#WinningWednesday: Why You Need to Manage Client Expectations
Featured Image: Ellingson.cc
Josh Ellingson is a graphic artist with over fifteen years of experience working in various mediums. His talent is well-known and his illustrations have been featured by publications, websites, and organizations worldwide. He has worked with notable clients such as Nickelodeon, SyFy Channel, Wired Magazine, Hasbro, SomaFM, and Laughing Squid.
Josh Ellingson
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Originally from Michigan, Josh moved to California after graduating Grand Rapids’ Kendall College of Art & Design in 1999. He animated greeting cards for a couple of years and completed design work for an online casino games place.
It wasn’t long before he decided to take the risk of going boldly on his own.
“Making art all day is one of the luckiest things ever. I don’t know if I would ever quit that on purpose,” Josh said about his career.
Managing client expectations
Fortunately, Josh never has had a client issue that made him want to give up working as a freelancer. Unlike designers who deal with bad clients all the time, he has successfully avoided them (despite a few snags here and there.) He credits his success to his managing capability and knowing how to adjust for a client’s experience with hiring contractors.
“A big part of the job in contracting is managing expectations. This is a really important part of any project, regardless of the client. If things are handled up front and communication is good, then there are fewer problems.”
All clients are the same
Speaking of clients – according to Josh there isn’t a big difference between small businesses to big company clients!
He went on to say that on some projects, you’re working with someone who contracts artists all the time, and other days you’re hand-holding someone through a situation they’ve never been involved in before.
“I’m working with a client right now that’s probably never hired an illustrator. They want to be involved in every step and have lots of questions and concerns that take time and patience to manage.”
Small companies sometimes have smaller budgets, but they tend to pay faster and can be more flexible. However with big companies they usually have small divisions that are used to handling contractors. Those divisions work similar to a small business.
Snapshot of Josh’s process
The level of detail varies project to project depending on the client, but ultimately, the process is the same for all types of clients. Josh wrote about what his typical process is like, and luckily enough, he’s let me share it!
One of my favorite step-by-step outlines was the t-shirt design project he has completed for a robotics company called “ROS”.
The ROS robotics company wanted a design a shirt to commemorate a recent trip to Hong Kong. ROS is an open-source robot programming language and their mascot is a turtle. So, almost all of the designs that Josh made for them involved turtles.
1) Original client concept
King Kong and the Hong Kong skyline
“Taking the “King Kong” direction, I sketched out a few ideas that might incorporate ROS.”
2) The Feedback
Client had second thoughts about the King Kong direction
“They liked the tiny boat that I included in the foreground of the third sketch, and suggested that I might rework the design to focus on that.”
3) Revised concept
The new concept, focusing on the boat
“The new idea would be to have a traditional Chinese sailboat balanced atop a turtle in the Hong Kong harbor. It was also decided that a dark colored shirt would be preferred. This led me to start thinking of what colors would look good on dark grey or black. With the concept signed off on, it was time to get down to really draw.”
This excerpt is from his official website about what he goes through for a few different projects and how involved the client becomes. If you want to check out the full photoset of his entire process for the ROS company t-shirt project, he goes into greater detail.
4) Finished Piece
Once Josh had the concept down, it was a matter of refining it and getting onto the computer, and then sending the finished product to the client.
“I deliver the work to the client digitally and shoot them an invoice. Then I drink a beer somewhere.”
A beer after completing a project sounds like a fantastic idea. What a down-to-earth artist!
Happy clients bring you success
Josh knows that guiding the client is an essential step in giving them what they want. A happy client will recommend you to others! When it comes down to it, freelancing is a business, and like all businesses, you need to have good interpersonal skills to achieve success.
What we can take away from Josh’s career is that managing client expectations are a big part of your success as a freelancer. Remember that your relationship with your client will help decide if your freelance work will be fun or a total nightmare. Answer the questions that your clients have and if you need to, walk them through the entire process to ensure both of you are satisfied in the end.
Have you ever dropped a client because of a few problems? Tell us in the comments below!
Check out more snapshots of Josh’s gorgeous work:
