Today I decided to start looking into some of the aspects of my life as a designer, I’m sure though the message is relevant elsewhere.. Please let me know what you think and if there are points you’d like to read about in more detail or even just ideas for topics you’d want me to explore.

The most critical aspect of the whole design process is communication, it is also disregarded the most often. While communicating should be a natural part of designer/client interaction it doesn’t seem to work out that way. I’ve had many meetings with clients where after they have left I go to my designers and ask “what is it they really want?” I’m guilty of not being clear myself and recently that point was driven home from my personal life and has me thinking about how can I more effectively communicate my intent where preconceived assumptions contradicts the words being said. Graphic design is all about selling the viewer, be it advertising or simply just a new company logo, you can’t just jump in knowing nothing of the product. More importantly you must know the client, what drives them. I’d say in my experience the rule has been clients rely too heavily on the creative team to read minds and know what to do, I’ll also go out on a limb by saying its due to them being afraid of the creative process. Just because in the past we designed something similar for that other company doesn’t mean “Just do something cool like you did for X” is going to mean you’ll see a finished ad campaign by 5 today. Every time a client came in and gave us total creative control without any direction and short deadlines the first draft has been completely rejected. It doesn’t stop with the rejection either, the deadlines are missed and the longer the project goes the more irritable the client and everyone becomes. Now when a client has a clear message, we have fewer redesigns and revisions and the project goes smoothly and on budget, the bonus being everybody is happier. Sure things are most typically a mix of the two extremes and thats where the knowing your client really helps because both parties are more relaxed and willing to discuss problems before they become major issues.

I don’t pretend to know how to be the greatest communicator on the planet nor do I have the answers on how to become better. What I do know though is it is something we all need to be aware of when we meet with clients and ask ourselves “Am I doing all I can to put the client at ease and allowing him to express concerns and explaining the process clearly?”

In a way its like what our parents would tell us when we were children “Those bears are more scared of you than you are of them”