In my last post about the importance of client goals, I mentioned that a pre-design questionnaire was a great way to get your client thinking about goals, site design, and what they want from their site. In the spirit helping the greater good, I decided to share my very own pre-design questionnaire with you guys.
I will include a link at the bottom the post where you can download the pre-design questionnaire.
Let me know what you think about this. I would be interested in hearing any suggestions on this form or how it works for you.
[ WEBSITE Design Questionnaire ]
Please take your time to fully read and ANSWER ALL OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS, we will return the questionnaire if the answers to all questions are not provided. When you respond to the questions please use simple words, be professional, and try to give us as much info as you can. However, do not loose the point of the question. If the statement of work is completed properly we will have fewer reviews, the job will be done much faster and it will help us deliver the website you expect. If you think that you do not understand or you are not sure what we mean with any of the questions please do not hesitate to contact us and ask.
INFO & SPECIFICATIONS
Usually we split the Website design process into two stages as follows:
Design information
- We need your logo, preferably in vector format, but any kind of format in high resolution is OK.
Text Goes Here - What is the main goal of the website?
Text Goes Here - What image do you want to present? ( conservative, avant-garde, trendy, intellectual, trust worthy, knowledgeable, relaxed, prosperous ) - ( corporate look and feel = trust worthy + relaxed + prosperous )
Text Goes Here -
Please indicate a minimum of 3 websites that you like and tell us why and what you like for each example. (The question is made for us to understand what type of design you like and it will give us an idea of the look and feeling that you expect).
Text Goes Here - Please indicate a minimum of 3 websites that you don’t like and tell us why and what you don’t like for each example. (The question is made for us to understand what type of design you don’t like and it will give us an idea of the look and feeling that you don’t expect).
Text Goes Here - Describe what your company does, what product and/or service you want to promote trough the website.
Text Goes Here - Please provide us with the sitemap. ( The site map is the structure of the site, the website menu links )
Text Goes Here
Content for the index and inner pages are required. (Please attach a zip file with the text, pictures or other content that you have for all the website pages, or if you have a online website and you want us to use the content from there please indicate us the web address). If you don’t have the content yet, when do you think you will have the final version of the content? Or please specify if you are agree to use dummy (demo) text like (Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat.) this is a Latin text that is use for demo text. – for reference please visit loremipsum.net
Text Goes Here
Overall Information
- Who is your company’s target audience? Describe the people and how your company is handling them.
Text Goes Here - Which are, in your opinion, the company’s main assets? Why should people rely on your company’s services or products?
Text Goes Here - List your competitor’s sites and tell us the strengths and weaknesses of their websites.
Text Goes Here - Any other comments.
Text Goes Here
***Please review the statement of work so that you have answered all of our questions carefully.
***Please provide us with your complete contact info.
22 Responses to “Free Resource: Pre-Design Questionnaire”
Thank you for this. I was in the process of writing the exact same document, but you have worded it much more beautifully than I.
All very cool and worded very well, but I feel that this form is taking the place of a client manager (or yourself) asking these questions personally. I feel that a meeting, whether in person or over the phone would work even better, using this form as a guide. Most designers/artist are introverts by nature, but in order to build a freelance business it is important to have a good verbal client relationship (at least in my experience). I’ve tried the online and email route, and it only caused more problems. Once I picked up the phone or had a face to face meeting things were clear on both sides of the table. Now I know were all busy, but we can take a half hour out of our days somewhere (by not playing that next level of guitar hero or writing this comment) to TALK to our clients. It provides a comfort for both sides. And you can use this questionnaire as a guide for you and ask the questions. Be respectful to your client too, I’m sure they’re just as busy as you and don’t have time to fill out a form.
So in conclusion, I’m not tearing this idea down,(it’s very good) just want to point out that this should be a guide for us (the artist) to use to question our clients and get answers from. There may be more than a one line explanation….
Great stuff, definitely helps to get these answers from a client before starting. Thanks for sharing.
@MK I agree with you 100% I usually call the client and cover most of this information in casual conversation. I then e-mail them this form so that they can look over and really dwell on it at their own pace. I feel this gives them some time to really think about what they want without feeling pressured to decide during a phone conversation.
I think this questionaire is great! We are actually in the process of instituting something very similar. I do agree that this would be best handled via phone or a physical meeting.
With that being said, how do all of you handle obtaining content from your clients? I was thinking of requiring all of the content from our clients before scheduling the project and making them sign off on it. The idea here is that we can review the content before starting the project to insure it meets our proposal. It also insures we can complete the project without any delays. We have clients from time to time that provide content after the design is complete and then we realize they want custom animation, forms, etc. which were never discussed previously.
Thoughts here?
This give me the a clear picture how to work with my client (somehow). Thanks
Cant wait to start my first freelance deal.
Great stuff. Definitely a good idea to go over it with them in person. I try to really stress the importance of this part of the process with the client, or they just see it as more paperwork in their day.
This is a great start and I’ll certainly use it, thanks for sharing.
One small typo in the opening paragraph, however… (do not “loose” the point of the question)
I’m thinking that should be ‘lose’
Regards,
Aaron
This was a great resource. I wasn’t sure how to go about something like this when it comes to clientele, so finding this article really helped out a lot!
Great resource, thanks a lot. I’m glad to see other freelancers are asking their clients the very same questions I usually ask them. The idea of submitting it to them by email is a good one though. Thanks.
I was thinking about something like this and luckily got the right place!
Without proper communication and exact requirements from the client it is always difficult to give them the best(irrespective of the fact that you are a great web designer or UX engineer or usability expert),
Thanks a lot for this questionire
I don’t think I am going to use some wording in the text, especially introduction tell
“…., we will return the questionnaire if the answers to all questions are not provided. When you respond to the questions please use simple words, be professional, and try to give us as much info as you can. ”
I think there is better way to encourage clients fill up as much info as possible. You should not tell “be professional” to your client.
this is great… i was just thinking about how i need to come up with one, and trying to figure out the wording… this is a huge help
thanks again
~Aaron I
A short but useful article. Nice tips to follow when you create a questionnaire for your clients. keep up your works.
Thanks.
Thumbs Up! Have I used such a solution i nthe past would help a lot, thank you for sharing
A mutually positive and ongoing dialogue between People’s and all parties impacted by the expansion characterizes the project’s predesign process.
—————————
anna jennifer
DUI
6 Trackbacks
[...] The Outlaw Design Blog has two great posts for freelancers: what Fight Club teaches us about freelancing and a pre-design questionnaire you can use for your web design projects. [...]
[...] web designers will give you a pre-design questionnaire. Here is one I stumbled upon for reference. As you prepare to go into the design process, having the elements requested in this questionnaire [...]
[...] bookmarks tagged webdesign Free Resource: Pre-Design Questionnaire | Outlaw D… saved by 5 others imtubester bookmarked on 08/05/08 | [...]
[...] Free Resource: Pre-Design Questionnaire - Outlaw Design Blog [...]
[...] Outlaw of Outlaw Design Blog provides a fantastic starting point for just such a questionnaire. His Free Resource, Pre-Design Questionnaire can be easily used and tweaked to suit your needs. If you can get your client to completely and [...]
[...] Free Resource: Pre-Design Questionnaire - Outlaw Design Blog [...]