Comments on: In which I ask for advice

By: Leslie Tane Design

Leslie Tane Design — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:38:10 +0000

Thanks so much for your thoughtful reply, Marvin. You make an excellent point that often designers end up acting as business advisers in a way – helping their clients to clarify their business message and scope. Glad you stopped by!

By: Marvin Doerfler

Marvin Doerfler — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 01:27:35 +0000

20 years ago I finally realized that so called difficult customers are not really difficult, just not focused. I discovered this while working with a friend who was opening a garage and needed graphic identity everything from billboards to business cards.

My first few efforts identified that he wasn’t just a garage and/or service cener, but he wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to be.

Rather than submit more designs I started to ask questions. Based on his answers my questions got more and more specific:

Do you want to get the AAA contract for towing roadside breakdowns?

Do you want to sell gas as well as offer repairs?

Do you want to be affiliated with local police to be called for towing roadside accidents?

Will you offer to do body work and rebuild engines as well as tune ups and oil changes?

Will you specialize in American or Foreign cars?

The more specific my questions got the more he was able to focus on what kind of work he really wanted to do.

In the end he realized he wanted to specialize in engine rebuilds for high end cars and trucks.

The rest was easy.

Sometimes the best way is to just ask questions, sometimes leading questions, and listen to the answers.

Subconsciously the client always knows what they want, it’s just that someone has to bring that knowledge perking to the surface.

By: roberto

roberto — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:07:13 +0000

If you are charging by the hour, you perhaps shouldn’t let it bother you. This happens to the best of us designers. Supposedly, the client came to you because they liked your work. Unless you have totally failed to grasp the concepts that have come out of your interview(s) with them, , then they should take your suggestions, design ideas and concepts very much to heart and assign to you a certain amount of authority.

As far as submitting multiple concepts, I do so myself on rare occasions. However, if I have one that in my opinion is far and away the best one, I often don’t even bother submitting the others. I will push for my favorite as much as if I had a stake in the success of the enterprise in question. And I consider myself not just any person with an opinion, but one with credibility and a proven track record when it comes to knowing good graphic design.

If nothing at all ever satisfies, then keep offering up whatever you can until the client just goes away. Again, if you are charging by the hour and the client pays his bills, then what the heck? It is not your responsibility to straighten out the heads of these difficult clients. Some are just beyond all that.

By: logo

logo — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:46:02 +0000

Great post and nice commenting. I have enjoyed reviewing this blog and will be visiting it at regular basis

By: Jodi

Jodi — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:27:14 +0000

Out of three concepts, I submit two that are in line with their suggestions and the third is along a totally different vein. It’s surprising how often they they trash their own ideas when they get something they had never thought of.

In the case of sending home the designs to discuss with the spouse–I would imagine the wife merely reminded him that whatever he chose would be a home run because that’s why she married him! Now quit running that nice artist around and decide so we can go to dinner!

By: SEO

SEO — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:24:18 +0000

There’s always a chance of mishap, misconcept or lost direction whenever there would be more than one decision makers. Things would be really diff to finalize and all you can say ended in smoke. I believe people have to admit that this is creative process and should trust on the skilled person to whom they are working with….

By: Ken Reynolds

Ken Reynolds — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:39:43 +0000

I find this a tricky part of the whole process too. At the moment I have a job where two people are making the final decision on a logo, which makes the problem even more intense. They both have different sensibilities and approaches.
To help them out, I’ve made sure to try and reinforce the following point. The logo I’m developing for them is not a personal business to them, it isn’t trying to project their own personal views. Obviously they have to like the logo on some level, but for this particular project it is more important that the logo speaks for the company, not for the people that run it.
In this case I sat down with the clients and brainstormed a list of words that they wanted the logo to convey. I keep referring back to this in meetings, to focus their thinking.
As with lots of questions in our business there are no definite answers, just different approaches.
Hope this is useful, and you find a solution.

By: David Caputo

David Caputo — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 19:03:46 +0000

This is one of the tougher questions of design. One approach is to keep everything extremely simple (sketches) if a wide range of choices are desired, until the desired concept is nailed down.

Another is to poll the client, as Lynn just said, and drill down into their “style psyche” to find out what kind of shiny things appeal to them.

With this information though, the trick is still connecting with the client’s vision almost like a clairvoyant. You just gotta figure out how to see what they’ve already got a picture of in their head, whether they know it or not.

Listening is key, but there is an awareness/gestalt beyond “merely” listening that has to be tapped into in order for a branding exercise to really hit the sweet spot.

By: Lynn Savage

Lynn Savage — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 01:26:08 +0000

I’ll echo the logo ideas, except to say that you shouldn’t be surprised if they can’t verbalize why they do/don’t like other logos either. Another tack is to try to find out about other items in their life — home design elements, cars, garden, magazines, etc. — that might provide clues about their design preferences.

By: nicola

nicola — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:14:37 +0000

I’d love to know if you do find a way. Last year I had to let a client go elsewhere after they didn’t like any of the many, many concepts I came up with for them :(