Designing in hostile territory

In an attempt to try get clients and designers to understand that despite the fact that they operate completely differently (some would say indifferent solar systems), as in left brain vs right brain people and speak different ‘languages’, it is still possible to collaborate and communicate, says Martin, whose presentation focused on these differences.

The design challenge

This was his advice for designers:

1. Take ‘design-unfriendliness’ as a design challenge…
   If you are talking about “moron” clients you “just can’t work with”, it’s as much of a design challenge like the rest of the design challenges. If you see it this way, then designers will be much better off and enjoy the task more, Martin believes.

2. Empathise with the design-unfriendly elements…
   Clients are thinking about payroll, other business challenges. So, understand where the client comes from, their business constraints, advises Martin. If designers empathised with the design unfriendly elements, they would get further.

3. Speak the language of reliability…
   “Break the rules… tearing up the plans… be dangerous… be different... ambiguity…” Stop using these scary words with your clients, says Martin. Clients are business people who need a certain level of reliability to keep an organisation going. Designers and clients speak different languages! It creates miscommunication and the client may think you are being problematic, instead of creative and wonderful, he says.

4. Use analogies and stories…
   “I sealed my own fate by not recognising when clients need a reason to believe in your ideas,” Martin says explaining why he once lost a client. If one can reassure clients with stories and analogies and examples of why your off-the-chart ideas might work and not seem to the client as dangerous or radical, then you will be the winner. Use analogies and stories with the purpose of helping clients understand.

5. Bite off as little a piece as possible to generate proof…
   It’s hard for designers who tend to say “it’s all or nothing”, to bite off a chunk when you want the whole picture. But the client might be afraid of the whole picture.

Leveraging design in business

His advice to the client was similar. Understand and emphathise with your designers or design consultants, they are trying to do the best for you:

1. Take inattention to reliability as a management challenge…
   Just as I don’t see business people, business people don’t see designers, warns Martin. Design is as legitimate as any other management challenge, he advises.

2. Empathise with the reliability-unfriendly elements…
   Designers are trying to do the best for your company, recognise that and show appreciation for their ideas and the creative input that went into them.

3. Speak the language of validity…
   Start to recognise that the words you use destroy validity for designers. Understand what they need from you in turn.

4. Share data and reasoning, not conclusions…
   Don’t get on the list of clients that have to be cut off.

5. Bite off as big a piece as possible to give innovation a chance…
   The best designers and business people are those who understand each other.