A designer’s perspective on working with clients of different sizes to form creative solutions that meet them where they’re at, and where they’re going. Presenting design solutions can be an art form in itself, one that is rarely a focus early on in your career. This presentation will look at situations I've learned from while working with clients of various sizes. These lessons have helped me not only create more relevant work but build lasting, collaborative engagements with my clients.

1. T H E I N T E R S E C T I O N O F
C L I E N T S + D E S I G N
W O R D C A M P G R A N D R A P I D S
Taylor Vanden Hoek | Web Designer

2. A designers perspective on working with
clients of different sizes to form creative
solutions that meet them where they’re at,
and where they’re going.

3. A L I T T L E A B O U T M E
• Print / Web Designer with a focus on Digital
• Transitioned into Web / Responsive / User Experience
• WordPress specifically in the past 3 years
• PHP / Javascript focus in the past 2 years

4. T Y P E S O F C L I E N T S
• Lone Rangers
• Boutiques / Grassroots
• Serial Entrepreneurs
• Tech Startups
• Established Startups
• Industrial Manufacturers
• International Corporations

5. T Y P E S O F C L I E N T S
• Lone Rangers
• Boutiques / Grassroots
• Serial Entrepreneurs
• Tech Startups
• Established Startups
• Industrial Manufacturers
• International Corporations

6. Understanding the context of the project is
just as important as the solution.

7. B E Y O N D T H E R F P
S TA R T I N G A N E W P R O J E C T

8. B E Y O N D T H E R F P
1. Does the RFP address their needs?
2. Who is the main point of contact?
3. Are there barriers to your existing process?

9. C L I E N T S
R E A L - W O R L D E X A M P L E S

10. F I R S T H A N D A I D
B O U T I Q U E / G R A S S R O O T S

11. Supporting the people of Cuba through
in-person relationships and directly
delivered medical aid.

12. T H E P R O J E C T
• Design / Develop a new website
• Make it easy to add resources like videos, pdfs, events
• Open to a logo / brand refresh
• Communicate what the organization does (better)
• Make it easy to manage (no training)

13. C L I E N T B A C K G R O U N D
• Board Members vote on all decisions (1x monthly)
• 1 Board Member assigned to this project
• Client editors would be non-technical with very limited
time to invest in making changes

14. FIRST-HAND AID
LOGO USAGE
PDF
AI & EPS
TIFF W
JPG
PNG
OPEN SANS LIGHT
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
0123456789
OPEN SANS BOLD
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
0123456789
BLUE
C: 75
M: 2
Y: 39
K: 0
R: 0
RED
C: 0
M: 92
Y: 75
K: 0
B: 67
ORANGE
C: 0
M: 52
Y: 99
K: 0
B: 30
BROWN
M: 75
Y: 97
B: 0
#562900
GREEN
C: 77
K: 0
R: 225
YELLOW
C: 2
Y: 99
K: 0
R: 255
BLACK
C: 75
Y: 67
K: 90
R: 0
B: 0
#000000
PRIMARY COLORS SECONDARY COLORS
a cABC
TYPOGRAPHY

16. B A S E D O N W H AT W E L E A R N E D …
• Utilized WordPress out-of-the-box features
• Keeps the admin panel clean of extra plugins
• Features are easily supported by WordPress
community - easy to find tutorials / training

17. H O R T O N W O R K S
T E C H S TA R T- U P

18. Founded in 2011 by 24 engineers, Hortonworks
provides experience and training for Hadoop
development, designing, building, and testing.

19. T H E P R O J E C T
• Support ongoing changes to the website with design
and development

20. C L I E N T B A C K G R O U N D
• Worked with Marketing Director
• Client can communicate what is needed but often
lacks the UX experience to develop a plan
• Company continues to grow rapidly (from 12 to
hundreds of engineers)

21. W E F I R E D T H E C L I E N T
S O M E T I M E S T H I N G S D O N ’ T W O R K

24. B A S E D O N W H AT W E L E A R N E D …
• Internal technical team making changes
simultaneously
• Huge changes to make admin panel accessible -
dozes of departments edit their own content
• Lots of custom plugins
• Scrapped a lot of work throughout the project

25. K O N T I K I
I N T E R N A T I O N A L C O R P O R A T I O N

26. An international leader in cloud-based
enterprise video solutions.

27. T H E P R O J E C T
• Increase sales of a particular service in hopes to make
it a flagship service for the company
• Competitors have a strong hold on the service in the
market even though the clients service is superior
• Client is unsure how to turn the sales pitch into the
fully realized marketing plan

28. C L I E N T B A C K G R O U N D
• Worked with Marketing Director - solely focused on
brand consistency and sales
• Client reported to several chiefs and departments
• International locations can pose another level of
complexity for solutions

30. B A S E D O N W H AT W E L E A R N E D …
• Equipped the client with knowledge to ‘pitch’ ideas
internally and get buy-in company-wide
• Developed action-oriented concept into a responsive
landing page
• Made the page editable & repeatable by client

32. • Get to know your clients
• Be ‘appropriately’ flexible with your process
• Advocate for what you know is right
• Help clients understand your perspective

33. T H A N K S !
taylor.vandenhoek@gmail.com | taylorvdh.com