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Having spent good portion of my adult life working in design/creative environments I have recently heard quite a few stories (not to mention personal experiences) about designers who have had nightmare clients, and clients who have some “web designer” who agreed to help them and took the money but didn’t deliver the goods, as well as in more corporate settings the design dept. has it’s gripes about how projects are delivered, and the expected time frames.
I think it would be safe to say that we all have experienced one or all of these frustrating experiences in working for a company or with a client. So what is the missing ingredient? Communication.
A lot of the frustrations between clients and designers, or “the powers that be” and design departments comes down to a lack of understanding. More times than not the client / or department simply does not understand enough about the design and development process and this leads to things such as; unrealistic deadlines, lack of content needed, more than the expected amount of revisions, and other project frustrations that I am sure we have all experienced.
So what do we do? How can we meet the needs of both sides? Here are a couple of things that I have found useful (granted i am not the end all for knowledge on design… or any other topic for that matter, this is just my simple experience).
1) Be a Bull Dog – Do whatever it takes to get the info.Do not sit back an wait for design specs, content, or other valuable information, go after it request it until you get it be persistent( not rude or arrogant ) but persistent, get the info it will help you better understand the project, and deliver a more complete product that meet the clients needs.
2) Be a Teacher - Educate the client.The more they understand the process, the more comfortable they will be. The designer/developer is often misunderstood simply because most people aren’t versed in design or development. We have to avoid being frustrated by a lack of knowledge from the client, and use the opportunity to be Jerry McGuire “Help Me Help You” it is mutually beneficial for the designer and client to be on the same page, not to mention a level of trust is built.
3) Be a Handy Man - Use the tools available.There are a lot of “designer” tools available online, from contracts, to QA forms, and design questionnaires, which when customized to your situation can help immensely to open up communication. By providing a tool for the client to use you help them provide information that they may not have been sure how to convey otherwise, coax the information you need out of them in order that you are more equipped to deliver what the client is seeking.
I have provided a two links to sites that I have found very useful.
I am sure there are more out there, I personally have referred to these sites quite a bit. So I hope that this article has helped motivate us to open the lines of communication, I wouldn’t expect it to come easy.. but you never know, trust me it is worth the effort.
Communication is where it begins, and communication is where it can end if it is not kept as one of the key components to a designer/client relationship.
What has helped you in the communication process. What hurdles have you overcome and how? I would love to hear feedback on what has and hasn’t worked for you, and what resources you have found helpful
~ Aaron I
Grats on getting your posts back.
As for the topic of communication: I’ve learned not to use technical jargons on clients. Instead, explain them in layman’s terms of the whole picture. It took me a while to learn just what constitutes as layman terms to a client. Sometimes even a simple term such as “ftp” would draw a blank face from a client.
When we work in our own little world, or hang out with our designer/developer peer, it’s hard to take a step back and looking at the project from a nontechnical client’s perspective. That’s something I remind myself often.
Jin’s last blog post..Victors’ History
Great piece. Early going involved lots of angst over pricing and contracting. The resources you give above are excellent and I found the AIGA site helpful: http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/standard-agreement.
I agree with Jin that being able to communicate in a language that makes sense to people is best.
Hey, excellent post! (made it one of my favorites on Twitter)
Funny thing, I just posted this exact subject on our blog earlier today http://intheimage.com/blog
What comes to mind immediately is to make sure that you are communicating to the RIGHT PERSON
It seems simple, but many times it’s easy to accept feedback from someone who, in short, isn’t “in the loop”. It’s also easy for a client to create the appearance of a “project leader” while there is actually a committee making the decisions. Get to the decision makers. That’s half the battle.
@Jin
Great point! It is so crucial to give our clients something tangible, educate them, help them understand the process, it will definitely help in saving frustration.
Thanks for posting!
~ Aaron I
Thanks for the article, because I am a student I can’t give you real life feedback, however i found, pressing the teachers for information was extremely helpful in finding a way to solve a challenge.
some details were not found out until the end unless you pushed for information from the teacher.
Paul Stevens’s last blog post..Grids & Lamps
being a student is real life man, if you can apply the principles of communication early on once you are done with school you will be very equipped for whatever comes your way in the workforce.
thanks for posting
Aaron I
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Be a professional and be an expert. That is why the client hired you. Take control of the project and make schedules, not only of your responsibilities but for the client as well.
If the client sees in writing that they are responsible for the content by a certain date, or an approval is necessary from them for you to continue, they are more inclined to get you what you need. I make check boxes in front of every task. There is nothing better than crossing something off your list and knowing that the project is now in the client’s hands until they do what they are supposed to do.
I find this a good way to hold people accountable and also to show where the project stands at any given moment.