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The customer is always right (1)

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I read an article recently which contained some advice from retro design superstar David Carson (how very 90's of me) that said something along the lines of when sending over or presenting concept artwork for client review don't include the design you weren't sure of because that's the one that will be chosen. I think we can all relate to this and as you consign that beautiful, cutting edge concept you were 100% sure was going to be used to the studio dustbin, safe in the knowledge that you probably won't be winning that award now after all, you can't help but let off a little desperate sigh and wonder where you can swap your client for someone with limitless budget and a total empathy with your creative vision.

You are a highly trained, highly skilled, highly experienced powerhouse of creativity, what do these chumps know anyway - I've seen things these people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tanhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.

Whilst this reaction is understandable my advice (to me and to you) is to ignore this feeling immediately and stop being such a precious little prick. The thing is that often a mistaken priority is the want to appeal to other creatives first and those studios wistfully muse about having their work re-tweeted on Twitter, Liked on Facebook, featured in the creative press and hung in a prestigious gallery somewhere rather than printed on an A5 leaflet going out with the Herald and Post this week selling discount radiators to the elderly. I think this is possibly born out of the fact a great percentage of working designers are actually repressed artists who have been backed into the industrial application of their skills via the need to eat and have rooves over their heads. These designers are left with the core notion it's okay to tear your ear off to satiate the frustration at someone else 'not getting it' and secretly wish they could draw cubist horses frolicking in the snow with similar financial stability to being a commercial designer. Or that could just be me actually.

The client of course sees things differently to the designer but that's not really a problem - it's an opportunity. Despite how it seems sometimes clients ARE concerned with how things look as well as squeezing in yet another offer, otherwise they would have stuck to using Microsoft paint, a photocopy shop down the market and a suite of 32k GIFs downloaded from Google. They went to the effort and expense of employing a professional to help assert their brand and sell their products or services and ultimately it's them that is being represented and they should feel comfortable with that to ensure a decent outcome. The client choosing to support some of your work at all has to been seen as a success, right? Surely it would have been worse if the feedback was actually something like 'we hate all of your concepts, you are rubbish and we are going to make sure you never work in this here town again, you get me blud'.

The next time a client decides to brutally ditch my beloved concept in favour of another I'm going to thank them for their feedback, brim with pride that once again we have produced good quality practical concept artwork that is going to be used and look for ways to develop the chosen direction in a way that makes us both happy. After all, the process doesn't end at the concept phase and any studio worth their salt won't sell out creative control completely for an easy life.

I suggest you do the same. Or stamp your feet, whatever.
Last modified on Thursday, 04 August 2011 12:10
David Smith

David Smith

Andy and I make up 49th Floor Design and Artworking. yeah, yeah this is great, but more importantly; I own the Mysterious Cities of Gold and Quincy DVD box sets.

Website: www.facebook.com/49thfloor

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