Many designers fresh out of college go into the world of web design after getting that Prized new job and they are quickly humbled by the reality of it all. Especially if you go to work for an advertising agency where the atmosphere is heavy and fast. It’s literally “go-go-go” and you’ll rarely have time to breathe, let alone get an actual design time in with all of the meetings you’ll be attending, but know this. You’ll be expected to take in exactly what the client wants to see in their design. Now, you’ll have a million other people poking their noses into your design and telling you what they think should be in it, but remember the client’s needs and wants at the end of the day.
You’ll also need a very thick skin. If you haven’t heard that saying before, get used to it because it’ll come flying at you a hundred times by other designers, project mangers and the like. Remember, it’s your design and your the one who, in the end, needs to make the client happy with what they see. If the first round doesn’t go so well with the client, don’t give up. Clients are typically not technically or design savvy. Their main focus is branding and getting their brand out to the Internet. The best advice I can give, having done design work for years is that the client is always right, even though at times, they seem wrong. They know what they want and they can easily go somewhere else who will give them what they want in a sub-standard piece of junk web site. Or worse, they may even turn to one of those gad-awful “Do it yourself” web site places that are scattered all over the new. So the fact of the matter is that you’ll need to take what the client says and keep it in the back of your mind, but put your creative juices flowing and you’ll do just fine.
If you find yourself in a tangle, there’s no room for politics in web design, so leave that to the big dogs and just do what they tell you. If the client leaves, the bloods not on your hands.
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There’s nothing worse then other people letting you know what they think. But at the end of the day sometimes it makes all the difference. What you say regarding meeting the customers needs and not your co-workers is 100%
I work in Sales and Marketing and I also do Web Design. After designing our company’s website people always have their 2 cents and it drives me nuts LOL
“leave that to the big dogs” – I’m going to start using that will all of my incoming intern designers who think they know what they are talking about.
good article!
and so true…yes you need a thick skin as a designer! Sometimes it drives me crazy what clients ask and want.. especially if they ask “please copy this website, we want it exactly like that one”… what do you do.. give back their money and send them elsewhere…or take the money and bend over..
the reality is unfortunately sometimes you just need the money…and you have to swallow your pride. Just don’t loose faith in your own capabilities..