Imagine the scene...
Opens on a smart, glass-walled City lawyer's office. Two people sit facing each other over a meeting table. They are lawyer and client.
Lawyer: "Now, Mr Client. Here's the contract for the transaction. We've spent the last week working on it and it's pretty much perfect. You'll get the company, the buildings and the staff. They get £3.5m over five years, that's what we agreed."
Client: "Thanks - that's great Mr Lawyer. Where do I sign?"
Now. Imagine another scene...
Opens on a smart, glass-walled design agency's office. Two people sit facing each other over a meeting table. They are designer and client.
Designer: "Now, Mr Client. Here are the designs and copy for this year's annual report. We've spent the last week on it and it's pretty much perfect. You'll get..."
Client (interrupting): "I don't like green."
Designer: "Sorry?"
Client: "I don't like green. And we need a bigger picture of the product. And the copy isn't 'salesy' enough. And... AAARRGGHHH!!!"
SFX: Agency bludgeoning client to death with a cafetiere.
I have seriously though about introducing a £50 fine for each time a client says "I don't like it." I don't actually CARE whether clients like or dislike the work we do (although it's personally flattering when they do - which is very dangerous indeed).
What I care about is whether or not our work sells for our clients. I care whether or not it's appropriate to the target market. I care whether or not it gets their message over clearly, simply and effectively. But I don't give a stuff whether they like it or not.
Why?
Not because I'm an arrogant, stroppy 'creative', (not always, anyway) but because I give a damn about my clients' work and its effectiveness. We spend all our time thinking about our clients' markets, reading what they read, understanding how they think and interact with websites, printed material and visual media. I'd like to think that, after (blimey!) nearly twenty years doing it we're quite good at it.
We don't have a codified set of principles to fall back on in the same way lawyers can. I can't tell my mythical client that green is perfectly appropriate for thirty-three year old Lexus buyers in Penge. Perhaps that's a mistake - but I think not. After all, human nature and communication is too complex to codify. But people who write copy and design for a living should be able to cast a net around this complexity and understand how to communicate it clearly, powerfully and effectively.
And clients should be happy to let them - whether they like it or not.
2 comments:
I have a different but related problem. A client who themselves hides a reasonable level of 'design' awareness and skill. They can't resist but enter into the process of doing your job for you, all be it with some level of competence. I know because I am that type of client!
I think then it comes down to the relationship. I'd quite happily tell you it should be green if I believed it. And before you could whack me with your Pantone book I'd hopefully back that up with some reasoning and we'd be onto our second pint, me accepted as an honorary member of the project team (as long as my card is behind the bar).
Or am I kidding myself. Do you stick pins in my client doll when you get back to the office? Am I an even worse type of client!
Or is the fact I enjoy telling you what to do so much telling me something? Perhaps I'm on the wrong side of the fence...
Thanks for that Richard. It's an interesting one. It's not really a client/agency thing, it's about knowledge and experience. It's the difference between anyone involved in the project saying "hey - that green bit just doesn't work & here's why.." and someone uninformed simply expressing a prejudice. The former is always valuable, even just from a dialectic point of view. The latter is just annoying - partly because the project is poorer for it, partly because it hacks everyone else off and partly because it's a misuse of status on the client's part. That's what gets client dolls (what a great idea!) looking like porcupines.
Whether you're on the wrong side of the fence... could be!
But either way - hold you to that pint...
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