Let’s get honest for a second. Not everything works out the way you plan.

And even being in business, I can attest that some of the projects I began working on ended before a finished project was produced.

While I will keep those project names hidden, I will share some lessons I learned from these projects that hopefully you can find some comfort and application from. If you find yourself in a similar situation.

After several months since these projects, I’ve been able to look at each situation and assess how I acted, what I should have addressed. And possible indicators that the client wasn’t ready to move forward.

I want these case studies to help you if you find yourself in a similar season with a few cancelled projects. Hopefully, these give you a look behind the curtain, that not every project goes over well. But take hope because there are always lessons to learn.

Case Study 1: Brand Project Failed

I was hired to design a brand for a business. I had my clients fill out a client questionnaire. We met on Zoom to review. Then I began working on their project.

Typically, I provide some examples to my clients. Then they can choose which elements I go forward with to build out the rest of their brand.

This project, however, started to go sideways, when the business didn’t know exactly what it wanted. They were unclear about their goal and vision. Which put me in a tough spot, since I cannot read minds.

The business was sharing feedback and inspiration, but not providing clear instructions. They would comment on liking the shape of an element from their inspiration. But not providing any solid feedback on elements I presented.

Because of their lack of communication and clarity, we parted ways. It was hard for me to part ways, as I was excited to work on their brand.

But after some reflection, I noticed that in the initial process, there were some things I overlooked that could have helped us succeed.

Reflection + Areas of Opportunity

1. The client wasn’t clear on their vision.
   This makes it incredibly challenging for a designer. As the client usually says “we trust your judgment.” When in fact, they have a vision but do not know how to articulate it. And really do not trust our judgment.
2. The client did not share relevant feedback.
   This makes it hard for both the client and the designer to know where the project should go. Being able to identify things that they do not like, helps the designer pivot and not replicate the pieces they aren’t fond of.
3. I, the designer, didn’t press the client to be more specific.
4. I didn’t communicate expectations as well as I should have. We should have spoken on the phone to discuss their wants and not relied on messaging back and forth.
5. Their timeline kept running long, so I as the business owner needed to learn to be more firm in sticking to the timeline.

Case Study 2: Designing Marketing Collateral Project Failure

In this second case, I was hired to design some marketing collateral for an upcoming event. The company sought me out, asked for my pricing, signed my contract, and made the first payment—what I require in standard business practices.

As I was getting started on the work, I noticed that the company was not all on the same page. I was getting mixed messages from their team members. And when asked who needed to sign off the designs, I was told I could do it. This is not ideal, as the independent contractor should not be the final say on a client’s piece of work.

I designed the primary layouts and started to work on the social media graphics, which were approved by the team. Then the communication from the team stopped.

No one was responding to my inquiries. But they were still paying my invoices. I was at a standstill at work because no one was communicating to me what I needed to do.

Finally, someone reached out to me to let me know that they were going to go in a different direction. Ending our contract.

I was hurt, naturally, but looking back, I can see some areas of opportunity I should I have addressed earlier with the client.

Reflection + Areas of Opportunity

1. It was very clear the client didn’t have a clear hierarchy of who was in charge.
   This impacted me as the independent contractor, as I could not be the one responsible for the final approvals for their products.
2. The client didn’t have a clear outline of the project.
   This also made it difficult for me, as I was unsure what they were requesting of me. And they were not sure what they needed. So we had some tension about deliverables.
3. I didn’t speak up and share my concerns.
   This really would have helped put us on the road to success. As the trusted expert, sharing our experience is CRITICAL to the success of the project.

Case Study 3: Brand Failure Project

This project started off amazingly. We had our discovery call, then I was hired on shortly after. The client and I were excited about the upcoming project.

I began as I usually do—providing a mood board based on the client questionnaire. The client LOVED the mood board.

Feeling confident in our direction, I set out to start some initial sketches and mock-ups.

I send the first round of mock-ups and the client wasn’t sold on any. Not to worry, I am here to help my clients, and sometimes I miss it. But having had the previous two case studies under my belt, I felt prepared to tackle this project. And come away with a stellar brand for my client.

I put together another round of mock-ups. Presented these. And they flopped.

At this point, I should have reached out to the client and had a phone call with them to talk about why these were not hitting the mark.

The client choose one design they could see potential in, and I began tweaking it. All to the client’s dissatisfaction. We ended up on a call and agreed to start over from ground zero.

The client provided some more inspiration. And I began working on new mock-ups similar to that.

Long story short, and LOTS of mock-ups later. The client decided to part ways.

Reflection + Areas of Opportunity

1. The client did not seem sure of what they wanted
   While we spoke about their initial inspiration, it was clear that they weren’t sold on what they wanted, either.
2. The client was asking for additional input on their brand, and not for constructive criticism.
   This is a fine line to walk as a designer.
   There comes a time to share the design with some trusted people and gather feedback. But that feedback needs to be specific. Do not ask “what are your thoughts?” be SPECIFIC and ask “do you understand the meaning of this?” or “is this brand welcoming (an adjective in your brand vision)?”
   Just like the saying “too many cooks in the kitchen”, there can be too many “designers” on one project. And that sway the overall design.
3. I was unable to get the client on a zoom call to walk through each logo presented and dig into the reason it wasn’t working
   While I did try for this. I was unsuccessful in getting a face-to-face meeting where we could put up the logo idea and talk about what they liked and did not like.
   I should have been more firm about this to help get to the root of the problem.

Final Thoughts

While I’ve had a few projects fall through over my time in business, I’m happy to say that they are less common than the good ones.

I think it’s important to assess why projects failed and succeeded to help you become a better designer.

After every project, I review my process and ask the client to review me too. Asking them to be honest about the experience. The last thing I want is to have a client not happy with the end product and have that be hidden from me.

I’m grateful for these “failed” projects, as they provided amazing learning lessons for me. I was able to grow much more quickly because of these projects and I can now assess some projects beforehand. Usually to prevent another misunderstanding or termination.

I hope you can find this encouraging as you venture in your design journey. I’d love to support you if you’re walking through this season too. Pop into my DM’s on Instagram or email me. I’d be happy to chat about how you can avoid some mistakes I’ve made.

If you’re curious about completed projects that have gone well, check out my portfolio!