It’s easy to fall into this trap. You know the scenario… you’re knee-deep in a design and engaged in the back and forth of feedback and revisions. You are carefully revising your design, following the directions to the letter. Somewhere along the way, you’ve turned off your brain and stopped designing.
When you’re getting direction from a client, manager, art director, etc., it is easy to fall into the mode of just following instructions. You get so caught up in getting it right that you forget to keep thinking about the problem. In an effort to please, you take feedback as solutions instead of suggestions.
Of course it is totally understandable to take the ideas of those that pay our bills as gospel. But we should also be reminded that those same people hired us for our expertise. If they just wanted someone to follow orders, they’d probably have hired someone else.
Instead, feedback should be taken for what it is: suggestions, ideas, impressions, or reactions. In fact, feedback can be and should be a great springboard for new ideas. Let it be a new constraint that drives your design in new directions.
Sure, there are always situations where we need to compromise or ultimately let the decision-maker make the call. But I’d still rather respond to feedback with the revision that the client asked for plus a couple of ideas that take it a step or two further. I just need to remind myself to keep from falling into the trap.
Nate
on 29 Jul 09So very true. Listen to your clients, but look for the root problems.
And it’s crazy how much more satisfying to it is when you are able to present an even better solution to the problem they were really hoping for when they were offering suggestions or ideas.
Of course you’ve heard this a hundred times I’m sure and it’s been on this blog probably. Henry Ford: “If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.” Or the BusinessWeek translation of that:
“Customers don’t envision the future, they inform the present.”
Hal
on 29 Jul 09The phenomenon is called the “pleasing paradox”. We try so hard to please our client that we fail to do what would be truly pleasing. That includes also giving our client critical feedback. David Schmaltz wrote about the pleasing paradox for the AIA Management Digest about 2 years ago as part of the fall 2007 issue on lean design practices.
Tim Wright
on 29 Jul 09Making some good points here. I think we all need a reminder of this from time to time. Thanks for putting it together.
Ionut Popa
on 29 Jul 09True, a designer should not follow orders blindly
chris gillis
on 29 Jul 09I hear ya. After you get beaten down project after project, month to month, year after year you end up in this design cycle alot.
In the end its the client that ends up with a shotty product and they wonder what went wrong…
...after 10+ years in the biz, most of the time cash is king though and you just take the design beatings.
JZ
on 29 Jul 09Great article, Hal. Thanks for linking that up.
ckipfer
on 29 Jul 09Right on! Feedback and instructions should be cues to go back and “explore” previous design decisions, not mandate a specific solution. It’s helpful to reframe feedback into the form of questions rather than commands. As a designer, ask yourself what is core to the feedback and explore solutions that help to better reach that core goal. Sharing this thought process with your clients or manager will help everyone understand your process (and your solutions) at a deeper level, and ultimately lead to better design.
Anonymous
on 29 Jul 09Now how does one, in a politically correct way, tell a client that what they are suggesting, and wanting, looks like a kid in elementary designed as their first ever website?
Have a client right now that through all my designs out the window, created a draft in a “Microsoft” application, and now wants to implement that design as their website. I tried to make it look more professional, aesthetic, but no, they want the same colors, the same layout, etc etc etc…
There’s no other way of education this client. Any suggestions besides sucking it up, do it, and get paid?
Stephen
on 29 Jul 09Some of the best advice I ever got: “Take suggestions and critique without complaining. Then, make their idea even better because you’re just that good.”
Adrian Rodriguez
on 29 Jul 09Great read. I have been in this trap before, and feel like I am in a situation where I designed something awesome, but the client is ruining it slowly, because they’d rather have what they want, then what is better in the long run.
Jeff Watkins
on 29 Jul 09Thanks for this great post, Is nice to get a reminder like this! Cheers,
Scott Semple
on 29 Jul 09I agree that “following instructions” defeats the purpose of hiring a designer, but disregarding instructions demonstrates that the designer isn’t listening.
There’s a good way to both acknowledge the client’s wishes and to continue designing: do multiple versions that show the options.
I’m currently going through a design process (as the client) and there’s nothing more frustrating than mutually deciding upon a direction and then receiving something different or something incomplete in comparison to the expectation that has been set.
We (clients) are definitely hiring designers to design and improve upon our original concepts, but we also have our own vision of the project. That vision builds in a lot of expectations that designers can unknowingly trip over.
In contrast, I would be ecstatic if a designer came back with additional concepts alongside what we had discussed. Presenting them to the client with, “This is the original concept that we had discussed.” [Show Exhibit A] “But during the process, I thought of a couple things that could be really useful for our users. I’ve mocked them up here.” [And show Exhibit B.]
I would LOVE a designer that did this, and I would be excited to work with them more. Heck, I may even be inclined to pay them more money…
Rob V
on 29 Jul 09This is all fine, and I in fact have fought this point many times, the problem is, I’ve had to fight. OFTEN times the people paying the bills forget why you’re the one that was hired for your expertise, they forget why they needed you, egos get in the way and it’s not always pretty. I BEG YOU, follow this up with an entry about employers trusting their employees more, they are qualified to do what they do, that’s why you hired them, listen to them, have discussions, and you might learn a thing or two.
