How to prevent designer syndrome in your client

Most designers know the situation when a client is trying to make corrections to your work: this usually leads to disaster. This happens with almost every designer, and as far as I can tell, there are no real ways to deal with it. Nevertheless, I will try to describe ways to mitigate what I call the "sudden attack of creativity at the client."

Add objectivity

One of the main reasons why customers believe that they can make a change is that design is considered to be a subjective discipline. Of course, there is some truth in this: the designer balances between the principles of marketing and the need to develop a solution to a creative problem.

Customers who are trapped by these stereotypes often forget that design is the science and craft that needs to be learned by going through all the standard stages of the profession, from apprentice to professional. It seems to them that the designers are doing their work, almost without any effort, but for the designer, who got such a client, his already difficult work is complicated at times.

In order to cope with this problem, you must create objective criteria, making them dependent on the design. To do this, you need to understand the true desire of the client, which most likely lies in making a profit, and explain to him the connection between your work and the likelihood of the fulfillment of this desire.
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When working with an “assistant client,” constantly remind him of this connection as often (and as carefully) as possible. The easiest way to do this is to talk about the project from the user's point of view, rather than emphasizing the quality of the isolated elements or trying to sell the purely technical merits of your work.

Whatever your client is selling, try to convince him to put the buyer at the forefront. If this is not possible, you should think about finding a new customer.

Do your research

Effective reception, thanks to which the client will start to trust you more and probably will want you to implement his other projects, if such are planned. You have to find out who exactly is the target audience of the client (note from the translator: of course, ideally, the client should provide such information, but quite often he himself owns only fragmentary information) and develop the design based on this information.

When you focus on serving a specific market through your customers, you will automatically increase your rating among other potential customers in this area, as you are not dispersed on disparate customers, but limit yourself to working with a specific area, which makes you more efficient than other designers. .

For example, if you are working on creating a corporate style for a startup, you will need some time to figure out exactly which product you are talking about. What do they sell? Who buys their products or services? You have to understand that the people you are trying to please are customers of your customer, not himself.

Having a sound strategy, you can argue your decisions to the customer, based on your data and previous experience. Of course, you should not be rude and condescending towards the client, but if you show that you are an expert in this area of ​​the market, they will begin to trust you much more.

Be a customer

Creating a custom person is an excellent technique that entrepreneurs use to understand the psychology of their target market. Using this technique, designers can get more information about how the presentation of the client's products should look, taking into account the specific features of Central Asia. However, you can use it to understand your immediate customers.

As we have said, your career will be beneficial if you focus on a particular market, and you will understand all its ins and outs. This also applies to customers: try to work with regular customers and increase the lifetime of each of them. You must explore your personal target audience and understand its features from a business and marketing point of view.

Believe me, it will be much easier for you if you are aware of the driving forces that influence your client. If you understand the scope of your client’s activities and the needs of people working in this field, your work with them will require much less effort from you than trying to guess the desires of a new client with almost obscure motives. In addition, your customers will be pleasantly surprised by your ability to "read their thoughts."

Find people who work in an area that is interesting to you. Try to meet them in person to discuss their problems and needs, or, as a last resort, try to do this electronically. Collect enough information to be able to establish certain patterns that will be the basis for creating a client person from a specific industry. Of course, there are exceptions to each rule, but the more information you gather, the less chance there will be a client with whom you will not be able to cooperate effectively. If your customer is impenetrable and does not invest in any framework, you know what to do with it (hint: run).

Total

It is important to implement each of these tips, and not just think about them. The problem is that between what you think your customers want, and what they really want, there is a huge difference. That is why so many business ideas fail.

You have to distinguish yourself among lazy and incompetent designers, highlighting your level of professionalism. The more a client trusts you, the less his desire to climb into your work, since it carries certain risks. In addition, the image of a narrow specialist creates a certain halo of mystery, which creates another obstacle in the way of those who give advice.

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