I’ve been managing web and branding projects for almost two decades now, and through bitter experience I’ve learnt a few tips on how to avoid the most common traps.
Project management is dealing with humans. Not everyone involved in a project is rational, organised, and has unlimited time to follow perfect processes. In reality, you’re dealing with humans who change their minds, forget what they agreed to, and have their own pressures that you know nothing about.
But there are a few things we can do to help keep things progressing. Ideally you’d have your own project manager, but this is advice for freelancers who have to be their own project manager as well as the person actually doing the work – I see you!
Trap 1: The Brief That Wasn’t Really a Brief
At the start of a new project, be open to poking around with the initial brief and make sure it’s actually what’s required. The initial discovery call is where you can have a free flowing conversation and understand what the client really needs, which may not have been what they originally asked for.
What works: Start with open conversations and ask proper questions. Not “what do you want?” but “what problems are you trying to solve?”, “Tell me about your business aims”, “Who are your target audience and what do they need / fear / desire?”. Let the real scope emerge naturally through discussion.
After fleshing out the brief properly, my Statement of Work itemises everything we agreed needed to be done, and it helps keep it all on track.
Trap 2: Feedback Avalanche
You present logo concepts to the MD, then get emails from the marketing manager, Slack messages from the sales director – All different opinions,, all contradicting each other. This is something you need to discuss before it happens, how you expect feedback to be delivered.
What works: Get the client to agree to one decision maker upfront. Encourage internal discussion, then have them return one collective piece of feedback.
I also insist all stakeholders join the first call. Takes longer to arrange, but everyone feels reassured about who you are and what you’re about. No mystery person appearing halfway through with strong opinions about fonts.
Trap 3: Scope Creep – The Project Killer
“Actually, can we put the white-papers behind an email gate?”
“Actually, we need vehicle graphics too”
“The CEO wants to see some packaging concepts.”
It’s not realistic to expect a client to know exactly what they require at the start of a project. Things change, there are many moving parts and as people get more engaged with a project, new ideas crop up. But it’s also unrealistic to expect a designer/developer to provide these new things without being paid more for them. Additional requests should always be met with a ‘yes’, but they also must be accompanied with, ‘that’ll be an extra £££’.
What works: You need to be vigilant here. Your initial instinct is to give clients what they want, but really you need to keep the project on target.
Having a SoW gives you recourse to say “that wasn’t in the original scope.” When you have a situation where delivery time and money cost increases with each addition, it sharpens the mind about what’s really needed for launch versus what would be nice to have.
Trap 4: The Content Black Hole
“The copy isn’t done yet, can’t you just use lipsum?”.
Whether it’s website content, product descriptions, or even just an About Us page, clients always underestimate how long it takes to collate and create content. And lipsum is no substitute for actual content. The content has to be done at some point, it’s far better to have it sooner and design with real thought through content.
When you’re waiting for content to be supplied, the project timeline can slip and crumble.
What works: Make sure they understand this is a common issue and they should allow more time than they think to be realistic. Give them a proper deadline with context: “Content is due Friday 15th – this gives us enough time to incorporate it properly without rushing the final delivery.”
It helps them and it helps you. Content affects everything: layouts, imagery, the overall design approach. It’s often a chicken-and-egg situation, but insisting on content early, or suggesting a reliable copywriter is a great way to ensure a smooth process and a better final outcome.
Trap 5: Unrealistic Deadlines
Deadlines are brilliant for actually getting things to happen. But they need to be realistic and account for how clients actually work.
After some experience, you get good at knowing roughly how long design or development work will take you. But clients—especially new ones—may take longer to provide feedback than expected. You need to factor this in.
What works: Build in proper time for feedback rounds and for you to do your work – Better to deliver early than constantly apologise for delays.
Decisions on branding routes is a good example of where extra time makes a huge difference – initial feelings on a logo route will be often very different to how a client feels after sitting with it for some time. I always ask clients to allow at least a week of having the new logos printed out and up on the wall, before they respond. Re-branding is a big change and it takes time for the new to become accepted.
A Great Habit to Form: Weekly Project Check-ins
Here’s something that’s really helped how I run projects: weekly Loom videos.
Takes me five minutes to record myself showing the latest work and talking through what’s happening next. Everyone gets up to speed without arranging calls that half the team can’t attend.
We all have this ability with our laptops, but it’s amazing how infrequently this approach gets used. Clients love seeing progress visually, and it prevents those “what’s happening with our project?” emails.
Statement of Work
The SoW isn’t just documentation—it’s also a framework for constructive mid-project conversations. When clients push for additions, it allows me to say: “I can absolutely design those business cards, but they’re outside the current scope. I can quote them separately, or we can include them in phase two.”
What goes in mine:
- Detailed project phases with specific deliverables
- Feedback rounds (two per phase, then billable)
- Realistic timeframes with buffer built in
- What’s NOT included (and might otherwise be assumed to be)
- Content deadlines and responsibilities
The Bottom Line
Whether it’s a rebrand, website, or full brand launch, the same human problems often crop up to derail a project. Vague briefs, conflicting feedback, scope creep, content delays, and unrealistic expectations.
A proper Statement of Work takes time upfront, but it saves weeks of headaches later. Yes, some clients question whether it’s necessary, and you might think so too. But my advise is do it anyway. Because three months from now, when memories are fuzzy and deadlines are tight, this document can be invaluable.
