Clients and the Creative Process

Designers are often weary of the potential frustrations that can arise when faced with a client whose creative ideas don’t match their own. Such examples are listed quite humorously on the website Clients from Hell. Getting clients more involved in the creative process can reap rewards. If they are an active participant in the creative process, they are more likely to be happy with the final results.

Businesses are becoming more aware of the untapped potential of ideas of their end users. This is visible in the development of the application "Napkin Labs", which encourages users to give their feedback about new products. You can read more about it here.

Encouraging clients to be involved at key points of the design processes can eliminate dissonance with the final outcome- a product they have to ultimately live with. If the client has a certain amount of input and guidance leading up to the final design, it is more likely that the end result will be something that both parties can be proud of. But more importantly, it will be a product that functions for the purpose it was intended. The objective of involving clients is get an ideal result - a result which the client is happy with, but, also to flag any concerns before a project reaches breaking point.

Unhappiness often results when a client looks at the design without its application in mind. What may seem right, when looking at a design on a designer’s computer in their air-conditioned offices, for example, may not work when it is applied in the context of use.

Let me take you through an example of a client not regarding a products application:

• The client commissions the designer to create letterheads that are personalised and bespoke.
• The designer makes a lovely stamp of the client's logo and address to reflect a custom approach. The client is ecstatic.
• The client takes the stamp back to The letterheads are back to square one.
• their place of work, only to find that the laborious process of stamping each letter is too time consuming and rather frustrating.

Another great example that illustrates how clients need to consider a products final application and how consumers often have different perceptions of a product in and out of its context is that of New Coke, which is mentioned in Malcolm Gladwell’s book Blink.

New Coke was a reformulation of the original Coca-Cola recipe, created in 1985 to replace its original. But public reaction to New Coke was largely negative and a major marketing failure. Coca Cola then reintroduced the original recipe and rebranded it as Coca-Cola Classic. While New Coke was an isolated blind taste test winner with consumers, it could not sell when they were faced with the everyday consumption of product.

Asking clients’ input during discovery sessions and considering the end-user is vitally important. It is also imperative that clients come face-to-face with the final product before it is implemented to avoid loss of time and capital. If clients are involved, they might even like the end product more - not only because it lives up to their expectations but also because they have added value by contributing to the end result.