The first meeting with our client, Jo Childs, was during the introduction to the project. This intro talk gave us a good understanding of what the project required and what Jo’s company, Support Local, was about. Before our first official meeting as a group, we each made a project proposal. Having learnt from the previous project, I knew the earlier a project proposal was seen by the client, the better. During our first meeting, we found all our proposals to be very similar. This meant we all had similar ideas about what the project was about and showed that we were all on the same page when it came to deliverables. We combined our proposals into one and emailed them to Jo for a review. We did this because its important to outline what the project will entail from the beginning as it reduces confusion later on in the project and is good practice to get written confirmation of deliverables from the client at this early stage.

When contacting our client, we ensured to stick to one method of communication. We had already established a project leader to deal with communications, but we also asked Jo which method of communication she preferred. She replied with Email, therefore all contact with the client was via Email. I think this was a good group decision as it made us seem more professional and simplified the process of exchanging information with the client.

To ensure we had a competent understanding of the brief and client requirements, we prepared some questions to ask Jo. We would only be meeting 2 times with the client due to time constraints, which provided a challenge to ensure we got as much as possible out of every meeting. As we did not want to waste time during face-to-face meetings with the client, we condensed our list into 5 simple questions and emailed them. Unfortunately, we did not receive a reply and therefore had to add a question and answer session into our interview with the client.

The interview meeting was very information heavy and quite demanding for both the client and our team. However, it was extremely beneficial and rewarded us with a wealth of information and better understanding. The meeting started with introductions and the questions we had prepared. This meeting was recorded and available to refer back to, which meant our client’s answers were documented. Then we conducted a range of techniques that focused on themes, requirements and branding. We used an involving exercise called ‘is/ is not’, that required the client to circle words that related to Support Local, and cross out words that did not. We used this technique because it is helpful to understanding what our ideas would have to adhere to and gives us a foundation of branding guidelines. However, it caused an awkward silence as the client thought about which words to circle. If I was doing this meeting again, I would have made this process more of a conversational exercise.

Another method we used was the bulls eye technique. This was organised into ‘must have, should have, could have’ categories and was a really insightful exercise that we were able to collaborate with the client on, suggesting comments and adding them onto the board. We decided to use this technique as it outlined the requirements we had to include and any extra features that could be added. I am very happy with the result of this technique. We then used an attribute scale to further pinpoint the branding choices of Support Local. This was a good method and the client slid the attribute scales all the way to one side of the scale. This method was informative but maybe could have replaced the ‘is/ is not’ technique.

We also used semiotic analysis during this meeting which I was responsible for taking the lead on. I thought showing the client some ideas and inspiration would be very worthwhile. Also, asking her to plot on the graph where a poster for Support Local would go gave us some insight into the initial ideas direction. We also showed some stylescapes at the end of the meeting which complimented the semiotic analysis but they were probably unnecessary due to the number of tasks conducted in the meeting already. Overall the meeting was valuable and information packed. It lasted about an hour but was intensive. If I were to do it again, I would have added a break for the client to digest what has been said and to relax for a bit.

Secondary research was conducted during this project to discover more about the client and the company’s background. Researching Support Local’s website was beneficial in understanding branding requirements and identifying areas to improve upon. I also researched into how to run a business Instagram page as during the beginning stages of the project, this was a possible area we would be helping with. As the project progressed, it became clear that the deadline for this project would not allow proper growth of social media and the time constraints focused our efforts into making posters instead. Secondary research was also conducted in the form of competitor analysis. We conducted competitor analysis to give us inspiration and to facilitate the semiotic analysis process with the client.

When understanding the client and their requirements, the interviews helped a lot. Speaking to the client and being able to ask them questions was very useful for advancing the project. Being face-to-face also has the personal element and allows us to read between the lines and as designers, really listen and pick up on what it is that they want. During interviews, I also always make sure I have a note pad on me so that I can take down important information. I make sure to do this so I can assess the situation and quickly note down ideas based on how the client reacts to things, it also looks more professional. During meetings, we try to keep it informal and engage in natural conversation because it is the best way of finding out what the client is like, their preferences, aims and dislikes but for the sake of being thorough, we also record the meeting and transcribe it later on. This job is usually taken on by someone that is either lowest on work or happens to want the job. The transcribing process can highlight things that we did not pick up on during the interview and allows us to further understand the client. However, I never find it as engaging as a real time meeting.

Another method of making sure our project was moving in the right direction was making a project proposal. This solidified the client’s aims and allowed them to make changes or bring up any possible problems they see. It is a great way of ensuring we are all on the same page and understand the brief fully because it is a graspable, written document and the client is free to bring up problems.

The first meeting with the client was very informative as it adopted an interview style. We were able to ask about the clients job, company, competitors and previous work. It focused on the clients wants and aims rather than the brief as it was the first time we had met with the client. We used a couple of techniques when interviewing to make it run more smoothly. Firstly, we prepared questions and took turns to ask them. This meant we all got to speak with the client and we had more time to construct meaningful questions. We also took the time to introduce ourselves and think about the timing of our questions.  The only thing I would have changed would be making the interview less structured and adapting our questions to what’s already been said. We should have used more of a semi-structured interview method.

There was some secondary research that had to be done to learn more about an area that would clearly be an important part of the project. For me, this was UX research. I conducted a range of UX research to further my knowledge on the subject, segregating this research into 3 sections. I did this to structure my research process and make it easier for my team members and client to see what I had been doing.

Throughout the process, we continued to meet with the client once a week. We decided to meet this frequently as it allowed us to prepare content and show the development of the project whilst keeping the client involved in the process. The weekly meetings were our main point of contact for the client so we tried to get the most out of them by preparing content. Some weeks were more organised than others depending on how we had prepared so I think preparation is key for weekly meetings. More meetings per week would be beneficial but after listening to the client’s constraints, that wouldn’t be possible.