It will be ephemeral anyway
This is a piece of the 10 guidelines for Kickass World Class website
Again, don’t be afraid of creativity. Push your boundaries even with the tightest briefing. Seek for new solutions, sell them all — or at least try to.
We know there are 2 types of Designers in this industry:
- The ones focused on analytics, UX, patterns, templates, psychology of color, “mobile first”, etc. These individuals have their work shared on LAPA, HTTPster, LandBook and Template Monster.
- Then you have the other kind of Designers, the real creative ones. Those individuals can be found on FWA, siteInspire and Awwwards winners page.
If you feel like the latter, this article is for you.
There are a lot of bad things you can say to a client that could jeopardise your relationship. This title is one of those things. It really makes you look like the “selfish Designer who doesn’t care”. Not the case, I believe so. You are actually taking some pressure off other people’s shoulders.
Why? Because when you put things in that perspective, you are actually managing expectations. Either the client’s or the project itself. And this topic is all about expectations in your projects. Let me use an example:
We all have seen this shit happening more than once in our careers. And trust me, it ain’t funny.
You know those projects where you get a clear and exciting-enough briefing? Well, your team starts doing some research, your PM gets everybody on board, insights on the table, you explore a bunch of concepts, everything is good to go, you present your overall ideas, the client is happy and aligned with you. They say “we want to be perceived as a creative company, let’s see what you guys have in mind for execution”.
And then they back off.
I am assuming your work is good enough and this is not your fault. The client is just afraid, scared or just not confident enough to assume something they have never seen before. Maybe the client has too many stakeholders on board. Next thing you know, everything changed and they are going to play it safe.
You execute something outdated, subpar, the results are not that great and they blame you for not solving their problem and not being the solution the thought they hired. Classic.
Time goes by and years later you might see them executing a plan similar to you tried and got rejected or misunderstood. But now, it is kinda outdated again. They are playing catch up. Out of sync. Your client waited long enough to see validation around them. They did what everybody was doing. It probably felt great. However, they are not the creative company they want and believe to be yet.
If you are interested in some casual talks about future/innovative vision among global brands, these are some good podcasts from Innovation Benchmark:
So, we have a problem — obviously. Your client says they want be in their industry lead — even though they only like the idea of leading — in fact they want to follow. You got yourself a challenge. How do you manage these expectations? Tough mission perhaps.
You are going to have to make a choice and live with the consequences if you wanna be the world-class type of Designer. Either you sell your soul or you stick to your vision and beliefs.
Most of the time you have a visionary attitude, innovation-driven, experimental mindset. On the other hand, your client has a business paced, steady vision, political mindset. It is obvious, you will never be fully synced and aligned. Your creative excitement is a reason to freak them out. Your plan is “different” enough to let them believe you gonna screw everything up. So they won’t trust you completely.
Why? Because if every single step is already planned, you and your fresh vision are taking power and control away. Most clients don’t dig that. So they wait 5 or 6 years until they see everybody doing it so they can follow, and as a leader you know that following sucks.
But guess what? Companies who don’t take initiative and don’t explore new possibilities, will never be on the lead.
Take Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and other big names in the fashion industry as an example, for instance. Ask them what have they learned out of it. Even though I believe those brands have been making smart moves in order to recover some of the market share they used to own, this could have been avoided if they just listened to their customers, the market shift and the creative agencies they work with.
Timeless design doesn’t apply to digital that well. Every good idea or plan has its time to shine and it will slowly vanish, it will be ephemeral anyway. So clients… don’t be overwhelmed, even your old successful plan is going to die someday.
(read the other posts on 10 guidelines for Kickass World Class website making)
