One-time clients, long-term partners

A first project with a new client has overhead on both sides. You learn how they decide things, they learn how you work, and a lot of the budget goes into getting to know each other. A returning client already trusts you, already knows how you work, and brings you the problems that matter most, because they’re not auditioning you anymore.

So we pay attention to the second project as much as the first.

What we do on the first project

• 01Write the context down. Decisions, the reasons behind them and what we chose not to do go into the project docs, so nobody has to remember them six months later, including us.
• 02Hand off something your team can use. Tokens, component specs, guidelines, editable templates. If you need us to change a button color, the handoff didn’t work.
• 03Say the uncomfortable thing early. If we see a risk, we flag it before it becomes your problem, even when it’s outside the scope you hired us for.

Making the next project easy

The part that usually kills a second project is admin. Every small request turns into a new scope, a new estimate and a new approval, and by the time it’s signed nobody remembers why they wanted it.

One setup we use for this: a flexible monthly arrangement for small and medium design and development needs, handled as they come up, without a separate scoping, estimating and approval process for every request.

That’s also the idea behind Partner: from US$6k/mo, one focus at a time, month to month and easy to pause. If you need several tracks at once, Director starts at US$18k/mo.

What we track

We care less about how many new clients we sign and more about how many come back. One of our retainers was recently extended for its 10-year anniversary.

If you’ve worked with us before and have a new project, or you want to start with something small and see how it goes, send your brief.

• Clients
• Trust
• Business