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Throughout my career, both as an in-house designer, and in running my own design business, I’ve seen businesses that seem to take great joy in the design-by-committee mentality… everyone wants to be part of the process, and there are never benefits to this. Think of it this way: if you hire an electrician, do you follow him around all day and tell him how to rewire your house, or do you just trust his expertise and let him fix whatever is wrong?
“My nephew is good at the Photoshop… why don’t you call him? I’m sure he can help… he’s ten.”
“My wife really likes blue. Can you make the red more blue?”
“I really need this to “pop”. Really jump off the page at the reader. Can you bold and underline this whole paragraph?”
Designers, by nature, are problem solvers. We go to school, we attend seminars, and we work tirelessly to perfect our craft, so why do outside departments feel the need to over-supervise us? Here’s my advice. Whether your client is internal or external, ask questions that go beyond the creative brief. Ask questions until you’re blue in the face. You’re working with this person; make yourself an asset to them.
What are the client’s motives?
Why is this project important to them?
What message is most important to them?
What does the client hope to accomplish with this project?
Can you or the client define a measurement of success? Is it a sales goal, a customer action, etc.?
Even if you’re not familiar with the client’s industry (or business), you can use that to your advantage:
“I’m sorry, I’m not really familiar with your field… can you explain it to me?”
“I’d like to get a better understanding of how you see this project fitting in to your overall sales process…”
Show your client that you (and your team) are a valuable resource to the company by communicating, taking the “high road”, and meeting the client (more than) halfway. Most times, the client will see that you’re truly expressing an interest in their project and they’ll let you be the expert when it comes to design.
Speider Schneider from Smashing Magazine explains,
“The sensible answer is to listen, absorb, discuss, be able to defend any design decision with clarity and reason, know when to pick your battles and know when to let go.”
As Speider mentioned, I suspect that with the proper amount of communication (I’m a trained professional), a little push-back (this is why bold-ing the whole paragraph won’t work), and a lot of patience we might just have a shot at changing things.*
Read the inspiration for this article by Speider Schneider here at Smashing Magazine.
*Of course, there are those “clients from hell” that are probably beyond help…
Produced by the College of Computer and Information Science at Northeastern University (my alma mater), and Harvard Medical School at Harvard University, the above infograph was built using over 300 million tweets and shows density-preserving cartograms for each hour of the day (EST), by U.S. state. According to this data, us New Englanders are indeed a cranky bunch, only tweeting happy things in the early morning and late at night! (It also kind of makes me want to drop everything and move to California.)
Download a high-resolution PDF here.
…comes from the Miller Brewing Company and Landor San Francisco. As much of a beer snob that I am, there’s nothing like a frosty High Life on a hot summer’s day, because sometimes a man just likes to kick back and relax with a cheap beer.
Via the DieLine.
Designed by Eric Fischer, these graphics log where tourists (red dots) and locals (blue dots) take photographs in a city.
This should help:
Click to enlarge.
A nice set of alternative movie posters for the Back to the Future series. Click to enlarge.
With the press of the page down button, you’ll be able to confirm that it’s been over two months since I last posted on this blog. Well, I’m happy to officially report (on this blog) that I’ve just recently started a new job back in Boston, and everything is going well. I feel like I’ve adjusted very quickly to my new surroundings, and I’m already looking forward to a productive tenure with the new company.
The six months leading up to this job offer were difficult. The unemployment rate hovered in the 9-10% range for months, and it seemed as though there would be no reprieve. Slowly but surely, the economy improved, bringing with it a less-grim job market.
Before all that, though, the year at work leading up to my September 2009 lay-off was very difficult. Each morning, I pep-talked myself out of bed: today will be different… you’ve done great things for this company… you’ve brought them to the next level… you’re doing the work of three people… you continue to provide value here! When your entire industry is in economic shambles, and layoffs are looming, there’s often little you can do.
My time with that company turned out to be a really great learning experience; working there opened my eyes to a lot of things. Here are some of the lessons I learned along the way, both from personal experiences, and watching those around me.
- Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result.
- You really do reap what you sew.
- Ask for help when you need it.
- Always keep an open eye on the big picture.
- Always have data to back up your decision or recommendation. “Gut feelings” rarely get recognized.
- Be able to hear and give the bad news when needed.
- Research pays dividends. Look before you leap.
- Take care of your employees—they’re the best advocates for your company, and their loyalty pays off.
- A house in order will stand over a house divided.
I set off to Florida in 2005 to get work experience: I gave myself one year, and that quickly turned into four. Having closed this chapter in my life, I look forward to the learning experiences yet to come as I start over.
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