Response to Client Jokes
Posted on July 16, 2010 by: Andrew
Recently, it has become fun to poke fun at clients and I won’t ever understand this one. Links and posts have started flying around the internet describing graphic designers who routinely beat their heads off walls while dealing with their clients. They describe the most ridiculous situations possible. How beautiful design projects are mutilated into some wretched beast from the depths of your grandmothers baking club poster done in MS Word. Complete with clip art and the most illegible excuse for typography.
They go one to talk about how client’s just don’t understand the what it is we do as designers, or how they have no aesthetic sense whatsoever.
My response to this trend would be that whenever a situation/project/relationship breaks down, it ultimately boils down to one thing…communication!
If you fail to communicate effectively with your client, you can not expect them to be on the same playing field as you. If they don’t understand something relevant to your work, then as a designer, and more importantly as the professional they hired to help them in this capacity, you have failed to communicate. It is your responsibility to get everyone up to speed, to explain project details in full, to provide documentation to your client so they understand the process, timelines, cost, etc etc. There should be nothing left to chance. You really have to seal all the cracks and foresee any potential problems.
A client who is unaware of the process will send you images embedded a word doc, rasterized logos, flattened artwork, anything under the sun. This can easily be averted by sending a polite email outlining the process by which you work, and most importantly, why you need certain things. When you do this, I think you will find that most people are easy to deal with. In my experience, people will usually thank you for helping them to understand the process.
Not everyone has experience interfacing with the world of digital artwork. Most people will shy away from what they perceive to be conflict and ignore the situation. Tensions build and build, and eventually you become a raging designer, hell bent of venting your frustrations. The web is the obvious choice for this sort of release.
I propose that if you cut these problems off at the pass and talk to your clients about things you need, why you need them, and explain all of the relevant details, you can avoid these situations 9 times out of 10.
Something to think about anyway! Thanks for reading 
Andrew
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