Commitment List no. 1: Trust us
[The Commitment List is a multi-part series. Read the rest.]
If there were just one thing we’d ask of our clients, this would be it. And this isn’t just designer-ego at play — there’s some very important rationale for this request.
Every design problem has potentially unlimited solutions. (Our sketch sheets for any logo project will prove that there at least 500 pretty good ones). After a few weeks of concepting, we use our skills and professional expertise to cull that list down to a few solid options, which are then cleaned up and presented to client. These (according to our skills and professional expertise) are the best options. They solve the problem artfully and in a way that intelligently differentiates them in the marketplace.
In almost every case, the client believes that we’ve found the best solutions. They may be apprehensive at the novelty of the solutions, but they trust that consistent implementation will yield results. The client trusts us like they would their doctor, their accountant and their plumber.
But, what if the client doesn’t trust us? Why would they believe that the final options are the best? How would they have the courage to move forward with a novel, un-tested solution? Put bluntly, if you don’t trust that your designer has a high level of expertise in crafting the best solutions, why would you pay them?
Without trust in the designer, what are we good for?
Great article, Joe. I really like your point about trusting your designer as much as you would trust your doctor or plumber. As software people, we’ve run into the same problem with some of our clients.
At the end of the day, if a client doesn’t trust your opinions, direction, and judgment, I believe it’s a strong indication that the relationship isn’t going to work very well, if at all.