In the past two installments of this series, we’ve talked about how to hire a design team and I’ve given an overview of our process. This time, we’re going to cover the most important things potential clients can do to make their project and experience working with Blue Flavor a success.
I’m going to cover giving feedback, enabling us to do the best work we possibly can, and how to communicate well with designers. Etc.
The Paul Rand and Steve Jobs Story
There is a classic story about how Paul Rand designed the neXT logo. You can see Steve Job’s tell it here. The short of it is Rand was very clear about how he was going to work with them. Jobs hired Rand to solve a problem and that’s what he did. He presented them with his best solution, took his pay and left it to neXT to decide if they wanted to use that solution.
Of course, you may know that Steve Jobs is known as being somewhat of a design dictator and a micro-manager. He reviews, and often weighs in on, everything. I think in his case it’s probably a good thing. He understands design and has a clear vision. However, when he worked with Rand he wasn’t given an option to present feedback. He wasn’t given multiple options to choose from. He presented Rand with a problem and goals and Rand went off, solved that problem to the best of his ability, came back with a solution and got paid. Period.
Ideally this is how we’d like to work. Now we realize we’re not Paul Rand and we can’t, due the nature of the work we do, really work that rigidly. Clearly the Rand/Jobs relationship is a special one.
However, we do take many cues from that relationship and use it as a model of how we prefer work. In short we feel much the way Rand does. If you hire us to solve problems with design, that’s what we’d like to do for you.
Jobs goes on to talk about how he sees Rand as a designer; that he’s more a business problem-solver than an “artist.” This is very much how we see design and how we see Blue Flavor’s core value.
We’re Designers. We Need To Design.
In order for us to do our best possible work, and in turn give our clients a great return on their investment in us, we need our clients and stakeholders to enable us. This means giving up a certain amount of creative control. In fact, we often turn down the projects when we’re certain a client won’t give us sufficient control. We’re designers. We design. Our clients pay good money for our design expertise and creative thinking. Yet there are times when we’re asked to implement design ideas our clients dictate to us. Generally, this scenario doesn’t result in a happy outcome for anyone involved.
If you’re thinking about hiring us, you need to understand that we’re going to do what we feel is best for you. In most cases, we won’t want to negotiate on that. We’ll listen to feedback, address your needs and goals, and do our very best to get you something you like.
However, sometimes what you “like” isn’t what’s best for you.
Our Internal Design Process.
Before I go on, I want to talk about how we deal with client work from an internal perspective, since this is something most of our clients never see.
Our process varies from project to project, but we usually review all our design work internally before it’s presented to our clients. This means that many of the decisions a client sees have already been questioned, debated, explained and maybe even re-thought before the client ever sees anything.
Now, for the record, I’m a pretty hands-off Creative Director. I’ll usually go with what a designer thinks is best and keep my feedback to specifics unless I see serious issues, which is very, very rare. However, it’s important to note that we usually run everything by the entire team before presenting it to a client. I feel this adds great value to our process, even though we don’t usually charge for it.
Part of my job as our Creative Director, aside from providing creative direction and assuring the quality of our design work, is to facilitate the growth of my employees. This is one way I do that.
Presenting Design.
So, with that out of the way, let’s talk about how owe present our work to clients.
Depending on your relationship with your designers and the make-up of your team, the design presentation process can be done many ways. It can also differ from designer to designer. I, for example, present my designs very thoroughly, with lots of written explanation and detail. I prefer to do my presentations digitally and then follow up via phone or in person if there are specific issues that need to be talked about.
Sometimes we have clients who prefer a more real time presentation and we do that as well. We typically go with whatever the designer prefers unless a client asks for something else, in which case we accommodate them.
Either way, we keep some kind of digital record of the presentation, to ensure we have a consolidated place for feedback and a way for our stakeholders to present our work to anyone we don’t have access to. Which, to be honest, is not generally recommended.
In the future I’m hoping tools like GetSignoff.com can better facilitate this process.
Our goal in presenting our work is to give our clients a good overview, show them why we did things certain ways, and to facilitate feedback. We see our clients as part of the design team and we want to build trust and pull them in as much as we can.
The Customer Isn’t Always Right. Building Trust.
I know this sounds obvious, but in order to have a good relationship with a designer you need to develop trust. We try really hard to foster trust. Trust and respect are key, because it is inevitable that a client and designer will disagree at some point during the project. This kind of creative tension is common and in most cases a good thing. It means everyone involved cares about the outcome of the project.
In fact, if you don’t have that tension—if your designer isn’t engaged in what you’re doing and just does whatever you say—you’re probably better off ending the relationship.
On the other hand, if your designer is arguing with you about design decisions (hopefully in a constructive way) then you’re probably in good hands. Again, I’m assuming you’ve done your due diligence and hired a capable design team, like Blue Flavor! :)
I always assume that if you’ve hired us, you know what we’re all about. You’ve seen our successes, talked to our existing clients and respect what we do. I expect you to trust and listen to us. If you do, I can almost guarantee you’ll be happy in the end.
If not, you’ll probably be unhappy or marginally happy and we probably won’t include you in our portfolio.
Quite honestly, back to the neXT/Rand example, we hope that if you’ve hired us you’ll let us solve your problems as best we can and use what we deliver.
We often have clients tell us they want a portfolio-worthy design. Well, to get that, they need to be able to work with us on our design decisions and trust us.
