3 things I learnt at White October
1. Grab a pair of ‘Fresh eyes’
Getting other designers to look at your work is essential, because your eyes aren’t the only eyes.
Fresh eyes is a design critique. You bring over some work, explain the idea and process, then it’s over to the rest of the design team. They’ll inspect your work, ask questions and make suggestions. It’s not about completing picking apart your work, it’s about how can we make this be the best it can be.
It’s better to have an internal review where everyone is happy with the output, and there is a solid rationale, because the next step is a client review, and you’ll now be confident in knowing that the whole design has your back.
2. We are the experts
Often clients don’t always have a clear idea of what they want, sometimes their suggestions will seem outrageous — especially to a designer. Actually, clients are communicating a need or a problem and it’s up to us as a designer to unpick the problem and use our experience to put the user first and provide a solution suitable for everyone. We want to please the client and give them what they want, however, we are the experts and people come to us because they want our expertise.
We need to help them understand our point and value our design skills it’s our job to educate the client, whether it’s about the importance of white space, or content management.
One way of doing this is through storytelling, take your client and your team on a journey, show them the yellow brick road, explain this is where they want to be and why. But I warn you, some people may get lost on your journey and head back down the dark path.
3. Time is money
We all know the phrase ‘time is money’, but I actually know what that means now. Time. Is. Money! — I didn’t think it was that literal…
Clients pay for your time on something, whether that’s by the day, hour or minute, so your time is precious. Coming straight out of uni, the time I had to complete a project did not reflect the time in the real world. People want things done yesterday — ( I’ve actually heard a client say this fyi)
This is also why it’s crucial to add a little contingency when you estimate your time needed on a project, just in case you run out of time. There are lots of reasons why you’ll definitely need that little extra, either not fully understanding the depth of a project therefore needing extra meetings or just a complex project.
That’s not all
I’ve definitely learnt more than these 3 points working at White October, and working closely with other designers, developers, projects managers, and account managers has definitely shaped me into a better designer.
The atmosphere at White October is great, every first Thursday or Friday there is and a monthly update accompanied with pizza! Company hack days where you spend the day coming up with an idea and hacking it together with a dev, and you also get the chance to learn and get inspired with a conference allowance, or be involved in activities such as going to a Tough Mudder event.
As I continue my journey as a designer, I’ll never forget my first steps into the real world.
Peace out, one love.
