Good Clients = Good Design!

Posted on May 7, 2007 | Permalink

By Lane Casteix

This assumes you also have good designers.... But the designer can't do it alone. Romance takes two.

The best and usually most effective designs are products of a good marriage between the agency and the client. Each has a role to play in the romance. You can have really great designers on the agency side, but if the client side is populated with people who lack creativity, daring, and a clear understanding of their limitations, then you usually get bad design. There is way too much bad design out there.

Designers spend four years (or more) earning a degree in their trade and even more years developing their training and skills. The client pays them well. Get your money's worth out of them - let them design!

Good designers can deliver daring and motivating designs, but unless the client shares that daring spirit and is willing to trust the designer's training and instincts, the designs become only average and not terribly effective.

There is an old computer saying, "Garbage in - garbage out!"

That means, like computers, what you get out of a designer is often only worth what you put in. Feed them little and you should not expect much. You must give them the right information, so they can effectively do their jobs. But when you do, watch out!

Each partner in this romance we call "good design" has a part to play. When each plays his/her own part and plays it well, the results are beautiful to behold.