website Design)
- Design advice to keep you sane and prosper (The Design Cubicle)
- Educated clients equal more clients (The Design Cubicle)
- Five Freelancing Tips to Avoid Disasters (SitePoint Blogs)
- Four Arguments for Charging Late Fees (SitePoint Blogs)
- How Do Your Clients Want You to Handle Their Data? (SitePoint Blogs)
- How long do I wait before I take em to court? (Reddit)
- How to Increase the Value of Your Design Services for Clients (DesignM.ag)
- How To Deal with Non-Paying Clients (acuity designs)
- How To Set Boundaries With Clients (SitePoint Blogs)
- Liability Insurance for Web Designers: What You NEED to Know (commercialquotesinsurance.com)
- Managing Your Client Schedule (Freelancefolder)
- Morality in Web Development – Your Thoughts? (Spyre Studios)
- Should You “Fake It” If a Client Asks for Something You Can’t Do? (Freelancefolder)
- The Problem With Selling Web Design (John O’Nolan)
- Thoughts on why Spec Work is Bad and Why You Shouldn’t Do It (speckyboy.com)
- What Happens When the Website You Are Working on Blows Up? (Freelancefolder)
- Whiteboard Accounting (Frank Chimero)
Project Estimates, Service Pricing, and Price Negotiating Resources and Tips
- 12 Problems with Software Estimation (Rants and Apps)
- 12 Tips on Pricing your Web Work (Admix Web)
- 5 Tips for Charging Clients For Services (Colorburned Creative)
- 5 Ways to Squeeze More Money Out of Clients (You the Designer)
- 7 Simple Ways to Raise Your Rates and Keep Your Clients (Six Revisions)
- 7 Tips for Giving Effective Design Project Quotes (Six Revisions)
- A Discussion on Hourly Rates in Web Design (Build Internet!)
- Calculating The Genuine Value of Your Design (Noupe)
- Charging what you’re worth: a few tips for underpaid designers (Graphic Design Blender)
- Craft An Irresistible Price By Focusing On Your Users (Smashing Magazine)
- Design advice to keep you sane and prosper (The Design Cubicle)
- Do Designers Deserve Down-Payments? (Graphic Design Blender)
- Five Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Do That Job Free (SitePoint Blogs)
- Fixed vs. Hourly – The Rate Faceoff (Freelance Apple)
- Freelance Project Quote Estimator (DevGrow)
- From a Web Designer’s Point of View: Is the client leaving clients on the table? (This is not the original by Woork Up)
- Getting Paid … for Your Proposal?! (SitePoint Blogs)
- Hourly Billing: Is It Billable Time? (SitePoint Blogs)
- How Project Estimating Can Lead to More Money and Happier Clients (The Project Web – Resources for Web Design Projects)
- How to Properly Quote a Client (DevGrow)
- InfoQ: Estimation Toolkit (InfoQ)
- Offering price quotes to no-budget design clients (Graphic Design Blender)
- Pricing Like You’re Worth It (Build Internet!)
- Say “NO” to Spec Work (Freshbooks Blog)
- Should I Work for Free? (Jessica Hische)
- Stop throwing your design profits down the toilet (Graphic Design Blender)
- The Five Most Important Things to Do Before Jumping Into a Bartering Arrangement (SitePoint Blogs)
- The Impact of Accidental Complexity on Estimates (Jay Fields’ Thoughts)
- Thoughts on why Spec Work is Bad and Why You Shouldn’t Do It-Speckyboy Design Magazine (speckyboy.com)
- Three Ways to Turn Free Work into Paid Projects (SitePoint Blogs)
- Tools to Help you Estimate Price for your Web Work (Admix Web)
- Watch Your Language: Clients & Pricing (Build Internet!)
