Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process
description
Transcript of Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process
![Page 1: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Getting to Approved: 8 Rules for Getting Clients Through a Design ProcessMeshUMay 20, 2008Toronto, Canada
![Page 2: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
![Page 3: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
![Page 4: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
In 1505 Pope Julius called on Michaelangelo for a project he had... the Pope just wanted a small job of painting the ceiling of the Sistine chapel. The Pope scoped the job at roughly 12 Apostles
![Page 5: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
Michaelangelo, convinced the Pope that he had under scoped the job and that what was needed was a much more expansive project that involved representing the key doctrines of the Church.
![Page 6: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
And so between 1508 and 1512, Michelangelo painted over 300 figures resulting in the first recorded case of over delivery by a creative to a client
![Page 7: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
The Vatican was so happy with Michaelangeloʼs first project Pope Clement VII awarded him a second... this project was to paint the last judgement on the far wall of the chapel
![Page 8: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
and so between 1534-1541 Michaelangelo paints this... The last Judgement. But this project is a total disaster. He gets hassled by a junior executive trying to make a name for himself, a Cardinal Carafa and working with the popeʼs Master of Ceremonies, Biagio da Cesena (che-ze-na)
The Cardinal and the Master of Ceremonies felt that the nudity was off brand for the Vatican... "it was mostly disgraceful that in so sacred a place there should have been depicted all those nude figures, exposing themselves so shamefully," and that it was no work for a papal chapel but rather "for the public baths and taverns,"
![Page 9: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
Michaelangelo is so drained by the creative battle he paints Cesena into the painting portraying him as Minos king of the underworld. Starting a proud tradition of easter eggs in creative works...
![Page 10: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
and paints himself as an empty shell of a man. Iʼm sure many of can relate to feeling like this after many client interactions.
![Page 11: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
I tell you this story only to illustrate that the design process and its challenges when working with a client is as old as time. I guarantee that when one of our ancestors painted the first cave paintings. Someone told him to make the mammoth bigger.
![Page 12: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Today
Today Iʼd like to propose 8 rules for getting a client through a creative process. I chose 8 because when Mike McDermott asked me to come up with a topic I randomly suggested 8. But also because if I ever want this presentation to be on Digg I need to make it a list of some sort.
![Page 13: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
Rule + Technique
I am going to explain the theory or the rule and then illustrate this with some practical examples where possible. In each of these rules there are many techniques that could be employed. I only have time for one or two examples in each. While these rules can be applied to any design process, I am going to use techniques for digital design
![Page 14: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
1Pick your client wisely
![Page 15: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
This is a display in Cooperstown at the Baseball Hall of Fame. It shows Ted Williamsʼ batting average in in every part of the strike zone. Whenever I am evaluating a client I mentally try and put them somewhere in a version of this for us. So for example if we get a pitch for a highly technical build where on time on budget are the most important things to the client and quality is secondary. For us that is a low and inside pitch. We do not want to swing at it. We want pitches where we swing .400.
Typically this is done with a new business evaluation sheet. But often those sheets look only at the revenue opportunity. What you want to do is look at it as, can I hit a home run with this client. Then is this client willing to pay for a home run hitter?
![Page 16: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
2Tell stories
![Page 17: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
Techniques‣ Tell a creation story
‣ Build on your points logically
‣ Ask questions and answer them
![Page 18: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
Learn from listening
These are the people I think tell great stories. Listen to how they get you to an “a-ha moment” then rewind and try to understand how they built their story to get you there.
![Page 19: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
Learn from listening
Clay Shirky
Malcolm Gladwell
Seth Godin
Tim O’Reilly
Lawrence Lessing
These are the people I think tell great stories. Listen to how they get you to an “a-ha moment” then rewind and try to understand how they built their story to get you there.
![Page 20: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
Do not tell a story from top left!
![Page 21: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
3Design is subjective
![Page 22: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
Design is subjective
Client’s trust in decisions
Experience
I want everyone to embrace this statement. I want you to say it to clients. Clients hire you for your subjective opinion, your design vision, your aesthetic. Be proud of that. You need to be able to justify your design decisions but ultimately that is what they are, decisions. Something Iʼve noticed though is that...
![Page 23: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/23.jpg)
#3 Design is subjective
Client’s trust in decisions
Experience
Rely on tools
Rely on reputation
Early in your career you will need to rely on things external to you to validate decisionsLater in your career clients are buying your collective experience and you can rely on your reputation
![Page 24: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/24.jpg)
TechniqueConcept 1 Concept 2
2nd level Home Page 2nd level
![Page 25: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/25.jpg)
TechniqueConcept 1 Concept 2
![Page 26: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/26.jpg)
4Does your client know what they are buying?
![Page 27: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/27.jpg)
Be Rewarded
Emotional/Visceral
"I feel rewarded, I want to
be rewarded again"
Cognitive
"I understand how I was
rewarded and how I can be
rewarded again"
Attribution
"I was rewarded
by__"
Event/engagement
What actually
happened
AchievementCurriculum
Reflective
Others will perceive that
I was rewarded
Get
startedInvestment
Outcome
(ROI)
Satisfying?
