Imagine what would happen if clients told software developers how to do their job.
“No, put that line of code up there, and delete this one. Run the whatsis before the thingy.”

Nope. Not gonna work.

When we hire people for their technical expertise, we trust them to do their jobs. We tell them what we want to accomplish, but we leave how to accomplish it to them.

The same should be true for people you hire for their creative expertise. You’ll get the best results if you tell writers and designers what you want done and then trust us to know how to do it

I’ll spare you the rants about clients who have rewritten my carefully crafted copy. You don’t want to see a grown woman cry, and I don’t want to short out my keyboard.

Instead, I’ll focus on graphic designers. Because most products are a marriage of content and design, content developers like me work hand-in-glove with graphic designers, ideally from the outset of the project

The best way to work with designers begins with a design brief. This document outlines what you want: the goals of the piece, its purpose and target audience, the image or “feel” it should convey, when and how the message is to be delivered, and so on.

When clients don’t offer a design brief, designers talk with them about what would have been in the brief, hoping to come away with enough direction to get started. Then they give it their best shot and come back with a draft or a set of concepts

Then it really gets fun.

If clients don’t like the way their custom software works, they tell the developer what they expected the system to do that it doesn’t do.

If clients don’t like the way the brochure looks, they tell the designer exactly how to fix it:

• Replace that red with a different color.
• Use all of the program photos we gave you.
• The mission statement has to go on the front page.
• Make the logo bigger.

The result of this kind of feedback is a camel.

More helpful feedback would focus on the purpose and audiences of the piece:

• We want to reassure parents. Maybe we could choose some calmer colors.
• We want the brochure to capture the diversity of our programs and participants.
• We think people don’t really know who we are and what we stand for. How can we convey our core values?

You’ll get the most bang for your design buck if you tell the designer what you want to accomplish and let him or her figure out how.

If you need help in articulating your needs or finding the right designer to meet them, drop me a line.

Daniella is one of my trusted designers. Check out vanGennepDesign.com.