My Design Process : Questionnaire

In my last blog, I briefly spoke about a questionnaire that I give to my team of customers. Team, the purpose of this questionnaire is not to avoid customer interaction. These questions are to get the customer’s juices flowing also to get them into the correct mindset for the second exploratory meeting. Certain designers give out the questionnaire and do not bother investigating and extracting more information from the customer. Please do not do that, that will just make the designs created mediocre; also you may miss what the customer concepts. Start off with a similar set question to the ones that I will share with you and extract information from the customer. Use these questions as a base to dig deeper and gather more in-depth information from your customer.

The first set of questions are centered around the company or customer that I have designed for. Here I take the chance to start inquiring about the business I try to see if the customer is aware of competitors. Asking for the name sound very silly, right! Well, I do it because I get the correct spellings, startups like to change the spelling of certain words to make themselves stand out. Also, I take some time and ask them if they abbreviate the name in any special way, or if they have different ways that they would like the business's name displayed. This is very important when creating a brand. Also, deadlines are very important, I stress this on every client I take... especially those who would like a rushed job. Project deliverables from the customer have to be taken into consideration when building the timeline so I always ask this in multiple times when speaking to the customer.

1. What is your company/brands name?
2. Can you describe your business in a few sentences?
3. Who are your main competitors?
4. What sets your business apart from your competitors?
5. Can you describe your target customer?What’s the age range of your target customer base?
6. What is your deadline for completing this project?
7. What is the budget?
8. Have you worked with a designer before?
9. Who makes the decisions on this project? (you or a partner)
10. How would you describe your services and/or products?
11. What are the long-term goals of your company?
12. Do you have any items that you would like your designs to include?(ie. Colors, Fonts, Works of art, Other designs, Websites)
13. Do you know the specs of the project? (ie. Dimensions, Number of pages, Black and white vs. 2-color vs. 4-color printing, Paper stock, Size of the print run (the number of pieces to print)
14. How did you hear about me?

Set of questions about building a logo or brand:

1. Why do you want a new logo? What do you want your new logo to accomplish?

2. Do you have a tagline?
3. Do you have a concept in mind for your logo?
4. Do you have any color preferences or existing brand colors?
5. Do you have any colors that you do not like and wish to not use?
6. When your customers see your logo what do you want them to feel? How would you want them to describe it?
7. Where will your logo be used?
 Example: print, web…
8. Can you share with me your favorite logos?

Set of questions to build a website or web app:

1. Do you have the content of the website or would you like me to provide it? ( Images and text)
2. What do you want your website to accomplish?
3. What specific functionalities would you like included on your site?
4. What is the main purpose of your site?
5. Do you have any existing website? If yes, please specify the URL.
6. Do you require a website that you can update yourself?
7. Do you have an established brand?
8. Share with me a list of websites you like and identify with. What do you like about them?
9. Share with me a list of website you don’t like. What don’t you like about them?
10. Are you going to be selling anything online?
11. Is there anything you do not want to include on the website?

Thanks for reading team! Part two of the design process is still to come.