How to present your work to win freelance deals?
Presenting your work to potential clients as a freelance designer can make or break your chances of landing a project. To ensure you leave a lasting impression, you must be confident, organized, and professional in your presentations.
If you happened to be a client of mine when I first started doing paid design work, this is what you would most likely receive after the work was completed:
A few JPEGs, or
A poorly formatted PDF presentations
I'd be on the other side, hoping you'd look over my work and see a link between the concepts I developed and the project's original goals.
In the best-case scenario, you may have been able to provide rudimentary feedback based on your personal preferences.
In the worst-case situation, you may have felt that the job I did was entirely unrelated to what you were seeking. I might have to start from scratch.
"How do I present a design project?" is one of the most common questions among aspiring designers. And after mentoring dozens of people in person and hundreds in groups, I came up with a super-simple approach to sharing your work with your clients.
With this framework, your work is beautifully articulated and presented. It's aligned with the client's original objectives, referring back to the creative brief, increasing the likelihood of client buy-in and support.
Consider this:
You have most likely completed much of the critical thinking required to complete a successful project before presenting your work.
You learned the client's needs and what they hope to gain from the project during the discovery process.
You have earned permission on creative direction and approach by submitting an excellent creative brief.
You began working and completed those deliverables while ensuring that the steps you took were consistent with the research and strategy you developed with the client during the project's early stages.
You have assessed, edited, and analyzed your work to ensure it is as robust as possible.
It's finally time to show your work to the client.
The most common mistake designers make when presenting a project is to begin with the designs. Instead, stick to a simple structure that will help you tell the project's story.
Here is what this structure looks like, and we're going to expand on it in detail to help you effectively present your design work to freelance clients:
Identify the stakeholders (users): Before presenting, it's crucial to understand your target audience and what they're looking for. Consider their preferences, needs, and budget. This will help you tailor your presentation to their specific requirements and increase your chances of success.
Understand the goals. Build your presentation to cover some or at least a few of the stakeholder's goals. Show how the solution you came up with covers the problem, benefits the organization and helps move closer to the original plans.
Prepare. When presenting your portfolio, focus on showcasing your most relevant and impressive work. Practice your pitch before presenting so your speed and flow are smoother.
Build your deck. Show the context and the project's goal, outline phases and your roles in each, and explain constraints and strategy.
Remember your notes. Remember – your deck is for visuals. Nobody is going to read from the slides. Use slides to catch the viewer's attention and stay focused. But have notes available to keep your presentation in context and remember important details.
Gather feedback. After the client has digested your ideas, ask specific, direct questions that correspond to the customer's original goals from the design brief.
But there is a significant gap that most designers overlook. That is… you must approach your project as a design problem.
Approach your project like a design problem
Making a successful project presentation is a difficult task. This is why, as with a client project, you should approach it as a design problem. But this time, you're the client. To begin, let's...
Identify the stakeholders (users)
Before you start putting together your presentation, you should figure out who you will be presenting it to.
Your slides could be pixel-perfect, with the best high-resolution mockups available. Still, your presentation could fall to pieces if you don't know who you're speaking to.
Knowing your audience allows you to adjust your presentation, so everyone feels heard and represented.
I discussed the ideal client avatar in my previous article, "No followers? No problems".
Prepare yourself by asking yourself the following questions:
What is the function of each individual?
Who will make the final call?
What was their previous working experience with designers?
What are the sources of their suffering? What are their primary concerns?
What kind of communication do they have?
Understand the goals
When you know who you will present to, it's much easier to nail your presentation down to each stakeholder's fundamental goals.
Based on the role in the organization, the stakeholders' goals can vary:
Increase overall revenue
Decrease operational costs
Increase revenues from new business
Increase revenues from existing business
Increase shareholder value
Build your presentation to cover some or at least a few of their goals. Show how the solution you came up with covers the problem, benefits the organization and helps move closer to the original plans.
Prepare
Reference the creative brief
Before you start putting your deck together, review your previous work to ensure it meets the client's initial objectives. If it doesn't fulfill the original creative brief's goals, make improvements.
Prepare in advance
Practicing your pitch's speed and flow before the big day makes things run more smoothly. Remember to allocate plenty of time to describe the work you've done.
Allow yourself to take natural pauses so your audience can easily observe and digest your work. Prepare for any questions or unfavorable feedback you could receive by practicing your presentation and making revisions as necessary.
Know where you will be presenting
How many people will be in attendance at your talk? What tools will you have at your disposal? What extra supplies, such as pens or notepads, would your audience require from you?
Be aware of the setting you'll be presenting in and arrive (over)prepared for it. Be sure to have a copy of your presentation with you. Be prepared to email a client-ready PDF for review after the presentation.
Build your deck
Show the context and the goal of the project
Describe the company, industry, and goal of the project. Give a viewer the context of the work.
Outline the project's phases and your role in each
What was the timeline of the project? What kind of work did you do in each stage?
Showcase your strategy – personas, competitors, user flows
Your case study shows that the work besides design – research, strategy, and planning is worth sharing.
Explain the constraints you've been working within
What technology was involved in the project? Describe the limitations that you've worked within.
Don't forget your notes
This is something I've learned the hard way. I included all the text into my slides and read from it. That's different from the way good presentations work.
The deck is for visuals. You must catch the viewer's attention to stay focused and listen to what you say. It's okay to look at your notes while taking a sip of water. I like to have notes to keep myself up to the context and not miss important parts, but I never read from slides.
Do's and don'ts
Don't use paragraphs in your slides
Instead, use concise bullet-points
Don't use long titles
Instead, use short and clear headings
Don't add too many details on a single slide
Instead, make focus on a single point or visual cue
Gather feedback
After the client has digested your thoughts, ask precise, straightforward questions that correspond with the customer's initial objectives from the creative brief. Keep everyone on track by showing one or two slides that address the questions you'd like them to ask.
To help you get started, here are some questions:
In light of your earlier research from the creative brief, do these thoughts address your users?
Is this in line with the tone you've established for your company? Is this in line with your present marketing or branding strategy?
What would be the reaction of your intended audience to this?
Sit back and listen to the client's response after you've asked a few pointed questions. Despite your design expertise, the client will better understand their business and offer insight that can help lead the project even further.
As you listen to your client, carefully jot down any important points. You can ask a team member to take notes or record the meeting, but ideally, you should do both. Hence, you have something to go to when going into the next round of ideation. It's critical to remember that you shouldn't look to your customer for creative direction. Instead, ask for their input and viewpoint on how well the work corresponds with their initial aims.
Similarly, if the customer says something about the design you disagree with, don't hesitate to argue and share your knowledge with them. They chose you because of your experience and unique perspective and will value what you say.
It's critical to remember that the client's personal preferences aren't relevant throughout these presentations.
Customer input isn't always available right away. They are frequently a part of a broader group tasked with reviewing the project's progress.
Prepare a PDF version of the presentation that you can share with the customer before they leave to take a closer look and provide more insightful feedback.
Wrap-up and next steps
If there are any unanswered questions, summarize where you are in the process and the following stages and assign tasks after collecting initial input and responding to any remaining ones.
For example, there are three rounds of concepts for a logo identity. Your response is due in five business days from the end of Round 1. Include this as a closing slide to remind you of what's to come. After the meeting, send a follow-up email with high-level notes, action items, and a presentation PDF.
Endnotes
This is the best way to present design projects most efficiently. It may not work for everyone ultimately, but you can take some parts of it and apply it in your process to better present your projects.
Following these tips can increase your chances of impressing freelance clients and landing your next design project. Remember, your presentation is an opportunity to showcase your skills, build trust, and establish a relationship with your potential client.