- Web Development Project Estimator (Astuteo)
- What’s In A Price: The Guidelines For Pricing Web Designs (Noupe)
- Why Can’t Developers Estimate Time? (PatchSpace Blog)
- Why Design Can’t be Billed by the Hour (idApostle)
- Why I bill hourly (orestis.gr)
- Do You Know Why It’s Important To Collect A Deposit For Design Work? (Van SEO Design)
- Why You Should Never Charge Hourly (Freelancefolder)
- Your Quote is too high! – Charging/Negotiating for design work (acuity designs)
Policy and Contract Resources and Tips
- 5 Free Non-Disclosure Agreements (acuity designs)
- 8 Provisions Your Web Design Contracts Must Have (TheProjectWeb.com)
- Client Tactics: Freelance Contract Basics Part 3 (1stwebdesigner)
- Contract Killer: The Next Hit (Stuff and Nonsense)
- Contract Negotiation 101 (SitePoint Blogs)
- Creative Latitude: Resources: Downloads (Creative Latitude)
- Design Contract Template (zenful creations)
- Freelance Contracts: Do’s And Don’ts (Smashing Magazine)
- Graphic design contracts – your advice (David Airey » graphic designer, logo designer)
- How To Spot A Sketchy Client (Plus A Contract Template) (Smashing Magazine)
- Kill Fees and Six Other Clauses to Consider for Your Contract (SitePoint Blogs)
- Legal Contracts Written in Code (Knowing.NET)
- Performance tests as a contract – part 1 (blog.craftforge.org)
- Red Ice Designs: Items a Designer Must Include in a Contract (Part 1) (Red Ice Designs)
- Red Ice Designs: What a Client Must Include in a Design Agreement (Part 2) (Red Ice Designs)
- Renegotiating The Contract (And Other Tales Of Horror) (Smashing Magazine)
- The Bare Bones That Every Freelance Contract Should Have (Design Informer)
- The Basics & Essentials of Graphic Design Contracts (WebAppers)
Collecting Money Related Issues
- 11 Tips for Freelancers to get Paid on Time (Tech King)
- 7 Warning Signs that your client won’t pay – Red Alert! (LogoGuru.co.uk)
- 9 Invoicing Tips for Better Invoicing (invoicera)
- Dealing With Clients Who Refuse To Pay (Smashing Magazine)
- How To Deal with Non-Paying Clients (Acuity Designs)
- How To Get Clients To Pay Up (ContactMe)
- Tips To Get Hasty Payments From Your Client (DWS mg.com)
- When A Freelancer Should Bill The Client (SmashingShare.com)
Client Relationship Establishment Tips
- 10 Bad Habits That Are Costing You Clients (FreelanceFolder)
- 10 Distinctive Client Personalities – Discover your clients!! (Graphic Design Blog)
- 10 Reasons To Be Your Designer’s Best Client (Visible Logic)
- 10 Secret Reasons Why You Lose Clients (Freelancefolder)
- 10 Sure-Fire Ways to Make Your Clients Love You (Design Shack)
- 10 Tips for Providing Great Customer Service to Your Clients (Six Revisions)
- 10 Tips On Communicating with Difficult Web Design Clients (letscounthedays)
- 10 Ways To Avoid Mistakes During Communicate With Customers (Designrfix)
- 10 Ways to Lose a Client (Design Mag)
- 10+ Tips to Improve Interaction with Clients (Admix Web)
- 10-Step Plan to Handle Client Crisis Situations (TheProjectWeb.com)
- 13 Ways To Improve Client Interaction (Web Design Booth)
- 15 Bad Habits That Could Kill Your Design Career (Webdesigner Depot)
- 40 better ways to work with clients (Boagworld)
- 5 Practices Your Clients Will Love (Six Revisions)
- 5 Rotten Things No One Else Has Told You About the Clients You’ll Work For (Webdesigner Depot)
- 5 Things Your Clients Should Know (Webdesigner Depot)
- 5 Tips for Conveying The Right Information to Clients (SpyreStudios – Design and Development Magazine)
- 5 Way to Do With Client for Good Relationship (Designrfix)
- 5 Ways to Deal With a Bad Client ([Re]Encoded.com)
- 5 Ways to Wow Your Clients With Killer Customer Service (Visual Swirl Design Resources)
- 6 Helpful Tips for Dealing With (P.I.T.A.*) Clients (The Design O’Blog)
- 6 Ways to QA Your Client Communications (SitePoint Blogs)
- 7 Personality Types of Clients Today (Webdesigner Depot)
- 7 Things Web Designers Hate Hearing from Clients (Six Revisions)
- A Beginners Guide To Dealing With Customers (All Things CRM)
- A Different Method of Negotiating With Clients (The Phuse)
- No One Nos: Learning to Say No to Bad Ideas (A List Apart)
- Advice for dealing with design clients (Logobird Designs)
- Are clients stupid? (Boagworld)
- Can I Have Fries with That? What Clients Really Want (SitePoint Blogs)
- Client Handling: Finding your Client’s Pain Points (1stwebdesigner – Love In Design)
- Client Rejection – Why No Means Nothing (Build Internet!)
