
Secret Code Phrases to Get What You Want from Your Graphic Designer - icey
http://blog.kissmetrics.com/design-code-phrases/
======
thorax
> _I want to show this to my <spouse/friend/child>._

I've never accepted a graphic design proposal that I didn't run by someone
outside of the company to be sure, from a usability standpoint, we weren't
taking a step backwards using symbolism, layouts, etc, that someone outside of
the project would be confused by. Or where their initial reaction would be
"that site reminds me of a spammer/virus/porn site". Such a "spammer" comment
killed one design right away because until then I didn't realize it, but they
were very much right.

 _Edit:_ I wanted to note that this applies to designs my teams make, the
design that I make, or designs we get outside designers to make. I'm confident
that it helped us make better products by getting external sanity checks on
designs before rolling them out.

~~~
ThomPete
Why would you feel that someone from the outside would be a better judge?

~~~
i80and
Because graphics designers _usually_ are not the target audience. Usability
testing outside of a clique isn't always a bad idea.

~~~
ThomPete
Usability testing on anything that is just design and not done yes is _always_
a bad idea.

Designers are trained for designing for other people. So unless you are only
hiring shitty designers then I would say usability testing isn't bringing you
any value what so ever.

You are welcome to prove me wrong, but you will be hard pressed to find any
evidence.

~~~
feverishaaron
Designers also are typically not around to feel the repercussions of their
designs, so they may _think_ they are designing for other people when they are
really going off of their own intuition. And let's face it, even those with
the best design/marketing/usability/branding etc. intuition are often wrong
(eg Steve Jobs/The Cube).

I tell my clients that results-oriented design is the way to go. Interfaces
are never "done," and it pays to pay a designer to stick around and iterate
after real-world testing is completed. Casual focus groups are a great way to
start this process, often ensuring that you don't launch with a poor design
out of the gate.

~~~
chc
The Cube was not a bad design. The problem with the Cube is that its features
and price point didn't match up — even by Apple standards. It was priced like
a pro computer but severely underpowered. The design was actually the only
great thing about it.

Personally, I think this lesson was how the conceptually similar but
significantly cheaper Mac Mini was born.

------
scott_s
_Before you start your project, it’s important to know how your graphic
designer prefers to communicate, and then do your best to accommodate it._

Really? You want your customers to accommodate you? If a company is at the
point where they're hiring a graphic designer, then they probably have many
outside parties they need to communicate with. Assuming that the graphic
designer is of such importance that _they_ should accommodate _you_ is
presumptuous. The ideal, of course, is for both parties to explain how they
prefer to communicate and figure out a compromise.

~~~
sprout
I fail to see how what you just said is substantively different from the
advice prevented in the article. The article was about how to best keep a
graphic designer happy. If you prefer compromise, just bear in mind that you
could make things easier for your designer, and the easier you make things for
your designer the more likely you are to get something good.

~~~
scott_s
The article's author seems to invert the relationship the designer has with
their _customer_.

~~~
sprout
Especially if your business is web-based, you should probably be thinking of
your designer as a team member, not a vendor that sells something called
'design.' It's really not that simple.

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city41
Not to be overly critical, but the phrases to use start out at #7, as if they
are a continuation of phrases to avoid. When really they are a separate idea.
As a designer, make sure you address details like that, as critical clients
will see them and judge accordingly.

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Silhouette
So, basically, you want participation and guidance from your client because
vague guidance is not enough (#1), except that you want them to not tell you
how to do your job and to trust that your judgement will automatically result
in acceptable work (#2, #6, #7, #10). Moreover, you want to work with an open-
ended budget (#5) and timescales (#8) and communicating on your terms (#9).

Here's another theory: If I'm outsourcing part of a project, I will provide a
specification for the work including any constraints I require, you will
submit a proposal including estimates of how much it will cost and how long it
will take, and I will consider your proposal and decide whether to accept it.
You will be available at reasonable times for me to communicate with you, you
will provide regular updates as the project progresses, and you will inform me
immediately if your estimates are going to be incorrect, or I will not pay
you. This is what is known in the business world as "how things actually work
if you're the one providing the service and the other guy is the one paying
the bills". Final hint: if you don't like being asked for a ballpark figure
because it's hard for you to give one, then you were right about one of us
being a beginner, but you have misjudged which of us it is.