Communication Transparency
Perception
What I believe happened
Translation
(e.g. redeem)
Perform
action (e.g.
collect)
Set GoalsRevise
Goals Control
Exceptional?Sense of
flow?
Well-
informed/
engaged?
Sense of
momentum?
Be
Rewarded
(2ndary)
Get
introducedReset
Formal
Recognition Comprehension
Simple? Concrete? Constructive? Epectations Observation Interaction Analysis
Personal
prestige
Community
tiesStory
Credebility
The increasingly complex the project the harder it is for clients to know what they are buying.
![Page 28: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/28.jpg)
Be Rewarded
Emotional/Visceral
"I feel rewarded, I want to
be rewarded again"
Cognitive
"I understand how I was
rewarded and how I can be
rewarded again"
Attribution
"I was rewarded
by__"
Event/engagement
What actually
happened
AchievementCurriculum
Reflective
Others will perceive that
I was rewarded
Get
startedInvestment
Outcome
(ROI)
Satisfying?
Communication Transparency
Perception
What I believe happened
Translation
(e.g. redeem)
Perform
action (e.g.
collect)
Set GoalsRevise
Goals Control
Exceptional?Sense of
flow?
Well-
informed/
engaged?
Sense of
momentum?
Be
Rewarded
(2ndary)
Get
introducedReset
Formal
Recognition Comprehension
Simple? Concrete? Constructive? Epectations Observation Interaction Analysis
Personal
prestige
Community
tiesStory
Credebility
The increasingly complex the project the harder it is for clients to know what they are buying.
![Page 29: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/29.jpg)
5Set a ‘north star’
Projects need a North Star. Something to guide them as you get in the details.
People will often use Creative BriefsI donʼt like creative briefs
![Page 30: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/30.jpg)
Technique‣ Create higher level statements of purpose or
themes
‣ Make the statement active
![Page 31: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/31.jpg)
Crafting a UIP‣ You can buy stuff at Amazon.com
‣ You can track packages at FedEx.com
‣ You can connect with friends at Facebook
‣ You can at .com
![Page 32: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/32.jpg)
6Designs don’t fail catastrophically
Projects donʼt fall apart catastrophicallyThey tend to happen in small corrections that unto themselves are seemingly innocent but collectively damagingThe details are the experience
![Page 33: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/33.jpg)
A good experience is rich, something worth exploring, telling others about, and experiencing again. It's overdetermined - or holistic - or integrated. And being integrated makes it (often) hard to explain, since one can't truly reduce an integrated whole to a simple cause.
- Mark Hurst
![Page 34: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/34.jpg)
Technique‣ Know how to recognize over rationalizations
and internally driven arguments
‣ Changes that smooth over political issues rather than solve user needs
‣ Push back gracefully
‣ Show the impact of decisions
![Page 35: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/35.jpg)
7It’s theatre
![Page 36: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/36.jpg)
When done right, incredibly powerful
![Page 37: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/37.jpg)
When done wrong...
![Page 38: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/38.jpg)
Technique‣ Use lighting‣ Lower the lights when presenting creative on screen
‣ Where are people sitting
‣ Have visuals‣ Printed boards
‣ People need to know their roles
‣ Rehearse!!!!!!!
![Page 39: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/39.jpg)
8Don’t listen to what the client says
![Page 40: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/40.jpg)
Donʼt listen to what the client says‣ Listen to what they mean
‣ Where is the feedback coming from?
‣ What is the intent of the feedback?
People will often be very prescriptive in giving feedback because it is difficult for us to have enough awareness of the underlying reasons
![Page 41: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/41.jpg)
Can you make that red?
![Page 42: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/42.jpg)
Recap
1. Pick your client wisely2. Tell Stories 3. Design is subjective4. Does your client know what they are buying?5. Set a North Star6. Designs don’t fail catastrophically7. It’s theatre8. Don’t listen to what the client says
![Page 43: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/43.jpg)
One more thing
![Page 44: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/44.jpg)
When I started
When I was first hired as creative director I knew I was in way over my head and so I in order to try and bluff my way through my first year in business I bought every book on creative management I could find. Many of the things I talked about today are in these books, in one way or another. But ultimately, getting through a design process is not about 8 rules... its not anything you can really learn in a book or on a blog. It doesnʼt abstract down to a check list. It comes through experience. Knowing how to read body language, being able to listen to objections and understand what is really being said. Getting a touch for the practice. That just comes from doing. It comes from failing miserably. But every day we get a mit more experience and add to that collective subconscious that gives us intuition.
![Page 45: Getting to Approved: 8 rules for Getting Clients Through a Design Process](https://reader033.fdocuments.in/reader033/viewer/2022060111/55632e3fd8b42ad7398b526f/html5/thumbnails/45.jpg)
Thank You