I once spent three weeks making a project perfect. I showed it to the client, and they hated the direction. I had to start over.
For years, I hid my work from clients until it was finished. I told myself it was about quality, that a client should only see the polished version. Looking back, it was mostly fear.
I used to believe that showing unfinished work made me look unprofessional. I didn't share drafts, because I worried clients would think I didn't know what I was doing, and I felt I had to look like the expert they had hired. So I would disappear for weeks, work on the perfect solution on my own, and then present it with confidence, expecting the client to love it.
They usually didn't. That three-week project was the moment I finally saw what I was doing wrong.
The problem wasn't my design skills. It was my approach. When you hide your work until it's done, it's already too late to fix the real problems, because by then every decision has been made without the one person who has to say yes to it.
If this sounds like you, that's okay. This letter is about the one small change that fixed it for me, and why it works.
First, it helps to be honest about why we hide. When I looked closely, the reasons were all some version of these.
- Fear of what they'll think, because what if the client thinks you don't know what you're doing?
- Wanting it perfect, the feeling that you need all the answers before you show anything.
- No process, because nobody taught you how to share unfinished work well.
- Pride, because you want to look like the expert with the perfect answer.
- A bad past experience, like a client who once gave you harsh feedback on early work.
None of these are really about design. They're about how we feel, which is why getting better at design never fixed the problem for me.
What fixed it was showing my work early and asking for feedback fast, so I stopped guessing what the client wanted. Now, when I start a new project, I don't disappear for weeks and I don't promise to show something on Friday. After a few days of work, I send a simple text.
Hey, do you have 10 minutes today? I want to show you what I'm working on.
That's all it takes. I share my screen and show rough sketches or early ideas, nothing polished, and I say, "This isn't finished, but does this feel like the right direction?"
Clients usually love being asked, because almost nobody does it. They either say, "Yes, keep going," or they say they like it but want to try another idea. Both answers help me, and both save me time.
It works for a few reasons. It keeps me from spending days on something beautiful that's heading the wrong way. It shows the client that I care about their input, so they feel included instead of left out. And it takes the pressure off both of us, because I'm not trying to read their mind and they're not waiting to be surprised.
The hardest part for me was learning to stop apologising. A lot of designers start these calls with "Sorry, this isn't done yet" or "Please ignore how messy this looks." It sounds polite, but it tells the client you're behind. Instead, try saying, "I want to show you where I'm going before I keep working. What do you think?" The first one sounds like you messed up. The second one sounds like you planned it, and you did. You're not slow. You're careful.
I think of it like cooking dinner for a friend. You don't wait until the whole meal is ready before anyone tastes it. You taste the sauce along the way and ask whether it needs more salt. Design works the same way. Show it early, ask what they think, and fix it before you're done. When you work like this, clients start to see you as a partner who cares about getting it right, not just someone who makes things look nice.
The other thing I changed was the question I ask. "What do you think?" is too big and too vague, so it gets vague answers, like "I don't love it" or "Something feels off." Then you have no idea what to fix. Small, clear questions get much better answers. "Does this feel like your brand?" "Does this solve your main problem?" "What worries you about this?"
It's like a waiter. If they ask "How's the food?", you shrug. If they ask "Is the soup too salty?" or "Is the steak cooked right?", you give them something they can fix. When I started asking this way, I stopped hearing "I don't love it" and started hearing "I like it, but can the logo be bigger?" That's an easy fix, and a much happier client.
This doesn't make every project smooth. Some clients still change their minds later. But when they do, it happens after two days of work instead of three weeks.
If you want to try it, start on your next project. After two days of work, before anything looks finished, send that one text and ask one small question. Then notice how the conversation with your client changes.
Three weeks on a project the client hated. That's what hiding cost me. Now I show work after two days, and the client feels part of it from the start.
Trust is the process. Without it, nothing works.
When did you last show a client something unfinished?
See you in another one!
Let's grow together 🙌
