Many people find designers to be strange. Clients don’t understand how designers work, and believe that they will never understand. While designers DO think about things a bit differently, it is possible to communicate in a way that brings results everyone can be happy with.

Trust

Trust is fundamental to any relationship. However, many people just don’t trust their designers. A good designer should always make the client part of the process, but a great designer should go a step further, and put a client’s business goals before any design decisions.

Ask yourself: Do you trust your designer? Why did you pick this particular designer? Is it because they do “pretty” work? Or is because they show an understanding of business goals balanced with design?

Full Disclosure

Unfortunately, designers are not Jedi masters. They cannot read minds (as much as they’d like to). Any information relevant to the project should be shared, even if it’s just to show what hasn’t worked. Designers need to see the bigger picture to produce the best design possible for you.

Ask yourself: Have you sent your designer any and all information relevant to the project?

Keep Asking Questions

Designers should not be scary at all. In fact, most designers love their work, and want to create something that the client is happy with. Designers want you to be part of the process. So feel free to ask them: What if … ? Why did you … ? How does this work?

Ask yourself: Are you afraid to ask your designer questions?

Present Problems, Not Solutions

Clients try to be helpful by suggesting specific solutions for design issues. Designers often get feedback like “Change all the boxes to pink,” instead of feedback like “The design feels like it has too much blue. What can we do to break that up?” See the difference? Instead of leveraging all the experience and talent that the designer has, the client is trying to do the designer’s job. This goes back to trusting the designer to know what they are doing.

Ask yourself: Are you leveraging the designer’s experience to your advantage?

Wrap Up

With these few simple tips, it is possible to have the communication needed to achieve a design that works for everyone. (Though if your designer doesn’t respond to these techniques, you might want to find another one. And if you are in the market to replace your designer, have you considered eMagine for your next B2B website?)