Chapter 8
Managing Expectations
How to Manage Client Expectations
Great design takes great designer and client collaboration. As we’ve seen in the preceding pages, there are many facets to the design process that must be managed. This book has focused on concept development:
How design works to solve problems
How design has been used to tackle society’s goals while serving client businesses
How research informs design; how strategic thinking is developed
Why taking calculated risks makes design more effective
How aesthetics plays a huge part in the success of a design
How all of this must be contained in a creative brief That is a lot to accomplish, and yet, every design project requires these things be done. All of these activities must be managed by the designer and the client, working together in partnership to achieve great results.
Client Interactions Mean Expectations
One of the most critical aspects of creating a great design is managing the client expectations. What is an expectation in the context of graphic design? Essentially, it is the belief that something will happen or be achieved. It’s that simple, and that complex. Why? Because sometimes a client’s true expectation is never fully expressed until it goes unmet. Then and only then, does the designer get the full insight into their client’s true desires. However, meeting all of these client expectations, spoken or not, is an essential component of customer satisfaction. That means addressing what client’s expect and how they interact with the designer throughout the concept development process. A universal and very reasonable client expectation is that the designer will fulfill on the assignment as outlined in the creative brief to the best of their ability, and complete the work on time and on budget.
Clients need to clearly understand what is occurring at each stage of the design process. They need to know when they are expected to contribute information, content, feedback, or even design fees. Clients also need to be prepared to review designs and must be made to understand what design can and cannot do. It doesn’t serve the designer, but most importantly, the client themselves, if the client harbors unreasonable expectations. For example, a new website will not save a client’s badly run or unstable business. It can help present the client as seemingly stable and well run, but it is up to the client to actually accomplish that.
Client Satisfaction
There are a lot of details and variables in the early phases of the design process. Complete client satisfaction should always be the goal, after all, a happy client is a repeat customer, so it pays to keep them happy. Here are some things a designer must do to help insure just that:
• Understand their client’s communication style and speak to them in a way they prefer.
• Clarify the design process including what a client needs to do and when they need to do it.
• Encourage client feedback at appropriate times in the development process, and respond to it—either by doing what they suggest, or not doing it, but convincing the client that that is okay.
• Corral the client into a specific number of revisions at specific, logical points in the process. Avoid unnecessary and costly scope creep, i.e., expansion of the assignment beyond what has been contracted.
• Avoid unnecessary confrontations. Essentially, pick your battles with a client, but know when to graciously admit defeat and move on without holding a grudge.
Here are some things a designer should avoid:
• Working without an agreement on the nature of the project, the timeline, and the exact scope of work. All of these things should be included in the designer–client contract.
• Misusing a creative brief—either not developing one in the first place, or not referring to it if one has been created.
• Poor communication with the client. Put detailed process information, requests or revisions, and client feedback in writing. Also, don’t agree to do something in a verbal discussion, and then neglect to inform the design team about that conversation.
• Annoying the client by not acknowledging their requests, whatever they are. Better to be upfront and let them know that you cannot or will not fulfill their requests.
• Drama of any sort, which is usually based on personality clashes or anger due to unmet needs. Keep things professional.
• Selling out. This can take several forms, like a designer caving into a client’s request even though they know it doesn’t ultimately serve their client’s goals. Another classic is going against a designer’s own convictions and doing work they don’t like for people they can’t stand. Better to just get a new client and project. Just walk away in as timely and professional a manner as possible.
Meeting client expectations is a dance—a well choreographed set of intricate maneuvers. Designers can get quite good at it. One of the best things they can do is to listen, listen, listen to the client and respond immediately. Nip problems in the bud, and stop things from going from bad to worse.
What about unexpressed expectations? The only thing a designer can do is try to ferret them out. The best way is to spend time with their client. Talk about the client’s business and their project extensively. Go through all the steps and activities outlined in the book and participate in them wholeheartedly, and get the client to do the same.
ABOVE
Managing client expectations to create 100 percent satisfaction means a designer must determine the expressed and unexpressed beliefs, needs, and desires that the client has for the design. Only when these are fulfilled is the client happy and the design process can be considered a successful collaboration.
Project Profile in Managing Expectations
Saraswat Bank designed by Umbrella Design / Mumbai, India
Saraswat Bank
Mumbai-based Umbrella Design was engaged to rebrand and reposition India’s oldest and largest cooperative (privately held) bank. The goal was to transition the ninety-two-year-old Saraswat Bank to meet the needs and expectations not only of the bank’s current stakeholders but also attract new, often younger, banking customers. Umbrella Design had to carefully lead their ultraconservative client through a thorough explanation of the branding process, so they created a
PowerPoint presentation. “We decided that our presentation would have to educate the audience about design and the advantages of good design, how design can keep a brand relevant and command a premium,” explains Deven Sansare, creative director of Umbrella Design. “Then we went on to define the bank’s problem, identify the opportunity, how we arrived at the brand emotion, and finally, present the design options. We had 40 minutes and 300 slides.”
