Every now and then you receive a client who gets involved in your end of the deal, and is questioning / making firm suggestions about directions to take. This could be due to their eagerness, misunderstanding of professional boundaries or personality; but it needs to be addressed when they begin to intrude too much upon the design of your project; to its detriment..
I have found, the best way to approach this niggle in la backside and take control is to explain why you are the designer and they are the client.
Experience
Make sure you take the time to explain that you are the designer and as such have a wealth of experiencing designing and they well… don’t. This is often a hard point to word without being antagonistic but make sure it is seen as a simple statement and not a call to argument.
Professional Skill
This is the point that you should be itching to use in your arsenal. You have reasons behind your madness – explain them. Explain why comic sans and neon green is not the correct brand colour for an emerging accountancy firm. Explain why that subtle flick on the tail of a character of text is a key element to the design. Explain why flash should be used sparingly when it is not appropriate etc
Homework
Another great approach is to validate your concerns as to why for instance a huge flash splash page is not necessary, is by letting the client read up o the issue. We have a great design community full of loads of little articles explaining many issues you may come to loggerheads over. Take the time to source something relevant and send it over to them.
It is also important to approach the situation from a professional standing, and ask why you object to their suggestions?
Pride
With every project, it is essential to maintain a professional distance. This distance is what allows you to evaluate their suggestions and to be objective. You need to ask, are you opposed to their intrusion because they are going to break the site’s function or logo’s fitness for purpose? Or are you opposed because you really think doing a certain something in a certain way will look great in your portfolio?
Contracts
This situation amongst others is another wonderful example of why having a detailed and pragmatic contract is essential! Ensuring that design revisions, what constitutes a revision, extra fees for extra revisions & how many revisions are included cemented within the contract protects both of you. Controversial to say, but if your client is adamant and set upon their course – remember two of the key points here are to provide what the client wants and that you are a business and such are being paid. If the client wants to delay proceedings by a month to see how a new web design will look, or to receive 4 more logo concepts, GREAT… show me the money.
Outside Perspective
There is no harm in seeking outside perspective… ask a fellow professional and if applicable ask a somebody who is not a design professional. Maybe your judgement is off and maybe this may be one of the rare situations where you will have to hold your hands up and say… ‘I was wrong’
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I’ve had the frustrating experience of building sites for friends & paying clients – explaining the concepts & benefits of Css, clean Html, Seo etc is extremely frustrating when they attach more importance to fancy graphics & flash.
Perhaps there’s a good argument for referring these “clients” to the affordability of easily downloading web templates for their online web presence requirements?
.-= Web Designer vs Web Template´s last blog ..5 Steps to a Profitable Web Hosting Business =-.
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Acuity DesignsReply:
Ah getting involved in projects / sites for friends and family often stresses the best of relationships.
Maybe if we refer them to templates etc; they’ll come running back?
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I do agree in principle with the points you’ve raised here. It’s often very hard to make the point (in a professional and non-antagonistic manner) about why you’re the designer.
However, it’s important to remember that clients *can* have design experience – even if they’re currently in the role of Head of Somethingorother in a large corporate giant. I’ve worked both client-side (currently) and agency-side, and having the best of both worlds means I’ve got a lot of experience from both sides of the fence.
The moral of the story : ‘know your client’. There’s nothing worse than proclaiming to know more than the other person…and then finding out they ran a successful web design agency for 9 years in a former life.
.-= George – Planet Anarky´s last blog ..Google’s Privacy Dashboard, and what it means to you =-.
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Acuity DesignsReply:
Hi George, thats a great distinction to make. Wierdly, not a situation I have been in. Often with the bigger clients we’ve talked to ‘Chief Visionaries’ or ‘Marketing Executives’ all of which seem to give us somewhat of a free reign.
However, even when they do have experience, surely you still have to have the confidence in what you think is the right way forward? Maybe thats a better situation for getting an outside perspective in? What do you think?
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George - Planet AnarkyReply:
Absolutely: I agree that you’ve got to have confidence in your expertise as a web designer/graphic designer/information architect/etc…just make sure you know your client.
The other thing to bear in mind is that the client knows their industry. This is why it’s important to engage with them and get them to divulge as much info as possible: that way, it arms you/your team with best possible info to make the best of whatever project you’re on.
I know that sounds obvious – I don’t want to sound like I’m teaching you to suck eggs!
.-= George – Planet Anarky´s last blog ..Consent required for cookies in Europe: WTF. =-.
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Great article,
- the points on sending articles (and thus educating the client) – is a very valid one. But the line is thin between being accomodating and making a bad decision for the wrong reasons.
.-= Paul Anthony´s last blog ..5 creative linkbait campaigns from around the web =-.
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Acuity DesignsReply:
Completely agree Paul, however at times its hard to know sometimes where that line is!
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To avoid embarrassment, ask your client to tell you exactly what design experience they have, and then take it from there.
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