Revising the Designer-Client Setup

Posted on August 15th 2011 under Blog

For the past few weeks I’ve been pondering a new method of interacting and working with clients. For the most part, a design project is a lot of back-and-forth between clients and the designer to get to a solution that makes everyone happy. That solution usually involves compromise, which frequently occurs on the designer’s behalf since the client controls the purse strings. That compromise can vary from being mildly acceptable copy changes to an infuriatingly complete overhaul of the designer’s original solution. To help prevent the latter, designers make visual choices based on their training and experience to which a client can easily destroy based on his/her preferences.

In essence, a lot of what a designer does during this process is actually relationship management. We try to understand the folks we are dealing with so that we get a sense of what they’re needs are and how we can best address them. It’s also the most delicate part of the process because what we are doing is translating ideas from another person’s mind into some sort of visual form. That translation is very hit or miss since the language we use to describe these ideas is very limited. Words like “modern” and “retro” have various meanings and interpretations, almost to the point where they don’t mean anything. Design briefs help to alleviate these issues but they aren’t bulletproof.

So what I’ve been thinking about these days is the designer working as an “artist.” In essence, the designer is approached to work on a project because he or she has a very specific way of visualizing and creating. There are no revisions to the work – it is as is. If you revise an artist’s work, you are negating the craft and unique perspective that artist has brought to the creation. In essence that is why you should be working with an artist or designer, because you have seen their portfolio and are familiar with their style and method of working.

This puts the generalist designer in danger since their skills will be harder to convey. For clients, the safety net of revisions is taken from you which makes every decision and information that you present to the designer important. You have to carefully choose what you want to say so that both you and the designer can land on a successful product.

While this method of working will probably not work for most people, it is interesting to hear about how much designers hate the revision process. The time spent trying to craft something that can be revised or flushed away in a matter of seconds based on personal preference is devastating. So how can we make this process better for both the client and designer? If we removed that process, would it make it the final product better?

Feel free to discuss it in the comments.