Who's in the drivers seat?

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Written by Damian   
January 15, 2010
drivers_seat

Sometimes we run into clients who want to sit in the drivers seat when it comes to the actual design of their project. I'm not talking about the direction a client provides during the initial design review or during revisions when a client requests something be changed, but at our suggestion of how. I'm talking about when a client actually tell us where and how something should look.

As if they went to school and studied composition, color and everything else a good designer studies, experiences and practices to become a great designer. Perhaps they don't understand how delicate design really is or how easily a great design can turn into a terrible one with one subtle change. So what do you do as a designer?

In my experience we have a couple options.

  1. Lay down like a dead dog and make the changes.
  2. Try to find a compromise that keeps the design intact and the client happy.
  3. Act like a pompous ego maniac and tell the client to go jump off a bridge.
  4. Fire the client and move on to the next project.
  5. Strategically push back ever so softly as to not offend the client and educate them to the flaws of their request.

We choose #5 and more often than not the client (if they are smart) will listen and accept our professional explanation. If they insist we will try #2 and try to find a compromise that will still yield a good design. If they still insist then we choose #1 and just make the changes per the clients request. I know that sounds like we are just giving up, but sometimes you have a client who just wont budge and its better to keep the client happy than to rescue a design. We aren't about to act pompous or fire the client as that kind of behavior will just hurt you down the road.

My suggestion to all those who read this blog article is this. Leave the blue print reading to the engineers, leave the electrical to the electricians and leave the designing to the designers. Its that simple.