More than just looks
How to fight against the trope that all designers are good for is to “make things pretty.”
“We just need it to look more professional…”
“We don’t have the graphic expertise you do…”
“I just don’t know how to make it look good…”
Ah, familiar client quotes for a new design project. They all distill down to a single request: Make it pretty. The client has already decided what they want in a deliverable and they just need someone to make it more visually appealing.
When a project team limits a designer’s involvement to the very end, they will miss the invaluable contributions designers can make in all parts of the process.
It’s true that many designers have an eye for aesthetics and are quite good at producing attractive visual designs. But when a client team limits a designer’s involvement to the very end, they will miss the invaluable contributions designers can make in all parts of the process.
At Michigan Medicine, my design and innovation team has come across a number of these small requests for visual styling. We often reject them.
We’ve started to take these requests as opportunities; opportunities to educate our clients and evangelize the multifaceted and comprehensive work human-centered designers do.
But recently, instead of saying no, we’ve learned how to yes — but on our own terms. We’ve started to take these requests as opportunities; opportunities to educate our clients and evangelize the multifaceted and comprehensive work human-centered designers do.
We’ve come up with five key principles to follow as we show these clients that designers have more to offer than just a pretty facade.
Principle #1: Don’t settle.
Fight for design to have a voice during every part of the process.
Just because popular culture often portrays designers as the people who add aesthetic adornments to things once the ‘thing’ is already figured out, it doesn’t mean your design team has to succumb to that dynamic.
Clients may not know much about design when they first approach you, and it is your job to ask the right questions to evaluate the team’s openness to learning from you. Only take on clients who are willing to have their assumptions challenged, and don’t settle for projects with clients that relegate design to a mere afterthought.
Design is a powerful tool that brings systematic creativity to ambiguous spaces. Design deserves a place in strategy, planning, implementation, and every step in between. Fight for design to have a voice during every part of the process.
Principle #2: Take it slow.
As the working relationship develops, let design methods and mindsets naturally emerge as tools to help solve their problems.
While it’s tempting to fully embrace Principle #1 and go on the offensive to speak loudly and assertively about what design could be and should be in order to demand respect, it’s important not to come off as too aggressive. We won’t get the change to change people’s minds if they’re turned off by our haughtiness. Respect the character of your clients and recognize it’s likely a lack of exposure, rather than intentional malice, that causes them to misunderstand design.
Instead of trying to explain all that design can offer at the very first client meeting, acknowledge that re-educating people about design is a process. View each touchpoint as a single step on the journey of discovering design’s true value, which will only bear fruit through time and relationship.
The best strategy to engage a client is to start by getting to know them and their problems without trying too hard to evangelize design. As the working relationship develops, let design methods and mindsets naturally emerge as tools to help solve their problems. This just-in-time learning will strengthen their trust in you while helping them naturally see the ways design is relevant and useful to them.
Principle #3: Share your process.
Take any opportunity you can to make the design process more transparent.
Non-designers often think that a well-designed product or service is something that effortlessly sprouts out of the minds of gifted creative people. And while it’s true that creatives are indeed brilliant, this limited characterization of a designer makes it easy for clients to dismiss the strategic value that design mindsets and methodologies can add to every part of product design.
Sadly, this narrow conception is largely our fault. If the only touchpoints clients have with our design team are the initial consultation and the final deliverable with only a few drafts for review along the way, it’s no wonder they don’t realize that design has a huge cadre of processes and methods.
To counter this limited view and broaden your clients’ definition of what design can offer, take any opportunity you can to make the design process more transparent. Bring your clients to brainstorming meetings, get their input on rough sketches, share ideas in a way that makes them comfortable enough to contribute; invite them into the process in any way you can. Show your work as much as you can to begin to dispel their false notions of what they think design is and isn’t.
Principle #4: Speak their language.
Communicate your design decisions in a way your clients will relate to.
Design is messy. Creating something from nothing involves feeling your way through ambiguity, often making decisions when an outcome is not guaranteed and needing to change direction as more of the space is explored.
Through training and experience, designers have developed faith that each tentative step will bring the team closer to the glory of the final product. However, non-designers often don’t see the fits and starts in the same exciting way. While sharing your process as outlined in Principle #3, it’s important to communicate your design decisions in a way your clients will relate to. When you justify a design decision using the metrics your client cares about, you help them see the value in the recommendation and they’re more likely to get on board.
For example, if the client is driven by revenue, tie your recommendations back the company’s bottom line. If the client is driven by referrals, make the case for how the new direction will make people more inclined to promote the product. Or if they care about the numbers of people using the product, show why the pivot will provide greater access to it. Using these metrics well often means learning the language of business, and there are great resources out there (like UIE’s UX Strategy Playbook or the d.MBA) to help designers bring business acumen into their design process.
Principle #5: Think long-term.
What we really aim to do is change the culture, one partnership at a time.
When our design team partners with clients, we focus beyond the single project. Of course we strive to make quality products, but that is not all we hope to achieve. What we really aim to do is change the culture, one partnership at a time.
After all, a single project can bring a wave of victory, but thinking long-term to change a culture turns the tides to bring forth an entire sea of opportunity. Regard each client team as an ally, working with you to help your organization see that design can do more.
For most people, working in ambiguous problem areas in close collaboration with human-centered designers is not a familiar space to occupy. There’s a lot of organizational baggage to fight, and there will be many bumps along the road. But with tenacity, cleverness, and a good attitude, it’s possible to usher forth change. It is not quick, and it is not easy. But it is worth it.
