I cringe every time I think of how many client meetings I sat through where I didn’t ask enough questions. Or the right ones! 

It is one thing to make sure you cover the basics (Where are your brand guidelines? Can I see them?), but it is even more interesting, and more credible for you to ask questions that make your design client understand that you are trying to see their “big picture”, not just what they potentially hired you for. That is why I made a list!

This list is composed of more than just design questions, and that is the point. There are many factors that influence the design work on a project, so trying to understand as much of the client’s needs, efforts, and pain points beyond just the design ask is critical to getting the right efforts up to speed. 

Here are a few of the key questions I always ask that help my design efforts be more strategically successful.

1. “How does this effort you are hiring us for help meet your larger strategic vision (a.k.a. the Big Picture)?”

This may sound self evident depending on the nature of the work, but it is not always something a client just comes out and says. If you want to design the right thing, the right way, you will want to understand how the work you are doing fits in to your client's bigger picture.

2. “What does success look like & how will you measure it?”

There are several ways to ask this question. If someone is hiring you to design a poster for them, it might sounds like “What does a successful poster achieve in your mind?”. If someone is hiring you to build an app or website for them, it might be more like “What KPIs (key performance indicators) would you have in place to measure success when this app launches?” 

Those are pretty different scenarios, but you can see the goal is to understand if the client has thought about this and if so, what do you need to know so you can meet that vision.

3. “How firm are the design guidelines for this experience? Do you want me to push the envelope, or will I need to work within your brand guidelines, etc.?”

This question almost always has an interesting answer. I love asking it because it tells me what I need to pay attention to in terms of design approach, and it also tells me where my client is coming from. By that I mean, is my client looking to shake up the norm and try something new? Are they working inside a big company where it is hard to cut through red tape and they want us help by pushing the brand envelope? Or have they already done that work and just need our help to execute?

4. “What trends in the (insert client’s industry here) marketplace are you paying the most attention to and why?”

This can be a tricky question. Sometimes a client can be caught up on trends and is looking to take the flavor-of-the-month and see their product or experience painted in it. To this you must reply (perhaps just in your head) “Is that the right thing to do and do they really need it?”. 

If, however, your client has been paying attention to trends and sounds like they are comparing this information to the above question of how this work will meet their larger strategic initiatives, that is the sign of a good conversation.

5. “Help me understand, in your opinion, what makes this product or experience unique in comparison to your competitors?”

This question is another tricky question to ask. Ideally your client is imbuing their design ask with enough information that you can infer the answer, and then start a conversation around what you are picking up from them. If they are not getting around to why the thing they are hiring you to do is unique or different, they may not have put enough thought into it, or they may need your help sussing it out.

Either way you want to try to get to the bottom of this question as quickly (and carefully) as possible, because it will be very key to helping articulate the kind of work you really need to do for the client.

There are many more questions like this, so I recommend making a list of your own that fits your design niche. Did these questions help you? Please leave a comment below!