Hello folks. First let me apologize for the space between posts, we have realized that writing everyday can lead to some pretty boring and non-informative posts. We want to provide to you great content and interesting stories.
Are you designing for your clients or for yourself?
Recently I have had the pleasure of designing a web page for a client. The design is very different than anything I am used to. It is a very professional, straightforward serious website and it needs to communicate that. My first draft I liked a lot, it was creative, colorful and was in my usual style. I sort of knew that it wouldn’t be right for the client but I though “once they see it this will be what they want”. WOW. I was so wrong. I basically received an email back telling me everything that was wrong with it and that they were very disappointed with my work. I felt terrible. So i started thinking about my process and I realized that I was not designing for the client at all. I was designing something that I liked to look at and that I was designing for myself. No wonder they hated it.
I took a look at my notes and compared it to what I had created. I basically took nothing that they said into consideration. They wanted a left nav and I gave them a top nav. They wanted a certain type of picture browsing, I gave them another one. They wanted a wave in certain places, I put it only where I thought it was good. No wonder that they hated it.
So, I went back to the drawing board. I did a complete redesign and I have to admit every single step of the way was a struggle. I must have tried 1000 different design options in each space. But I found out that I don’t settle for a design that I am not happy with and I kept trudging along until I nailed it. I sent it to the client and she sent back “You nailed it!” I can’t tell you how good that actually felt to go from them being disappointed to them really loving it. I also learned that I can still design for someone else while still keeping my own style, that’s why they chose us in the first place because they liked what we brought to the table.
If you ever find yourself in this position just take a step back and make sure that you are giving the client what they want, not what you think they want, there is a very big distinction there.
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