Saw this great video below on a Facebook post by my friend, Jason Parmer, owner of design firm, Apparel Studios.
If this video wasn’t so spot on, it’d be funnier. Unfortunately, since I’ve lived on the client side of the fence more than the agency side, I’ve been part of meetings just like these. The group think that comes from everyone trying to cover their own a$$ and make it look like the winning idea was their own kills simple effective marketing.
It will never cease to amaze me that organizations bring in the “expert” outside marketing firm only to second guess and outright direct the final product. If they were capable of producing the deliverable on their own, why go outside in the first place? You don’t tell an architect how to design a stable, functional and attractive structure; you don’t tell the oncologist how to treat cancer; you don’t tell the attorney how to best win your case. Yet everyone thinks they are a designer; everyone thinks they are a world class copy writer.
Now, I cannot put all the blame on the client. A large percentage of the design profession suffers from self esteem issues and cannot seem to stand up for what’s right. They quickly forget that their ability to solve problems is valuable. Too many designers cut their own throat just to get an assignment only to cuss the client all the way through the process–while crossing their fingers for a referral. They’ve never taken the time to understand what makes business work and therefore have a hard time truly communicating with their own client. They complain that “good design is not magic;” then fail to ask enough–or the right–questions to get the answers required to create an exact solution.
Clients respect marketing firms that can prove their point. And designers need enough balls to stand up to the client and say, “This is wrong for these reasons…,”and be willing to walk away if the client won’t listen. Let another schmuck handle it. Go out, proactively market yourself and find clients that value what you bring to the table.
Enough ranting. On with the show… “What if there were no Stop Signs and a Major Corporation was tasked with inventing one.”
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