Jeff
on 29 Jul 09@ Scott Good point! The best path is definitely to listen to the clients’ wishes but improve upon them if you can. Sometimes designers forget that the client, more often than not, has years of experience with their customer base and this may lead to some quirky, but ultimately correct design decisions that should probably be implemented as-is.
@ Anonymous Sorry to hear that you’re in that predicament. Take heart though and be happy that they told you exactly what they want. If I were you, I’d take a couple of days to distance my personal feelings in the matter and write up an itemized list of pros/cons for each design: yours and theirs. If they ignore your advice, implement their design with no deviation at all, take the money and move on.
I’ve had clients drag me through countless committee meetings with dozens of mockups only to tell me 2 months later that they really like the header from design 1.3 and the background from design 2.12 only more ‘bluish’ and a font that Susie in accounting has on her Mac and…..
In any case, there is always a LOT more at work in these situations than pure design aesthetic or the desire to simply get a job done. When we walk into a clients’ place of business we potentially walk into a whole new world filled with petty egos, power trips, old resentments, hurt feelings, etc. etc. And this will always impact the work we do, to some degree or another.
Jan Koehler
on 29 Jul 09You mean “design by committee” is not relished by CEO’s? Getting everyone’s “buy-in” is like sampling the car dealers admin “What color should I get?”. Management never wants to put a stake in the ground and make a decision because they can be held accountable. That way when the design goes through rounds of usability testing and all the red lights come back flashing all can chime in and say “you voted for it”. When the tectonic plates starts shifting – management can always blame it on the designers – we are easy scapegoats.
JZ
on 29 Jul 09@Scott Semple, that’s exactly what I suggested: “respond to feedback with the revision that the client asked for plus a couple of ideas that take it a step or two further.“
Heck, sometimes this can be a good way from someone in a situation like @Anonymous where the client maybe demanding things that might not be in the project’s best interest. Showing someone why something won’t work is more powerful than telling them.
It demonstrates respect for your client and a thoughtful design process when you show them what they asked for, explain carefully why it might not be the best direction, and then present a better alternative that satisfies the problems the first direction raised.
@Rob V here are a few previous bits that might fit the bill for you:
“You have to treat your employees like customers”
Interview with Jason Fried
http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/845-sunspots-the-trust-edition
Peter Laudenslager
on 29 Jul 09I don’t design websites, but do design systems for customers. I like to educate customers about the results metrics for my business, and ask them to specify those. When they ask for specific features / approaches, in my head, I know that this is what the customer thinks they want, but if they knew what I know, they would probably want something different. There are two techniques I use to educate a customer: First, use “Feel, Felt, Found”: “I know exactly how you feel about X, I felt the same way (or lots of my other customers felt the same way) until I found out that X causes Y.”
The second technique is to avoid telling the customer what to do – since he is paying the bill, he can do anything he wants. Instead, tell him what will happen. “If you do X, Y will happen – that doesn’t seem like the result you wanted.” Your judgment isn’t better than the customer’s on what he wants, but it should be better on the outcome of various design choices. Keep him focused on the results he wants, and build your credibility on your ability to guide him there.
Marie Poulin
on 29 Jul 09I fully agree with you on all those points, and am starting to feel like I should be weeding certain clients out right from the beginning. However, not every client is open to being educated, and not every client knows how to make use of your expertise.
If after 2 times of recommending against a certain decision/direction the client wishes to continue with it anyway, I will execute it how they wish, pay my bills, and I will avoid continuing to work with them in the future. I’m not interested in being a wrist. I want to work with clients who appreciate the value I can offer their business.
I’m still working on asking the right questions from the beginning…
Robert Mann
on 29 Jul 09Words to live by. Thanks for posting your thoughts…
Rob
on 30 Jul 09There is a method to the madness, and one of the best ways to avoid the back and forth is to explain why you did what.
Chris J. Politzki
on 30 Jul 09Right in the middle of this exact scenario now!
Rather than having constructive criticism and suggesting solutions, the client is bashing the designs… using words & phrases like, ‘irrelevant’, ‘not meeting our needs’, etc.
When will people stop being vindictive and offering constructive feedback?
That is my question!
;-)
Wapple
on 03 Aug 09Good article, nice to read your thoughts on the subject. Design communication between the client and designer seems to be becoming a more contentious issue as time goes on.
Not only that, but design for the mobile web in particular has become a hotly debated issue.
We recently published a paper on the need for mobile-specific websites, if you’d like to have a read: http://tr.im/uTCe
Devan
on 03 Aug 09And start ditching all versions of IE :)
Im forcing users on to cross standard browsers on my web apps and gentle suggestions on websites.
Spending ages on a web app to find it doesn’t work on ie properly its a kick in the balls. Microsoft need to admit to defeat.
This discussion is closed.