Over the years I’ve worked with a myriad of different people in various situations.  In all these situations I’ve reflected on what I could have done better and what my team members or counterparts could have improved.  Often, lack of skills and experience are not the causes of a poorly executed project. When hashing out the details of a design it is often the creative aspect of the project that endures the most heated discussions and scrutiny.  Ultimately, on person has either been designated or defaulted has the one with creative control — the approving voice of the design aesthetic.  Here are some behaviours that you should be mindful of when selecting this person:

1. The Fixer-Upper

This is the person that has a compulsive need to change, tweak, and change for no good reason.  While they may be helpful in polishing the fine details near the end of a project, assigning creative control from the start will usually mean a never-ending tug-of-war.  Designer burn-out is inevitable.

2. The Style Snob

They usually believe they have a design/fashion/artistic/creative sense and it’s possible they actually do.  However, they end up putting too much focus on the aesthetic aspect of design and not enough on functional, goal-oriented effectiveness.  The product may be highly visual and possibly even interesting to look at, but not very persuasive or practical.

3. The Scrambled Egg

They are disorganized, flaky, and will easily bend the truth to save face.  They are not punctual, miss meetings, and continually break promises.  Their lives are a whirlwind of ideas and activities — projects that start with fanfare and end a slow, painful death.  While this person has great ideas and enthusiasm, the follow-through just isn’t there.

These descriptions are not intended to categorize people, but rather to name certain tendencies and behaviours that can impede the progress of your design process. While one might think these would only apply to those on the client side of a project but I’ve seen these tendencies in both clients and designers.  These are things you need to look out for when deciding who should champion your next design project or who should be the real designer.

It can be frustrating when self-glorification or control issues are prioritized over teamwork; it is vitally important that the project comes first and ambition takes a backseat.

Take a moment to reflect on a recent project you worked on with others.  Whether or not you had creative control, what could you have done differently to work better with others?

Remember those arguments you’ve had with your siblings or significant other where you are both just bickering back and forth until someone finally gets the last word in?  Sometimes, design projects can get that way.  Usually someone will pull rank and make a final call but in a design project I’ll explain why the designer should almost never have the final say.

It’s good to be reminded of objectives

It’s rare, but designers can lose track of the goals or intentions of the project.  Especially if there are too many specifications — your designer may feel like they are walking on eggshells and are too busy trying not to do the wrong thing instead of striving to meet the project objectives.  If the objectives are not simplified and clarified early enough, the client will have to step in and direct changes to a near final product.  Not ideal, but likely to be necessary.

Sometimes it’s hard to let go

As with any profession, when you put your heart into a project you may become emotionally attached to it.  Getting unnecessarily defensive is a common outcome on both sides of the client-designer relationship.  Often it’s a good idea for the designer to take a step back and be a little introspective to prevent this from happening.  Clients need to remind the designer that while the designer is the expert in their field, the client still needs a project that will fulfill all the business needs they identified and that will be consist with their brand and organizational culture.

Special considerations

Sometimes design projects may have unique circumstances that may or may not be confidential/secret. This may produce requirements that are non-negotiable, but clients should try to explain to the designer why it is they need this or they need that.  Hopefully, this will give the designer an opportunity to find a more suitable solution.  The more the client can explain their requirements, the closer the designer will be able to match the client’s vision for the product.  Clients should also be sure to make the designer aware of any re-branding initiatives that exist or any desires to tweak the brand’s image.  The more communication clients have with their designer, the happier both will be with the final product.

By no means am I trying to push the balance of creative control to the client.  Both sides have to make very important decisions in the design process.  Think of “the final say” as a pendulum of control that swings from one side to the other (designer to client).  If both designers and clients work well together the outcome will be a favourable one for all.  While “the final say” can be an intimidating decision, the anxiety of making  that decision can be mitigated through thorough communication, clear specifications and objectives, and focusing on the big picture.

What are some projects that you have found hard to let go of?

Photo by Norman Lear Center

When I first put my website up, I had a narrow set of goals I hoped to accomplish with it. During that time, it served most of the purposes I had wanted to use it for, but there were many limitations. As with any business, goals change over periods of and your website must also follow suit.

While there are many intangible reasons for redesigning a site, such as improving aesthetics and updating your branding, businesses also need to focus the tangible reasons.  Here are a few ideas I think you need to consider when deciding if you should redesign your website.

Does your website establish credibility?

Do visitors to your website feel that your business is trustworthy?  To establish credibility your website should:

• Be regularly updated with useful content
• Have content that is free of errors in spelling and grammar
• Feel professional

One of the first things I do before making most purchases is to visit the vendor/manufacturer’s website — it tells me how much they care about that initial contact with a potential customer.  The more information I can get about the company and their product, the more comfortable I’ll be making that purchase.  But sketchy websites might mean a sketchy product.

Does your website utilize basic marketing tools?

With so many considerations it’s a tough decision to make on whether to redesign a website or not.  But if you were a restaurant and your customers didn’t like the food, wouldn’t you redesign the menu?  If you run a dry cleaning business and customers couldn’t find your location, wouldn’t you make yourself more visible?  In that mindset, organizations should want their website to deliver fresh, delicious content and have a variety of avenues customers can take to get to their site.

Don’t take your website for granted.  If it isn’t accomplishing anything for you, then it’s possible you aren’t full taking advantage of its potential.  I can help you unlock this potential and show you how you can achieve more with a website that not only builds credibility and trust, but also performs.

I’d like to hear your ideas, what are some interesting things you are currently doing or things you want to do with your website?

Photo by Mrs. Logic

Looking forward to hearing from you

– Shey