The grass is always 'designed better' on the other side
Its such a hard thing to swallow, long-term clients asking you to pitch on jobs that you already know you are perfect for. You just want to take their brief and get started on the proposal, but with other agencies being invited to pitch; paranoia starts to creep in and you start to ask yourself questions "are we priced competitively" "are we too close to the client and project to see the job with fresh eyes" "do the other agencies have ideas that we were too scared to put forward or knew the client never had the budget for". Either way, you swallow your pride tell them that you want paying for your time and you give it 110%.
This experience happened recently when Away with the Kids finally decided to update their website and brand (after me nagging them).
And the result; The client discovers you are amazing value for money, they love your design, they love your ideas, the sky is blue and you manage to sleep that night without shouting out random font names to your wife or trying to press 'apple Z' to undo things in your dreams.
The original website was desperate for a redesign, it was done on a shoestring. It suffered from very strong client opinions with regards the direction of the design and colours.
The new design is now signed off and one thing is for sure, the more you work with a client the more you understand them and the more they have confidence in you. Both Bourn and AWTK are really reaping the rewards of this now, and Im betting my lucky under-crackers that they will see a ROI in less than 4 months!
Phase 1 of the site is due to launch on the 15th of March. So if your looking for a child friendly holiday family holiday you know where to look.
Posted By: Mark
15 January 2010