The nature of our work as designers is changing. We are no longer just service providers or makers of things — we are often strategic partners. Projects now need a much closer collaboration with our clients. This means part of our new role is to facilitate and empower clients to think differently in order to shape impactful concepts and strategies.
The latest co-creation trend is to move to a new office space and work together onsite for weeks to months. A group of designers and a group of corporate professionals working together in one space might sound like the start of a series of awkward moments… but it doesn’t have to. If done right, it can be the birth of a fun, productive and inspiring partnership!
On this note, I asked experts across all 14 of our global offices at Designit…
What happens when we spend more time working onsite with clients? And how can you take your next collaboration from good to legendary?
Here are my top three insights:
1 “We understand why things take time, what’s behind the scenes.”
Close collaboration often reveals hidden challenges, from the perspective of both designer and client. Working together as one team with many varied points of view helps you understand how others work, why things take time, and what really goes on behind the scenes. This not only promotes a better workflow, but can also help pave the way for future projects.
Consider these new perspectives as new opportunities.
2 “There‘s a thin line between too much planning and too little structure”
There is a limit to what your team can anticipate and prepare for in advance. Working intensively for weeks means that the best-laid plans can change, the project can take unexpected turns, and participants might progress at different speeds with different needs.
Leave room for uncertainty — stay flexible.
3 “Sometimes, I feel more like a Client than a designer.”
The more time we spend together, the blurrier the line between client and designer gets. This identity crisis is part of the process. But if we respect and embrace the nuances of where each of us is coming from, it gets easier to cultivate a new team culture of our own.
Break down client-designer silos to create a unified cultural identity.
These insights should help get you in the right frame of mind to start your next onsite collaboration. For more on the subject — look out for my next post, where I use these insights to outline six working principles to make onsite
co-creation as simple, inspiring and fulfilling as possible. ❤
