Effective communication skills for Designers — Part 2
Proficiency Level: Intermediate
In Part 1 of this blog, we covered why communicating effectively is essential for designers as much as other professions. We also discussed a few simple tips that you can adopt to improve your communication skills and relationships at your workplace instantly. Remember that client conversations are an important aspect of project execution, hence you must constantly pursue new opportunities to understand your client’s business, the ecosystem they operate in, and the challenges they face in day to day life. Also, learn to simplify design jargons so that your clients can better understand what you say and can contribute to your thought-process.
In this blog post, we will share some more quick tips that will take your communication skills from Nay to Yay in almost no time.
5. Talk Business
While you make efforts to ensure your clients understand you, you as a designer should also acquaint yourself with business jargon. This is to ensure that you start understanding the lingo that your client uses. A good way to start is by participating in conversations about business objectives, technical solutions, timelines, budgets, process, resourcing — the list goes on. Upskill yourself further by being politically aware and developing interpersonal skills like emotional intelligence, team and crisis management.
6. Articulate your design decisions well
Most of the clients don’t fully understand the work involved in designing a website or a mobile app. Try to explain your approach of the design process and techniques you applied in case you faced any challenges. This will show your expertise on design and will make it easier to justify your decisions.
7. Pick your medium well
Feedback is an important aspect of effective communication. Also, the quality of feedback that you receive is crucial. Hence you should always evaluate and pick the right tools for collecting feedback. Specifically, in the case of client communication, email is a great tool to document feedback. Imagine this- you worked on a project, and now you are awaiting client feedback. But your client is busy with his work, so the best medium of communication, in this case, is via email. You can convey your thoughts to them by writing a crisp mail with simple text. You will be able to fetch quicker responses from them.
8. Set right expectations early on and track them
It takes a whole lot of planning and management to finish a project on time. Most of the onus rests on a designer’s shoulders to ensure a timely launch. Hence you need to set the right expectations for project delivery even before you start working on it. Prepare a list of project milestones at the very beginning and schedule how often the clients will be available for reviews. Also make sure you mutually agree upon an easy medium to connect with them.
9. Use Silence to your benefit
“Silence is Golden” — especially when you are in a serious discussion with your clients. While discussing projects, you should always let your clients finish their point. Don’t begin as soon as the person has stopped talking. Take a pause for a second, internalize what they just said and then frame your response. This is a powerful technique that will help you think smartly and be able to come up with more valuable responses. Pausing for a second will also display how attentive you are.
10. Reach out to peers when in need
We all face roadblocks in our day to day work at times. That moment when you just couldn’t crack the design or understand your user or asks from the project. At such instances, a way to fast-track your work is to seek help of your team members if you are dealing with a problem with difficult clients. Involve them in the decision-making process so they can support your claims with data, experience or research. Team support can give good advice and help you achieve the project goals.
Communication is essential in whichever domain you are working with your clients, colleagues etc. However, it is an absolutely necessary skill when it comes to design professionals. Now we know that good communication doesn’t just improve your interpersonal skills but also the overall execution of your projects, client coordination, individual performance, team spirit and work culture. Always remember that it’s a two-way process, so by identifying your strengths and weaknesses and regularly practising good habits, you can reach great heights the way you connect and communicate with others.
Originally published on 17seven.co on August 16, 2019.
