Web designers and agencies of all sizes almost universally promote themselves as agreeable team players in a collaborative partnership. But what happens when you throw that practice out the window and adopt a process that isn’t a collaborative creation, a model where you don’t give the client choices, and a project management style where you constantly say No to the customer? Sabrina Dent argues that the clients are just as happy, the end users are better off, and the design and build takes less time with fewer tears.
Sabrina Dent Freelance
Viva la revolución!
- eliminate choices
don’t give the choisce to have this column on the left, or on the right… - like Yoda be
- just say NO
– ‘I love it but… can we change the size of the column?’
– No
– ‘Can we change this orange…’
-No
Basically the client is just asking, and he understands ‘No’ as an answer.
Explain why is ‘No’ your answer.
The stats:
90% of clients are happy with teh firts draft: they trust you, and let more of the stuff done.
5% clients reject the first draft or request substantial changes
5% clients reject the first version, the 2nd versions, and 2million versions after that.
The reasons of these stats are more the clients than the designers. Lots of clients sucks! And will reject always your work.
Ther’s always a but..
- you need a lot of miles on your clock
- you’ll need to make a lot of sites with a lot of clients, to make great decisions to know what to deliver: you must be tall enough to ride this ride. Need to trust the ‘No’s’.
- you better not suck. If you deliver a design, you better love it.
The result…
What happens when you do it well: the client is happy, they have a better vision of the website than they did.