Design Communication

The single biggest improvement is to flip that around and just show the final result.

I understand why designers present their process. They’ve done a lot of hard work, solved difficult design issues, tried out different approaches, failed, and thrown away ideas. It has been hard—it took ages to come up with something that they now know is good and

Successful design projects need equal participation from the client and the designer. Yet the design process remains a mystery to the people who buy it. Design isn’t sausage. You’ll enjoy it even more if you understand how it’s made.

Look, you can get a website for $500. You can also get a website for $70 million. The former is gonna have less stuff on it than the latter. (Neither will necessarily trump the other. I’ve seen kickass $500 websites. I’ve also seen million-dollar budgets go down in flames.) Knowing how much money you’ve committed to a project helps a designer tailo

If a designer shows you work in progress, it’s a great sign. It means they’ve moved beyond a fear that all you’ll see is the broken stuff to a willingness to collaborate with you. Look at it in the spirit of collaboration. Ask questions about what they’re showing. Talk about where they’re headed with it. Feel free to ask if there’s any feedback the

To get design’s full value, you need to hire a professional. You need a designer. Would you trust any other valuable part of your business to someone who wasn’t qualified to do it? Would you let your cousin’s best friend do your accounting because they had a calculator? Or let your neighbor reprogram your fuel injection system because they have thr

Once you’ve hired a designer you need to trust them to do their job. This is harder than it sounds.

When you ask your designer to do something and they ask why, they’re doing their job. The ensuing conversation is invaluable in helping them solve the problem correctly. The two of you can probably come up with a better solution than either of you could have done individually.

A good client knows the difference between personal opinion and goal-driven, informed evaluation.

I realize this may be hard for you to hear, but I honestly don’t care whether you like what I do. (Don’t throw the book across the room yet. Stick with me.) Obviously, if you like something, my job is easier. But what I can’t do under any circumstances

The designer’s process is what made your designer successful enough that you decided to hire them. If that process worked for previous clients, it’s highly likely it’ll work for you too.