- Client respect (CSS Wizardry)
- Client vs. Designer: Four Lessons to Win the Battle (Six Revisions)
- Clients & the Perception of Value in Design (Paper Leaf Design)
- Clients, the Web and the Big Misconception (Spyre Studios)
- Colorful Clientele – Client Types and How to Handle Them (Dzinepress)
- Common Client Concerns with Design Projects (Paper Leaf Design)
- Dealing With Big Name Clients (Freelancefolder)
- Doing the Little Things to Please Clients (Freelancefolder)
- Don’t Take Rejection Personally (InstantShift)
- Educate the Clients (Drawar Articles)
- Educate your clients about their budget (The Floating Frog)
- Essential Tips For How Freelancers Can Impress Clients (Vector Patterns)
- Facing your toughest design client (Logo Design Love)
- Five reasons your clients hate you (E-consultancy.com)
- Five things you should never say to a client (TechRepublic)
- Get Clients to Say ‘Yes!’ (Think Vitamin)
- How Great Clients Can Help You Become a Better Designer (DesignM.ag)
- How To Be Taken Seriously As A Student Designer (deltadesignz.com)
- How to Build a Good Working Client Relationship (Graphic Mania)
- How to Communicate With Your Clients (Design Reviver)
- How to Cut Ties without Burning Bridges (SitePoint Blogs)
- How to deal with clients who micromanage (Graphic Design Blender)
- How to Deal With Demon Clients (instantShift)
- How to Deal With Nightmare Clients (Webdesigner Depot)
- How to Detect a Toxic Customer (Software by Rob)
- How To Explain To Clients That They Are Wrong (Smashing Magazine)
- How to Get Clients to Absolutely Love Your Freelancing Work (Freelancefolder)
- How to Get Clients to Fall in Love with You All Over Again (SitePoint Blogs)
- How To Get More Clients From New Clients (Dzine Blog)
- How to Get Your Ideas Across to Clients (Six Revisions)
- How to handle clients (Designrfix)
- How To Handle Deadline-Strict Clients (Pixelactic.com)
- How to Handle Difficult Client Situations (Six Revisions)
- How to impress design clients and get more business (Graphic Design Blender)
- How to Keep a Mistake from Losing You a Client (Freelancefolder)
- How to Keep Your Clients on Board for a Long Time (Smashing Buzz)
- How to Keep Your Web Design Clients Happy (WebDesignDispatch.com)
- How To Manage Client Expectations (SitePoint Blogs)
- How to Market to Your Clients’ Pain (SitePoint Blogs)
- How to Reach the Satisfaction Factor of Web Design Clients (Designzzz.com)
- How to Survive Saying No to a Client (SitePoint Blogs)
- How To Turn Design Clients Into Raving Fans (Graphic Design Blender)
- How to turn one-time clients into core fans of your design business (Graphic Design Blender)
- Improving Client Relations and Enhancing the Work Process (Noupe)
- Is it Time to Fire Your Client? ([Re]Encoded.com)
- Learning To Ignore Your Clients (Vitamin Feed)
- Lessons Learned From My First Unhappy Client (bkmacdaddy designs)
- Looking Out for the Little Guy: When Small Clients Payoff Big (Visual Swirl Design Resources)
- NO! – The secret to the great clients (Your Inspiration Web)
- Options To Consider When Your Client Is Driving You Mad (PV.M Garage | Web Design Blog)
- Referrals: Getting Clients To WANT To Plug You (SitePoint Blogs)
- Say No to (Some) Clients (SitePoint Blogs)
- Saying “NO”. (Object Mentor Blog)
- Showing Appreciation To Gain Client Loyalty (Orphicpixel)
- Simple Ways to Know What Your Client is Thinking (1stwebdesigner)
- How To Identify Good Clients (and Avoid Bad Ones) (Smashing Magazine)
- So you’ve lost a client… (Design Juices)
- Sorting Out and Dealing with Different Types of Clients (1stwebdesigner)
- The Art of Saying “No” (Noupe)
- The Client Who Got It All Right (Drawar Articles)
- The Six Things Clients Want (Reinventing)
- There’s No Such Thing As A Bad Client (Smashing Magazine)
- Tips for Effective Communication with Your Clients (Web Design Ledger)
- Treat Your Clients Right -They’re Important! ([Re]Encoded.com)
- Turning All Clients Into Dream Clients (or Common Client Difficulties) (Smashing Magazine)
- Underpinning Clients: Your Bread and Butter (SitePoint Blogs)
- Web design is also about customer service (Boagworld)
- What Clients Say and What They Mean – Guide for Web Designers (Designzzz.com)
- What Do You Give Your Clients? (Web Design Blog – DesignM.ag)
- What Do Your Design Clients Care About? (Paper Leaf Design)
- What Everyone Ought to Know about Initial Client Meeting (1stwebdesigner)
- What is your answer to the dreaded client question “How do I make my site go to the top of Google?” (Reddit)
- What to Do When a Client Relationship Goes South (Webdesigner Depot)
