These four questions will change your design business. [sc name="pod_ad"]Your job as a designer is to solve problems, not to create pretty designs. When you embrace the notion that your job is to provide a solution to whatever dilemma your client is facing, a few things will happen. You’ll start to understand your client’s needs better. Your clients will show more respect for what you do. You’ll be able to charge more money for your services. After all, a solution to a problem is much more valuable than a pretty picture, no matter how well designed that picture is. Before you can find the perfect solution, you need to figure out precisely what the problem is your client is facing. The only way to do that is to ask questions, lots of questions. In episode 15 of the Resourceful Designer podcast, I shared 50 questions you can ask before every design project. Those questions cover a wide variety of topics, including: Questions about the company hiring you. Questions about their target market. Questions about their current brand. Questions about their design preferences. Questions about a project’s scale, timeframe and budget. What I didn’t get into on that episode are the four most valuable questions you can ask your design clients. Questions that will get to the root of the problem for which they need your services. Questions that can either change or narrow down the focus of a project. Questions that may allow you to charge higher rates because as I said earlier, solutions to problems are much more valuable than pretty designs. Here are the four most valuable questions you can ask your design clients. Question #1 - Why do you need this? The power in asking, "Why do you need this?" is that the question is unexpected. When was the last time you tried to buy something, and the salesperson asked you why you wanted to buy it? I can’t remember either. That’s why this question is so powerful. It gets the client thinking, and it gets them to open up. It doesn’t matter if a client is coming to you for a logo, a website, a poster or a trade show display. And it doesn’t matter if you think the reason is apparent, ask your client why they need this? And then listen carefully to what they say for some real gems. The deep insights that could completely change your way of thinking about the project or help you narrow down your focus to one small area. Question #2 - What results do you expect from this project? The results a client is expecting can often change the direction of a project. As a designer, you may see better options to reach those results than what the client is expecting. For example, your client may be asking you to design a poster for an upcoming event. However, you can explain to them, based on their expectations, that a postcard may produce better results. Listen to the podcast episode to hear my story of how this question helped me deliver a better solution for one of my clients. Question #3 - How will you judge the success of this project? This is another great question that can change the direction of a project. If you’re building a website for a client, you may make different design choices depending on how a client will judge the site successful. If the client is looking for increased website traffic, you may design it one way. If sales measure success, then you may create it differently. And if it’s to elevate their brand image, then you may design it a third way. How a client judges a design project successful can have a significant influence on how you tackle the project. For example, You're hired to produce a poster for a local school’s drama club. Will success be measured by ticket sales, or by the awareness the production brings to the school's drama program? In one case, you will design a poster with emphasis on how and where to purchase tickets, with only a little focus on the school itself. In the other case, you will design a poster with more emphasis on the school and keep only a small portion of the pos