BELOW
Unlike most banks in the world, this bank was not created to make money, but to offer “help” to its own community members, the Indian ethnic group, the Saraswats. This guiding principle needed to be leveraged and also expanded upon.
Umbrella Design wanted to reaffirm that the bank’s original personality could be maintained as it evolved. The designers identified a central brand emotion—“a sense of belonging.” All the stakeholders shared this belief.
BELOW
There was equity in the bank’s ninety-year-old logo. Umbrella Design did a variety of identity explorations, some an adaptation, others using a fresh approach. A hexagon, chosen for its symbolic reference to infinite connectivity became a central containing shape for the logo.
BELOW
The new logo was mocked up in a variety of real-world applications, from stationery to bank environments, in order to place the identity in contexts that the bank’s stakeholders could understand and visualize. The design was very well received.
4 Best Practices for Successfully Managing Client Expectations
Project Profile in Managing Expectations:
CNN Grill designed by Collins: / New York, New York USA
CNN Grill
Collins: is an innovative, brand building agency lead by chairman and chief creative officer, Brian Collins. The New York–based agency specializes in communications, experiences, products, digital interactions and environments that transform the relationships between organizations, brands, and people. All of this expertise is spotlighted in their work for CNN Grill created as part of the 2008 American presidential election process. Within a matter of a few weeks, a fortress-like building located across from the Democratic National Convention Hall was created to became a public forum for political discussion. Collins: along with CNN and Civic Entertainment Group worked together to make a unique gathering space. Long hours spent working or attending the political convention made the CNN Grill common ground for journalists, delegates, political operatives, celebrities, and ordinary citizens to relax after long sessions.
BELOW
The assignment was to translate CNN’s brand platform into a meaningful, direct experience at the CNN Grill. In a democracy, politics are inclusive to everyone, so visitors were asked: “What does politics mean to you?” This sense of participation was enhanced further by a video wall that featured images of visitors taken as they entered the space. Google lists over a million links to reports that were filed from the CNN Grill, most by ordinary citizens, using CNN’s iReport tools at free computer stations. Anyone at the grill could tell the nation what was going on, and they did. Eloquent and profound, the voices of ordinary Americans become the touchstones for the CNN Grill design.
T-shirts were popular with visitors (right). “Nothing fancy” is the design aesthetic. Even the custom-brewed ale looks down-home, (far right). Like the weathered signage outside, the Collins: team designed the label and the taps to feel like they had always been there (below).
CNN Grill
“Nothing fancy” was the design aesthetic chosen for the CNN Grill. Even the custom-brewed ale looked down-home. Like the weathered signage outside, the Collins: team designed the label and the taps to feel like they’d always been there. “We wanted the CNN Grill to look like it had been there a while,” says Brian Collins. “The bottom detail shows how the team achieved the weathered look of Denver’s old ‘ghost’ signs. The goal was to make the building familiar and surprising at the same time.”
BELOW
The wisdom of citizens transforms the old warehouse building. Each line of type is an individual declaration. Instead of a fortress, the building becomes an icon of democratic thought. “CNN = Politics” was more than a slogan; it became a fact at the CNN Grill.
Communication and Design Management
Clients expect designers to be creative. That’s a given. However, what some designers fail to recognize is that client’s also want their designers to be confident and manage their projects well. The confidence comes through when a designer makes good creative choices and presents them well—they explain what it means, why the design is appropriate, and why it will work to meet the client’s stated objective. This confidence also shows up in the way the designer speaks about the work and handles client questions. There is an air of sureness and leadership that allows the client to trust the designer’s professional opinion. Client doubts about a design, or a designer’s ability and expertise for that matter, can undermine any project. So by all means, be confident about the work you present to a client.
Clients don’t typically ask a designer questions like
• What are your management skills like?
• How well do you organize and execute your work?
• What will it be like to collaborate together to get this project off the ground and in front of the audience?
If clients understood how much design management, not just creativity, was essential to successful design, they would probably spend a lot more time reviewing a designer’s qualifications and abilities in this area as well.
Recognizing Design Management
Most clients look at a designer’s portfolio, and if they see a project that is similar in nature and scope, especially for a big name client, they assume that the designer has the chops to handle a project of this nature well. However, a portfolio review never tells the design management story. Not really. A lot of assumptions get made. It would be in both the designer’s and the client’s best interest to discuss process and management style at length, relating the discussion to the projects in the portfolio, not just talking about the appearance of the work. It would also be a good idea for a design firm that is considering hiring a new designer, especially at a senior level, to have this type of discussion before any hiring decisions are made. Getting inside and understanding how a designer works and manages the process is so important.
What Good Communication Means
A huge part of design management is communication. Not just an easy and professional rapport, good communication in the design process also means
• Setting up jobs properly via a contract
• Providing progress reports and meeting notes
• Informing and/or persuading in a series of email exchanges throughout the project
• Developing a creative brief and design criteria documents
• Proper billing
It’s a good idea to get things in writing that can serve as a kind of insurance policy in the event of a design project or client relationship turning sour. A collection of documents that proves that the client did indeed request certain things or agree to other things can be evidence of client knowledge, participation, and approval of the design process.