- What to do when a client wants you to copy other designs (Graphic Design Blender)
- What Would You Learn If You Could Read Your Client’s Mind? (FreelanceFolder)
- When Clients Mess Things Up (webworkerdaily.com)
- When design clients come back from the dead (Graphic Design Blender)
- When to Turn a Web Design Project or Client Down and How To Do It Well (Web design by TheLibzter.com)
- Work Rejected? Deal With it (Your Inspiration Web)
Impressing Them and Introduction Tips
- 4 Simple Ways to Impress a Potential Client (Freelance Apple)
- 5 Good Ways to Close a Client Deal (Freelancefolder)
- 8-Point Checklist for Qualifying Prospects (SitePoint Blogs)
- A Comprehensive Guide to Web Terminology (PelFusion Design Magazine)
- Articles: Kick Ass Kickoff Meetings (A List Apart)
- Bringing in Clients: Ways To Get a Project Successfully (Web Design Fan)
- How to Make a Confident First Impression with Clients (Design Shack)
- How to Nail a Design Client with Perfect Sales Pitch (Smashing Buzz)
- How to Scare Away Prospects on Your First Call (SitePoint Blogs)
- How to Show Your Clients That You’re Serious! (1stwebdesigner – Graphic and Web Design Blog)
- Meeting Your Client for the First Time (Design Informer | Graphic and Web Design Blog)
- The art of interviewing your client (Logo Design Love)
- The Trust Factor: How to Gain and Maintain Your Clients’ Trust (SitePoint Blogs)
- Using a Client Welcome Packet to Get Off on the Right Foot (SitePoint Blogs)
- Web App Client Questionnaire (Think Vitamin)
Qualifying Clients Tips
- 10 Ways To Score and Evaluate A Client (acuity designs)
- 8-Point Checklist for Qualifying Prospects (SitePoint Blogs)
- A Match Made in Heaven: How to Interview a Client (SitePoint Blogs)
- Qualifying Clients over the Phone like a Pro (Even If You Never Thought You Could) (Fuel Your Creativity)
- Slow Down! 5 Important Questions to Ask Before Taking on Rush Projects (SitePoint Blogs)
- Your Ideal Client is a MUST Not a Nice to Have (Small Business Unleashed)
Spotting Problem Clients
- 10 Reasons to Politely Decline a Web Design Gig (Webmonkey)
- 10 Signs Of a Bad Client You Should Drop (UnderWorld Magazines)
- 12 Signs of a Problem Client (SitePoint Blogs)
- 15 Simple Warning Signs of a Bad Project (and how to think positively) (The Project Web – Resources for Web Design Projects)
- 7 Essential Red Flags to Watch Out for in New Clients (Webdesigner Depot)
- Client Tactics: How to Spot a Deadbeat Client (1stwebdesigner)
- Getting to No (A List Apart)
- Good Riddance to Deadbeat Clients [Work Smarter] (SitePoint)
- How To Identify Good Clients (and Avoid Bad Ones) (Smashing Magazine)
- How to spot bad design clients & when to ditch them (Graphic Design Blender)
- Warning: Avoid These Clients (C McConnell Design)
- When and How to Dump a Client (FreelanceShack)
- When to fire a design client (Graphic Design Blender)
- When to Turn a Web Design Project or Client Down and How To Do It Well (TheLibzter.com)
Following-Up Tips
- 10 Questions to ask your clients after project delivery (Macronimous Web Blog)
- 14 Questions To Ask Your Clients Before and After a Project (Design Reviver)
- 4 Ways of Getting Business from Previous Clients (Freelance Apple)
- 5 Rules for Following Up without Being Annoying (SitePoint Blogs)
- 5 Ways to Maintain Client Relationships Long After the Work is Complete (SitePoint Blogs)
- Client Tactics: Maintaining Existing Clients (1stwebdesigner – Graphic and Web Design Blog)
Project Planning Cooperation Tips
- 10 Questions to Be in Sync with Your Clients (DesignersCouch)
- 101 invaluable questions to build your Web Design Questionnaire (Woobzine)
- 11 Ways to Prevent Angry Clients from Destroying Your Project (TheProjectWeb.com)
- 14 Questions To Ask Your Clients Before and After a Project (SitePoint Blogs)
- 14 Quick and Effective Communication Tips for the Time-Challenged (SitePoint Blogs)
- 20 Questions to Know for Avoiding Website Project Disasters (Six Revisions)
- 5 Tips to prepare yourself for a web design task (Orphicpixel)
- 6 Things to Cover with Clients During a Redesign (CreativeFan)
- 7 Things to Ask Your Clients for Besides Money (You the Designer)
- 7 Things Web Designers Hate Hearing from Clients (Six Revisions)
- 72 Questions to Ask New Web Design Clients with PDF Chart (bonfx.com)
- What to do When Your Project Starts to go Downhill (Colorburned)
- Design By Committee: A Designers Worst Nightmare (The Floating Frog)
- Discussion: Getting Timely Feedback From clients (The Design O’Blog)
- Don’t Do Another Three-Way (smashLAB)
- Getting Clients to Embrace Fresh Ideas (Build Internet!)
