You’ve put in the long hours day and night for the last week and it’s time to finally present your concepts to the client. Your concepts are solid and you feel it’s exactly what the client and, more importantly, the audience needs. Don’t let a bad presentation take your beautiful work and turn it into a mediocre mess.
Even the best designers in the world need to know a couple of things about presenting their work and managing a client/designer relationship.
1. Present with confidence
The biggest rookie mistake designers make is that they don’t present their work with confidence. Everyone gets nervous, but meetings are not the place to be shy. When I first started designing in college, I used to have shaky hands and my voice would crack like I was going through puberty, but I finally learned one thing to help me get by.
Confidence comes from knowing you put the work in. You put in the long hours and went through all the research and client briefs to provide the best solution to the client’s problem. Why shouldn’t you feel on top of your game at this point? Just believe in your work.
2. Defend Your Concepts
This kind of goes hand-in-hand with the previous tip, but don’t be afraid to push back on the client if they are making the wrong decision. Be ready to explain every single pixel committed to the screen and why it’s important. Without that your work will have no legs to stand on.
If you’re having trouble vocalizing why you’re doing what you’re doing, just remember design is about solving the client’s problems. Whether that’s a communication (graphic design) or a behavioral (interactive design) problem, start from there and you’ll find that your rationale will be much more convincing.
3. Listen to Criticism
Always make sure to listen to the client’s comments and any user feedback. No matter how un-intelligible it may be at times, they might have insight on something that you never thought of (especially if it’s in a market you have no experience in).
Also, be careful and don’t take all criticism at face value. You have to really listen and find the heart of the issue because most of the time your clients will not be able to vocalize the exact problem. If the criticism is especially cryptic, just dig deeper and you’ll eventually come to the root of the problem.
Don’t take “I just don’t like it…” as a response. Ask more questions.
4. Don’t be a “Yes Man”
I’ve put in a lot of hours at various advertising agencies in the past couple of years and the worst thing that happens in client meetings is watching people become “yes men”. Bad account executives are notorious for doing whatever it takes to make the client happy, even if it’s at the expense of the project’s quality. It’s sickening to watch.
You have the benefit of not having a middleman when being a freelancer or running your own shop. So take advantage of it and make sure your ultimate goal is to produce the best product possible, not stroke the ego of the client. Put the egos away if you want something to be done right.
5. Find the stakeholders/decision makers
There’s nothing worse than presenting your work to someone and realizing that they have no sway or power. You jump through all the hoops and realize you have yet another set of people who have to approve of the design and direction. So, find the people who make the decisions and present to them alone. You’ll save everyone’s time and money that way.
Summing it up
Overall, remember that each client relationship you have is a balancing act between addressing needs, problem solving, and your knowledge of the impact of good design. Be confident in fighting for what you believe will produce the best work. In the long run your client will be pleased and, more importantly, it will keep you from throwing your computer and yourself out your office window.
Suggested reading
Presenting Design by Luke Wroblewski, One Idea is Better than Three by Garret Dimon and The Design View Show #1 by Andy Rutledge.
Oh number 4 is oh, so true.
It’s the bane of my life.
Why doesn’t it matter to them that we are churning out crud instead of something that could be as amazing as it was when the project started?
That’s the depressing part sometimes. Seeing something with so much potential slowly die.
I believe there lies a fine balance between presenting the right solutions and satisfying client whims. When it comes to negotiating purely aesthetic aspects of design work, client input is mostly subjective, and there’s not much to discuss. If you have a good match, great! However, if it’s the functionality that’s in question, believing in and defending your point of view should definitely be the way to go. That was the reason the client hired you in the first place, wasn’t it ?
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Great article Dennis. Number 4 is an item I need to work on…but its so hard finding the balance between #3 & #4. But its often the delicate balance of all these points which allow for great work, while maintaining the faith and happiness of the client.
As a business person behind a number of web site development projects I love these blogs, it’s great to see what issues designers and developers have with their customers and I’m sure I’m not the only reader who employs freelance designers and developers.
It would be great if someone could write about “How to select and work with a designer”. What does the designer look for from the client and what are the expectations.
I would also be keen to hear what designers feel is a fair selection process. From my perspective I don’t want to go with a designer unless I feel they have some good ideas for my site, but I don’t want to stuff them around by getting someone to do a lot of work then saying, ‘no, sorry, I just don’t like any of your ideas’.
I think a lot of it is “do you both share the same vision for the project?” I should have added that to this article but step one in ensuring a great working relationship is choosing who to work with wisely.
That usually requires talking with the client at least a couple of times in depth about future plans, thoughts on how to approach certain problems, workflow, etc. If it all seems to be coming up Millhouse then it usually is a good fit.
As far as what a designer is looking for goes, designers are looking for three things: price, respect and great work.
Price is pretty self-explanatory.
Respect means allowing the designer to do his/her job and not micro managing the process. A certain amount of respect and trust needs to be built in order for the designer to feel effective and worthwhile. Its slightly an ego thing but its important to the process. They say as a designer you’re not selling ideas, work or solutions. You’re selling trust. Trust me to do my job and I’ll show you why you chose me in the first place.
The final aspect is that the designer needs to know that this will be a shining star in their portfolio. That all the hard work will really pay off and help them in the future. Its giving the designer a sense of efficacy.
As far as spec work goes, I personally am against it. It cheapens our profession and is unfair in many cases. Its pretty prevalent in the advertising world and I still don’t know why it has become a standard.
A fair solution would be to pay designers at least a reduced rate for their time. That way the designer gets some compensation if they really want or believe in the project and the client still gets a selection for little money spent.
[…] Vitamin Features » Tips for presenting your work Presenting your work to a client is tricky. Don’t push back and it can be watered down into something you no longer believe in. Push back too hard and the client might bail. […]
So in other words confidence in yourself, your work and your skills
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I strongly believe #1(Present with confidence) is key, and the rest are dependent on it. Believe in your work, love it, show your enthusiasm, show your passion and it will rub off to the client.
I think the confidence you have in number #1 starts when you first meet with the client before the job begins. I feel it is important to let the client know up front that you can and will deliver what they need. If you don’t have an answer, the client needs to know you will find it.
Of course, if you find you don’t have any answers for the client… perhaps a colleague or someone in a different field would be more appropriate to meet their needs. :)
#4 is a fine line. Sometimes it can the difference between eating and not eating. I have a few clients whose work I would not want to be on my home page, whereas other clients and projects I want to show the world. I think the biggest help in this area is not showing a client something unless you are prepared for them to choose it! (Not my advice… passed on to me after a “They really liked that one!!??! experience!)
Thanks for writing this article!
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presenting with confidence comes with experience. it is hard to give a good presentation when you are new in the business but experience will make a lot easier. force yourself to jump into the cold water, it will pay off.
don’t be a yes man. i can just agree. and also be a true person. i have seen so many sales persons being fake just because they try to please the customer with any means. if you are slippery as an eel the customer will notice and he might start to play with you…
In order to achieve anything in life, it is important that you know your self worth. So maintain an awareness of all that you do for the world. Take a minute each day to remind yourself - or write down - what you’ve accomplished at work, in your love life, in social settings, at your office, with your finances, and so on. Realize what you are capable of doing and you will feel stronger and have more self-confidence.