But I Wanted it Blue…
Saturday, July 26th, 2008
Posted by James Wilson
* This blog post is part of Invoke’s participation in the 2008 Vancouver Blogathon for Charity
Walking a tightrope between design and desire. A designer’s thoughts.
I was talking to a friend of mine the other day who has somehow survived six years freelancing as a graphic designer. “A client of mine insisted that I let her design the look and feel of the site before she gave feedback” was a comment he breezily made at one point – as if the irony of the statement hadn’t occurred to him yet.
Yes, it’s both an interesting and exciting moment; handing designs over to someone and waiting for them to view, judge and critique it, but it’s also a little like having Regis fly out of your closet as your alarm clock goes off – it would scare the hell out of you if you weren’t adequately prepared. See, what in your head may be functional, stylish or just plain cool may be totally be a Spiderman III moment for them. If it is, it’s redesign-or-tweakin’ time.
The worst type of feedback is the kind that morphs the design into a blob of ineffective mish-mash. It’s the feedback that usually runs along the lines of: “Ok… but could we make it more ‘wow!’?” or “I’d love to see a little more: ‘oooh!’ there…”. Basically, it’s like telling a baker to make the bread more ‘risey’, or like saying you like a sunset because it’s, y’know – whatever.
Useful feedback incorporates an understanding of things, what do I want changed and why? Is it because I like another colour more or because another colour would convey this emotion better? Is it because I had a crappy game of poker last night and I want to berate someone over the internet? … OK that’s only happened twice, but it’s actually after the feedback when things get interesting.
OK, so Sally Sacramento wants this colour changed. Can I make this work or is it going to end up looking like a pair of Crocs? (I don’t care how comfortable they are, that designer needs to be beaten over the head with a shovel…) If you misread the brief and screwed up, it’s a good time to correct the problem, but if it’s a matter of nitpicking it comes down to judgment. See taking feedback literally can be dangerous, taking it with a grain of salt can be tasty – but stupid.
So how should you deal with a troubling response? Well, sometimes people need to see that something won’t work. If you get a request for a logo to be blown up 300%, go ahead, do it, but present one with it at 50% too so things are in perspective. Want that body text in bold, italic size 47 Helvetica? OK well sometimes telling people it just won’t work is an option too…
In the end, it comes down more to personal taste and judgement than formula and rule. Use that eye and try to get your client enthused about the design you’ve laboured over. If that doesn’t work, well you can always take it out of your folio… or try that Regis trick…