- How to convince your clients they need a brand and not just a logo (David Airey :: Graphic and Logo Designer)
- How To Convince Your Clients They Need Usability (The Phuse)
- How To Create The Perfect Client Questionnaire (Noupe)
- How to Deal with Feature Creep (Webdesigner Depot)
- How To Handle Deadline-Strict Clients (Pixelactic.com)
- How to improve client communication by reducing amount of emails by 95% (Goyello)
- How to Use Twitter with Prospects and Clients Before, During and After Web Design Projects (The Project Web – Resources for Web Design Projects)
- How to Work with Indecisive Clients (SitePoint Blogs)
- How to Write a Client Proposal (ITworld)
- It’s Not Me, It’s You – Why Your Clients Don’t Like Your Designs (AddToDesign)
- Keeping clients motivated throughout the design process (Graphic Design Blender)
- Maximize Prospective Client Communication (C McConnell Design)
- Questions to ask clients before designing their website (The Design Cubicle)
- Setting Goals For Your Website – 3 Questions to Ask (Array Studios Inc.)
- Strategy Basics: Getting your Client’s Ducks in a Row (Think Vitamin)
- Taking the Wow Factor to a Whole New Level (SitePoint Blogs)
- Ten Questions You should be Asking to Produce the Killer Design Clients Crave (Inspired Magazine)
- Ten Ways to Stop Scope Creep in Your Web Design Project (The Project Web – Resources for Web Design Projects)
- Top Questions To Help Make Designs That Your Clients Will Love (1stwebdesigner – Graphic and Web Design Blog)
- Ultimate List Of Web Design Checklists: Get Work Done! (1stwebdesigner – Graphic and Web Design Blog)
- Web App Client Questionnaire (Carsonified)
- Web Design – What are Client’s Requirements? (cyber designz)
- What Determines the Number of Concepts you Show to a Client? (Processed Identity)
- When Clients Take Too Much Design Control (Build Internet!)
- When Your Client Wants To Become The Designer (acuity designs)
- 22 Questions to Ask Before Developing a Website :: CSS, JavaScript and XHTML Explained (Estelle Weyl’s Blog)
Project Proposal and Project Presentation Tips
- 5 Free Web Design Proposal Contracts (Acuity Designs)
- 6 Tips for Pitching to Major Clients (Web Designer Depot)
- 7 Basics to Create a Good Design Brief (Web Designer Depot)
- Don’t make the Demo look Done (Creating Passionate Users blog)
- Great Tips to Getting Your Design Approved By Clients (BoxieDesigner.com)
- How To Convince The Client That Your Design Is Perfect (Smashing Magazine)
- How to Convince Your Client on Your Design (Tutorial Lounge)
- How to Get Clients to Approve Your Wireframes Every Time (UX Movement)
- How to present the draft to the client: tips and examples (Your Inspiration Web)
- How To Present Your Designs To The Client (Gavin Elliott)
- How to Sell your Design Effectively to the Client (Smashing Buzz)
- Pitching to design clients: how to win the account (Graphic Design Blender)
- 7 Tips For Writing A Winning Web Design Proposal (SitePoint)
- The Secret to Pitching to New Clients (Freelance Apple)
- Useful Web Design Proposal Resources, Tools and Apps (Speckyboy Design Magazine)
- What Should You Include In A Design Project Proposal? (acuity designs)
- Why you should never present more than one mockup to a client (Lee Munroe)
- Your Quote Is Too High! – Charging/Negotiating For Design Work (acuity designs)