What can you do best as a client to work optimally with a designer? And how do you, as a designer, get the right input from your client? The following 10 tips will help you on your way to a successful result.
Every designer can effortlessly shake up numerous anecdotes about interfering with their creative work. These anecdotes themselves inspire a lot of creativity, like this video on what a stop sign would look like if a large company designed it:
All the nice and nice. But how do you as the client and designer approach the design process as well as possible? The following 9 tips will hopefully help you on your way. To know the other tips check out here.
1) Talk about problems
The first “mistake” many people make when they brief a designer is to tell them what they want instead of explaining what’s wrong.
Design is not primarily about what something looks like. It’s about coming up with a solution to a problem. After all, the most beautiful toilet sign design is useless if the men keep stepping into the women’s toilet.
That is why everything the user experiences are part of the design. From logo to loading speed. From navigation to the error message. That requires a holistic view of design.
An example: Suppose you like the design for the new homepage in the basics, but you lack sufficient brand experience. Do not ask if the logo can be bigger (your solution), but explain that the design lacks the necessary brand experience (your problem). The designer may then choose to make the logo larger. But he or she can also opt for more white space around the logo, for example. Or an adjustment of the color palette, or other photography.
2) Set goals
What should the new design achieve? What does success look like? Should the web page generate more leads? Or fewer calls to the helpdesk? Is the wish for more brand awareness? Or a higher conversion of the shopping cart? A professional designer who knows what you want to achieve with a design will undoubtedly come up with the best design to achieve that goal.
3) Be smart with deadlines
Many designers do not have enough time to make a good design. Creativity is difficult to enforce. Sometimes during the briefing, a designer already sketches a design that has the same purpose. But usually, he or she has to come up with quite a few versions before it hits the mark.
As a client, therefore, do not set overly rigid or even unrealistic deadlines. But ask them. Because without a deadline, creative work never ends. It is best to agree on a deadline with a designer that he or she proposes.
As a designer, you better keep the initiative on your side. Set a deadline that gives you enough time, but also keeps enough pressure on the process. Because some (time) pressure is good for the creative process.
4) Don’t argue about taste
Personal taste is often a bad advisor when it comes to applied design. Do not let your feedback on design be guided too much by your personal preferences.
Maybe you dislike the color purple, but your designer knows from experience and research of the target group that purple is the most suitable color for this design.
The best way to deal with differences in taste is to test the design against the objectives. So don’t ask yourself, “Do I like this?” But: “Is this the best design to achieve my goals (point 2)?”
5) Ask why
Children can drive you crazy by answering every answer you give them with the question ‘why?’. Maybe that’s why we lost this skill as adults. But in the design process, the question ‘why’ is essential.
If you as a client do not like the solution that the designer has invented, do not immediately vent your opinion. On the other hand, start your response to the design by asking why he or she came up with it this way. In the context you get, you may start to think differently about the design.
Conversely, if a customer says he or she does not like the solution you have come up with, keep asking “why” until you know the reasons. Because they are always there. And only by asking the question “why” do you help the client to think further about the design.
6) Test, test, test
“So many people, so many opinions.” And “there is no arguing about taste “. They are clichés, but no less true.
To prevent personal taste (see point 4) from getting in the way of the objectives, it is advisable to regularly test a design in the final target group during the various phases of its creation.
It is even better to involve your customers closely from start to finish in the design process. Design together with the customer. Involve him or her in all considerations and choices. By the time the design has to be presented to the other stakeholders, your customer is co-owner of the design and acceptance is usually a formality.
7) Talk to the decision-maker (s)
Make sure that the decision-maker (s) is at the table in all discussions that are important for the design.
Nothing is more frustrating than extensively presenting a design to people who ultimately cannot decide, but may have a hidden agenda.
The risk that they present the design internally very differently than you intended and that the ultimate decision-maker (s) then shoots the design (s) for reasons that you cannot imagine, is very great.
8) Start with the right material
Maybe an open door for you. But we still often see that designers are suddenly confronted with house style regulations only halfway through a process. Naturally, the designer should have asked for this at the start.
But if he or she forgets that, make sure that he or she already has the correct house style regulations and accompanying graphic files at the start of the process.
9) Design content first and in the browser
If possible, always design with real content. Therefore, ensure that for each page type the real texts and images are available to the designer.