Now, don’t get me wrong, building trust and being honest with our clients is one of our primary responsibilities as designers. We do our best to educate our clients about our work and thoroughly demonstrate why our design decisions are the correct ones.
Giving Feedback.
You may have just read that and thought, “Well, what the heck to they need their client’s input for, then?” I realize it might sound a bit like we railroad our clients into doing what we think is right. That is far from the case. Our clients are every bit as important to the design process as we are.
We rely on our clients to correct us if we’ve made a mistake that relates to their business goals, or if we’ve misunderstood some fundamental aspect of the project along the way. Mistakes happen. Design isn’t about perfection and we need our clients to help keep us on track.
We do our best to go into a design phase with all the facts, but sometimes we’re tackling very big problems that may also be moving targets. Having a good, trusting relationship with our clients and bringing them into the process is key.
As well, there are many parts of the design process that are subjective. We want our clients to be happy, and that means making sure we let them express their creativity, too. In most cases we work really well with our clients and do a great job of presenting designs and solutions that jive with them on a creative level. We pride ourselves on that.
To make sure our clients are on the same page with us, we need them to give feedback. Sometimes it’s not clear how to do that. We very often (read: almost always) take the time to “teach” our clients how to give us feedback and we often reinforce what we’ve taught along the way. Here are some tips for giving feedback to a designer:
- Remove “I Like” and “I Don’t Like” from your vocabulary. It’s perfectly fine to dislike something, but you need to give designers feedback they can work with.
- Be as specific as you can. Go into detail about what’s not working and explain why. Then give the designer a chance to explain his or her thinking.
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Don’t present solutions. Designers hate this, even if some won’t admit it. Doing this could turn your designer into a simple pixel pusher, and you don’t want that. Instead, talk about why you think the problems you have aren’t getting solved.
- Realize when you’re giving subjective feedback. One of the most common problems with design feedback happens when a stakeholder turns a well thought out design decision into a debate over something very subjective. For example, if you don’t “like” a color that was chosen for a call to action, be sure to ask your designer why he or she chose that color before you expressing your feedback. Sometimes there are solid reasons that should (IMHO) supersede opinion. When there aren’t solid reasons, feel free to blast that baby blue button.
- Be sure all feedback given relates back to the goals for the project and the problems we’re trying to solve. If your feedback isn’t related to that then we might have a non-design related scope problem. It’s important to recognize what’s what.
The Bottomline
Working with a designer takes a certain amount of trust from the onset. Our process is set up so that trust can be built with every design decision. We do this by bringing our clients in and giving them the opportunity to be part of the project.
It’s not always easy, and there are some rules for being a good client (just as we’ve got rules and responsibilities to help us be the best designers and consultants possible). Giving us creative freedom, providing structured and useful feedback, and being open to our work style and processes can mean the difference between a mediocre project and one that’s truly great.
Just by hiring us we’re assuming a certain level of trust and autonomy in making design decisions. We’re not going to pull a Paul Rand on you, but we’re going to do our damnedest to solve your problems, with the best possible design as we can and in the way we feel works best.
Keith: This series of articles have been really interesting to read, and this latest one is quite comprehensive - the key point still being ‘We’re Designers. We Need To Design’, and also how Clients should give appropriate feedback before a project is wrapped-up. Stubbornly subjective views on design from a client can still seem like a roadblock for some projects (if it can’t be tackled constructively - you’d walk away from these right, they would be a non-starter?) Establishing trust and creative co-operation at the outset is essential from the way I see it.
I also thought your remarks about how hands-off/hands-on you are as a Creative Director were interesting, I was actually wondering about that the other day (just haven’t asked you about it because I know you’re such a busy guy!) ;)
Looking forward to the next article (they have all been excellent!)
I totally agree with the point that clients are not always right. I’ve come across that situation many times, and it’s a challenge trying to steer the client what I feel is the best business decision for a design.
Designers should not always have to bow down to the client just because the client says so. Of course there will be some situations where the client won’t budge, but that hasn’t happened too often for me.
Really excellent write-up, Keith. Thanks. This post in particular should be read by any potential client, and not just at Blue Flavor.
If there is ever a sign of success, it is the fact that you can actually turn down clients due to this. I think being able to do this is the goal of most designers. But what happens if you’ve already signed on with a client and they do turn you into a pixel pusher?
I agree with most you said, and I truly like your article.
However, I have made the experience, that you only become a pixelpusher if you cannot explain your design-decisions to the client. Either there is to little communication or you are not doing your job of explaining right.
Sure there are always tough clients who believe they are capble of making design-decisions. But as on every topic, be it physics, love or design, common ground is nurtured by communication and sharing of experiences.
Thus, it is always up to you to be a) competent enough to make the right decisions b) competent enough to explain them to the client so that you share common ground.
Great article Keith! Wish I would have read this before SEED. I would have interrogated you!
@JOEY - I think there’s a point where every organization of people go from start-up to a legitimate company. Sometimes it takes several years after the company becomes real on paper. But a company that’s getting properly run doesn’t rely on every client completing a project to stay paying the bills. Just like a client can fire the agency, the agency has a right to fire the client. If things just aren’t working out that’s a possible direction to go. A lot of companies can’t do that, and I’d say that’s an issue of how the company is run, not a problem with the design process. I’d also bet you’d be surprised at how little that process has to do with how successful your company is… It’s just getting the business side nailed down.