The Designer Client Relationship

An insightful and informed article from Design Observer addresses the ever-contested topic of designer's personal authorship versus client interference in a design. They utilized this common client request: 

"Can you make the type bigger?"

The author discusses the many issues that are brought up by a client demanding changes to what is most likely a design that has been very carefully crafted with issues of size, color, composition, and spacing already thoroughly tweaked. The main arguments are of design authorship, the functional side of a design, and the utter subjectivity of seeing a design from a non-designer point of view. As designers, we will all eventually be confronted with this quandary; when designing for a client, should the final product be solely our autonomous vision or should it simply be an implementation of exactly what the client envisions?

From the designer's point of view:

After all, aren't we the ones who have gone through years of design and typographical training? Who have spent hours perfecting the single pixels of space between letters, hovered over squares of colored gouache until the wavelengths of the colors achieved the perfect vibrations? Aren't we the ones who are informed with years of art and design semiotics and history, who can reference Walter Benjamin, and Lev Manovich, and other noted theorists when conceptualizing a piece of design?

When we present a piece to a client, they can't possibly see what we see, or notice the minute details of a design that are drastically altered when the type is changed to Times New Roman and 5 points larger. After all, that is what we were hired to do: create the most successful design that communicates the information desired by the client. If the client could grasp every detail of a successful design, they wouldn't need to hire us at all.

From the client's view:

On the contrary, isn't customer always right? Designers are designing for a client, not for themselves, and in the end, as Kaman's "The Message is the Medium" will assert, the client's message must be put forth over the medium itself. Perhaps as designers, we need to be aware of what the client wants to emphasize and who the design's audience will be. Working in the commercial field puts us in the realm of work in which we should be materializing a client's vision in order to get paid.

The author of the original article invokes an intense discussion that ultimately delves down to questioning the actual definition of design. What separates it from fine art? Do the constraints, such as those from clients, or the addition of message, make that distinction? What about authorship itself as a term within design criticism?

The design process is a dialogue:

However, I think that all nitpicking about semiotics and definitions aside, the crucial idea is that the design process is a dialogue. It is essential that design is usually intended to communicate a client's message and design is not a self-referential autonomy in itself like modernist art. It is easy for a designer to get caught up in the aesthetic, but for the sake of functionality, if the type is illegible, the piece is not a success. On the other hand, it is also indispensable that a designer is hired for their expertise and their skill and understanding of the visual. Unless the client has the same training himself (and if they did, why would they even bother to hire a designer?) there is no way they can fully understand or be aware of the minute details that come together to make a design successful. A client must understand that when he asks for a change in type size, the entire design can be skewed and the intricate network of elements can become unwound, resulting in an unbalanced piece.

It is important for the designer to understand the problems of their design and then remedy accordingly. If the client wants larger type, the type must be difficult to read; if they want the logo bigger, it must not stand out enough. Ultimately, this balance of dialogue, and more importantly, the communication between the designer and client are vital to the process of creating a successful design and a successful communication of a message.

This brings up the interesting question of what to do when you find a difficult client that attempts to dictate your work. A designer is not just a craftsman and should not abandon a project and create a piece of crap that is exactly what the client dictates. There must be a way to communicate effectively to a client the reasons why something is unsuccessful in a design sense and find creative ways to remedy the problems the client sees. 

Have you ever had a difficult experience with a client or a designer? How did you remedy the situation? Comment below!