Role Playing.

09.05.2008

I've been reading a lot lately about what a client is to a designer. Some look at the relationship much like a parent / child relationship. The client is the daddy and the designer (or agency) is the child that despite whining, begging, stomping, and screaming ... ultimately submits to the clients every demand. We look up to daddy with starry eyes because he puts the food on our table, sets the rules, pays the allowance, and can drive the car. We occasionally rebel and do something we don't have permission to. After a quick spanking we are back to doing exactly and only as they say. We only call the shots when the client allows. This position is never so blatant ... it usually occurs behind smiles, compromises and thoughts like "after all, they are paying us" ... and it amplifies subtly over a period of time. Eventually you do nothing without their request. You remove yourself as an influential expert to a simple tool to realize the clients ideas.

Another train of thought is that the client is a partner. Like husband and wife ... client and designer scuffle, fight, argue, compromise, and make babies (finished projects that is). As partners, both are invested equally. The client is financially invested and as the party who will ultimately deal with the outcome of good or bad design ... takes on a certain level of risk. The designer invests his or her expertise as a visual communicator and eventually (and hopefully) delivers a compelling design that meets the goals of the client. Both bask in the glow of a successful project. This is the ideal situation.

I'd like to think that every client I deal with is a partner. We mutually respect each other and work on level ground for the ultimate good ... in my dreams. Right? Its really easy to sit back and blame the client for a relationship that isn't balanced. Fact is, most clients don't know how to treat designers and agencies. They view us somewhere between the expertise of a lawyer or a doctor and the voice they hear when you pull up to the McDonald's drive-thru. It's my job to instill in them that we are experts in visual communication. Train the client to respect our abilities, time, and advice. This training must come from the very beginning ... not weeks into a project or it will never happen. Designers need to stop blaming the client for being a bad client and start taking the blame themselves. We are to guide clients to strategic design. Of course there will be bad clients. People who insist, demand, change, amend, "improve", and don't listen. Take steps to end those relationships. A bad client can depress your team and damage the most important emotion a designer has ... morale. Happy designers design more efficiently and more affectively. Good clients are good business whether you're making bank or making a budget.

Having the communication skills necessary to become a partner with a client doesn't come overnight. Time will hone your abilities to be an expert. Until then ... be an expert in training. If you cannot communicate your value to a client ... how can you communicate the client's value to a consumer? When people respect what you say and do ... they will respect your fees all the same. Be the client's expert ... not their child. Lead with confidence and deliver good work.

Don't ever forget (or let your client forget) ... Good design is good business.