Design is a job

Design is a job

Business guide for designers

Design is a job - Business guide for designers

1.What makes a great designer?

Design is the intentional solution to a problem within a set of constraints. A designer is someone who can do that. A problem solver. Someone who knows how to listen to the people who have that problem, work with them to solve it, and make sure the solution has the intended outcome.

Great designer need to be good at detecting the weakness in all things. But mostly, the secret to being good at anything is to approach it like a curious idiot, rather than a know-it-all genius.

Design is a job - Business guide for designers

1.What makes a great designer?

Design was once largely about making products more attractive.

Today, it’s a way of thinking: a creative process that spans entire organizations, driven by the desire to better understand and meet consumer needs. We’re designing stuff that has a real impact on people’s lives and relationships.

Design is a job - Business guide for designers

2.Design is a business.

Whenever we’re designing for clients, or internally within our organisations, we’ll do better if we understand how our outputs influence the business case of our area. We need to understand what that result is, even if it means we challenge it for all the right reasons.

But design lives within a business case, whether we like it or not. So better find out how we evolve or change that business case.

Design is a job - Business guide for designers

2.Design is a business.

Design is obsessed with doing the right thing for the user of whatever we’re designing. And that’s as it should be. That level of empathy is critical. That level of empathy helps us put ourselves in the shoes of our colleagues and our users who are critical to the success of whatever we design.

Design is a job - Business guide for designers

2.Design is a business.

Work together with the stakeholders. It will reduce the probability of failure, because you make each decision together. Your client knows his area well, that’s why it is an excellent source of information. He can explain how business works currently. Your task is to determine how it will work in the future.

Design is a job - Business guide for designers

3.Presenting your work...

Never explain what they can obviously see right in front of them.

There is absolutely nothing more boring than a designer listing all the things they can already see. Sell the benefits of the work. Sell how the work matches to the project’s goals. People make decision based on stories. So find your story and tell it.

Design is a job - Business guide for designers

3.Presenting your work...

You are not your work and your work is not you. It is not an extension of you and it is not your personal expression. It is work product done to meet a client’s goals. The client is free to criticize that work and tell you whether he believes it has met those goals or not. You are free to disagree with him. And you are expected to be able to make a rational case for those disagreements.

But you are not allowed to get all butthurt about it. This is a job.

Design is a job - Business guide for designers

3.Presenting your work...

So when the client starts critiquing the work, listen to what they are saying. Don’t feel like you have to defend all of their decisions then and there. You also don’t have to promise them anything then and there.

Sometimes it’s best to sit on it for a while. It’s perfectly fine to say something like “That’s interesting feedback. Let me think about it.”

Design is a job - Business guide for designers

3.Presenting your work...

You should explain that your job is not about creating art objects, but your assignment is to research the business goals, user needs and to study target audience and working solutions. So as a result, you will be able to convince the client that every visual solution is not based on the designer’s personal preferences, but on specific facts.

You don’t need to reacting to questions as change requests: Client: “Why is this green?”

You: “I can change it!”

Just answer the question as asked.

Design is a job - Business guide for designers

3.Presenting your work...

“Do you like it?”

Dear sweet lord in heaven above and all his angels, you just gave away the farm. They are no longer viewing you as an expert. You are no longer their equal in expertise. Even if they don’t realize it, all of these things just happened. The client didn’t hire you to make something they liked, and something they like may not be the thing that leads to their success.