Web Designers: How to Choose Which Projects to Accept

Web designers who work for themselves will constantly face difficult decisions as they have to determine if they should accept or pass on a client’s project. Since there is no shortage of designers out there, many designers feel that they should accept every piece of work that comes their way, but that is not true.

Not all potential projects that come your way will be able to pay you for what your time is worth. Many clients will want to get a first-rate design for bargain basement prices, and if you’re taking these jobs you could be missing out on other more profitable opportunities. There are many other reasons as well, which you will see.

This article will serve as a reference for those situations where you are contemplating a potential project that has come your way. The factors that are discussed here should be able to help you during these evaluations in the future.

1. Income

The most obvious thing that you will want to evaluate is if the potential client can afford your services. Most clients don’t have experience with web design, and that usually means they will have unrealistic expectations about how much it should cost.

If the client is working with a very limited budget that doesn’t fit into your normal pricing scale, they should be willing to make some compromises that will reduce the amount of time required from you, or you should probably pass on the work. You may also consider having a package especially for clients who have less-than-ideal budgets. This would allow you to capture some business from clients that you would otherwise have to pass on.

2. Deadlines

Almost every project will involve a deadline of some type. Larger projects may even have a number of deadlines or milestone dates that need to be met. In some cases the deadline may not be as firm, but the client will still have an expectation of when it will be complete.

If a client has a time line that simply isn’t possible for you, let them know that it isn’t going to work. Tell them when you think you would be able to get it done and see if they can accept this deadline. Otherwise, you could increase your pricing for the rush job, or walk away.

3. Fit Between the Project and Your Skills

Every designer is going to have his or her own unique strengths and weaknesses. Not every project will be a good fit for you. There will be some situations where you want to take a project for a learning experience, but in general it is best to take projects that are a good fit for your skills, and let the others pass.

4. Likes and Dislikes

In addition to having some specific strengths and weaknesses as a designer, you’ll also have some types of work that you prefer and others that you really would rather not be involved with. Once you know the types of projects that you enjoy working on, make an effort to make this a higher percentage of your workload.

5. Workload

One of the best ways to drag down the quality of your work is to try to do too much at once. Taking too many clients and projects is tempting because it may pay more, but you will soon find that you would have been better of to push that project back to a later date.

One common practice is to speak with the client about their project, see what their time frame is, and agree on a tentative date for starting in the future when your workload will be manageable.

Steven Snell runs a popular web design blog that includes a free web and graphic design job board to help designers find work, and to help companies find the right designer.

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