(Edit: I would agree that co-operative discussions and effective communication
are the best way forward in most business relationships. I just think the
ideas in this particular article are so obviously one-sided in favour of the
designer that no serious client is likely to employ the designer's services on
that basis, so they aren't really very useful at all.)

~~~
chc
I agree that the tone of the article smacks of entitlement, but the "don't"
list actually does cover some big pain points I think a lot of designers are
familiar with. I just think the article doesn't explain them very well.

"Here, I made a layout for you": Unless you really believe you are as good as
the designer you're hiring, it doesn't make sense for you to actually do any
designing yourself. Guidance, yes; clear specifications and limits, yes; a
concrete design, no. If you could do that, you wouldn't need to hire anyone.
It's like hiring a photographer and telling him, "Here, I set everything up.
You just push the shutter button." Obviously you're the customer, but you're
not getting much bang for your buck if you insist that the primary design be
done by an amateur. It's trouble for me and it usually does mean a worse
product for you (not out of spite, but because I'm hobbled by an ill-thought-
out design that the client drew up in 10 minutes on a napkin and insisted be
followed exactly).

"How much does X cost?": This isn't about having an open-ended budget. It's
about providing a clear specification. Asking for a budget without any kind of
specification is asking for disappointment later on. For example, a business
owner asked how much a blog would cost. I gave a relatively low number to set
up WordPress and do a simple theme. After further questioning, it turned out
that when he said "blog" he meant something more like "Facebook competitor."
Even better is "How much does a website cost?"

"I want to show this to my <spouse/friend/child>": This isn't unreasonable,
but you shouldn't treat any one person as "the public's opinion."
Unfortunately, many people do. For example, I worked with a guy whose wife
thought it would be awesome to put pictures of her poodle all over a business
website because the dog was so cute. Everyone _else_ who saw a design with the
dog was completely perplexed by it, but she loved it.

~~~
Silhouette
> "Here, I made a layout for you": Unless you really believe you are as good
> as the designer you're hiring, it doesn't make sense for you to actually do
> any designing yourself.

I respectfully disagree.

For one thing, a (graphic) designer can provide a variety of related services,
and some of them may overlap other experts on the team, such as the user
interface team or a web usability specialist.

For another thing, this presupposes that the designer is the only such expert
involved in a project. For larger projects, this may well not be the case, and
there may be someone setting the parameters for the overall system and then a
number of designers responsible for implementing the general rules in specific
areas.

> Obviously you're the customer, but you're not getting much bang for your
> buck if you insist that the primary design be done by an amateur.

You imply a false dichotomy. I can't speak for others, but on several projects
I currently work on we might outsource things like graphic design, artwork and
typography to a specialist, but want to retain direct control of the overall
layout and interactive elements. In one case that comes immediately to mind,
that is because we have extensive knowledge of usability issues from a
previous version of the software that no designer joining the project fresh
would have. In another case, we have web-based access and various apps for
mobile devices, and we want a consistent overall look and feel across all
versions of the service, so while the designer is free to fit the branding to
the natural style on each platform, they don't get to move everything around
in a way that could confuse our users. These decisions are not made by
amateurs, they are made by specialists whose job is to analyse hard data and
make these decisions. I wouldn't ask these people to decide what kind of
antialiasing to use on the web buttons, and I wouldn't ask a graphic designer
without the relevant knowledge of our products to lay out the user interface.

~~~
chc
I agree with everything you said here, but we're talking about different
situations. I never meant to suggest that what I was saying are universal
truths, just that the OP reflects common problems that come up.

------
mishmash
Recently had a local politician use this beauty, right after he asked my
rates: "Well I have this guy who will do it pro bono, but he's got a pretty
busy family..."

Like a) the rest of don't have families and b) it's going to make me want to
compete with free. :)

------
delano
When delegating any work, it's more productive to focus on the problems you
want to address rather than the solutions you had in mind. Solving problems is
fun. Don't steal their thunder.

------
feverishaaron
Here's a few more phrases:

"Here's 50% up front."

"I'll pay upon delivery."

"Let's set up a retainer."

These phrases get ya top priority. Fast.

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ThomPete
And from the designers perspective

[http://000fff.org/design-discussion-principles-how-to-get-
yo...](http://000fff.org/design-discussion-principles-how-to-get-your-client-
to-love-your-design/)

------
imajes
These come across as ridiculously elitist- of course those are useful tips,
but if i have a client who's going to say those code words, he's going to
sound like a chump.

Definitely lean toward that side of the fence, but honestly, for any
designer/developer, the most important thing you can have as a client is a
clear idea of the direction you want to take. Have your idea prepared, write
notes, know your competition - write it down. do your research!!

once that's done, it's easy then to go ahead and deliver. before then, you are
stuck in the loop of domain discovery which is just a time sink with no easy-
way-out.

------
gaius
Apparently the secret code phrase is "500 Internal Server Error"

------
photon_off
500 -- Internal Server Error? I wish that would get graphic designers
working...

~~~
mseebach
It's a secret code to tell blog readers that you don't know exactly how to run
a webserver...

------
snorkel
_"Here, I made a layout for you." On the other hand, we don’t want you to do
our work for us._

Too bad. Here's a layout. Make it work.

 _asking for a “ballpark figure” before giving details just makes you look
like a beginner_

Boo hoo. Now give me ballpark figure.

 _How much time do you need? It takes a lot of thought, back-and-forth, and
revisions, all of which take time._

Yes, it's a common practice in Fantasyland to afford content creators all the
time they desire to go off into the forest and think about fonts and palettes
... no, please take all the time you need, and tell me what it costs after
you're done taking three weeks to decide what the exact border radius for my
site should be to convey just the right sense of whimsical Gestalt but not too
pretensious, and don't even bother giving me an estimate, and please tell me
how to run my business while you're at it too.

~~~
jrwoodruff
Or I guess you could just do it yourself and save all that time, money and
frustration... And make your designer that much happier.

~~~
nnash
Since I can't down-vote snorkel I'll up-vote you instead. Here's hoping he
forgot his '/s'.

