“I don’t know what I want, but I’ll know it when I see it.”

It’s sort of like hopping into a taxi and not knowing where you want to go. “I’d like to eat somewhere good” is a useless piece of information on its own. If I’m making a logo and give you a set of options, to me it’s the same as driving you from one restaurant to the next until you say yes. Even worse, I could stop at every intersection and ask you which way to turn – for me that’s like asking you to pick out a font, then a color, then a shape and so on.

Any cab driver worth his salt will turn around first and ask you questions about what you like to eat and how much you want to spend. Better yet, because he doesn’t know too much about seafood, he’ll look up what’s new before he starts driving.

That’s really all it boils down to – research. Whether it’s primary research and talking to the client and understanding their perspective, internalizing their operations or secondary research about the market, customer base and competition.

I may be providing you with a service, but we’re both experts. I’m an expert in design and you’re an expert in your business and market. Only if I’m able to understand your business and your market can I then use my skills to create something that’s perfect for it. Only then can I know what you want, and I can show it to you.

So, here’s the catch. Because we both want to produce the best solution possible, that means you have a job to do. You can ensure that an artist sees everything from your perspective by giving them as much information as possible about your vision as well as your products, services, customers and competitors. Only you have that expertise and only you can make me see everything from your point of view.