Why Communication is the Key to a Great Design
You met your client, you started with listening closely to what they wanted, how they wanted it and why they wanted it and after a while, after it became a little repetitive, you decided to zone out — thinking of sipping a pina colada on a beach chair, as you read your favorite book on design (OK, OK, Harry Potter).
After the client meeting is over, you take in what you think the person who is paying you said, and you spend hours and hours on that prototype — the design that will bring a beaming smile to the client’s face.
With all that hard work put in, you return to your client, and with a little cocky smile (that says, “Look how awesome my design is”), you hand in the designs.
Now, because you’re expecting praise after praise, you look closely at the client’s reactions. However, what you see is not quite what you expected.
Instead of the smile and words of praise, you see a puzzled look, which then turns into a frown. Soon, you see the client mumbling to themselves and before you know it, there is that look, the look every designer dreads — disappointment.
Immediately your thoughts go back to what might have gone wrong, taking you all the way back to that client meet on design, and you kind of start to realize where it all went a little awry.
Yup, you weren’t listening when the client was talking. Thinking you already knew what the client wanted, that pina colada took your mind away from where it needed to be and, as a result, you ended up with a design that had nothing to do with how the client pictured it.
I would love to say that this has never happened to me before, but, alas, I cannot.
Communication — I’ve found over all the years of working in design — is the be all and end all. If communication sucks during any part of the process — and the above scenario was just one aspect — you won’t end up with the right end product.
That much is absolutely guaranteed.
Right from the nascent stage of the client-designer/design agency relationship, communication is what matters and communication is what will ensure you end up with a great design; one you, your company (if you work for one) and your client can be proud of.
I’ve even gone back to all my previous designs and checked why the ones that didn’t hit the mark, did not. And almost every time, the reason was a communication breakdown, of some form. The client expected an apple, and I delivered an orange-tinged guava. And as a result, it all went pear-shaped.
Now, I know I’m not a bad designer and I have the confidence that I will give out a solid design if I hit the brief. The problems come when I fail to do so.
Had that earlier scenario panned out how it should have, you wouldn’t have egg on your face in that meeting. You would have known exactly what the client wanted. Create a list of needs during that first meet, and then make sure you check all of them.
If you then decide to add another layer or element to the original design idea that the client gave, that remains entirely up to you. However, what you cannot go away from is the core of what the client wants.
Having said that, communication doesn’t just end after that initial client meet. If there are any doubts, keep calling them and asking for more information. Discuss it with your colleagues — if you have them — or if you find yourself stuck somewhere, go to that favorite design online community and get a little help. Go back to your initial notes and double check if you have followed the discussed pattern.
Take a listen to the audio of that meeting — listen carefully for something you might have missed (always try and record the meetings, because it will give you a really good sense of what went on. Our memories are not as great as we think it is). A small, but significant, aspect, one, if not implemented, would make your design look a little ineffective, could be the difference between that beaming client smile and that dreaded look of disappointment.
After you’ve gone through all that, there is the final step of communication that matters — just as important, just as make-or-break.
Ask yourself, what you’re trying to communicate through your design. Is it going to be effective? Is the client and their audience/customer base going to understand your design? Is it going to make sense for the client in the long run?
Your client has shelled out a lot of money and put a lot of faith in you to get the design right, and at the end of the day, if all your design does is look great on the screen, but fails to communicate the message, it becomes completely meaningless.
Great design is not something that looks “cool”, “funky” or “trendy”. Great design is about effectively communicating a message, the message that the client (or you) wants to give their users.
Think of your favorite book. Think of all the elements in that book, the ones that made it such a great read. Why it inspired you or why it makes you go back to it again and again.
Your design should be like a book — how it is constructed, the reason it is designed the way it is and most importantly how the user will react to it. If you manage to do that, your design will be deemed as good or great 999/1000.
That one time it doesn’t happen…well, that’s just the client being a pain in the you-know-what, and there’s nothing you can do about it, no matter how effectively you communicated the message through your design.
For the other 999 times, though, the mantra should be simple — communicate, communicate, communicate, all the way through.
Get that right, and you will have beaming smiles across the board.
