When entering a new client relationship, there is a good amount of back and forth determining budget, timeline, deliverables, and process. I enjoy working to establish the parameters that the team will be working within. I can be a fairly flexible partner in this process. BUT. I’ve come to recognize the need for certain things. Things I will not budge on if I’m to expect a positive outcome when the project gets wrapped. These are crucial to continued success. To delivering the quality of work you say you will do by the time you say you will do it within the costs laid out in the beginning the way you said you were going to do it.
When it just has to get out the door
It isn’t perfect. It’s not your best work. You did what you could but alas, here you are. The deadline has arrived and the work just needs to be done. It’s time to pull together whatever magic you may have left in you and release. It isn’t that interesting, profound, or earth-shattering. And you know what? It probably doesn’t need to be. What it does need to be is finished. Swallow your pride and just make it happen. You are a creative professional after all, it comes with the job.
Weekends are for writing
Work hard during the week so you can write on the weekends. That’s been a steady goal for me since the beginning of the year. Though, the year has been pretty packed with client work that often good chunks of weekend time get gobbled up by important work to-dos. (To-dos that allow the following work week to get started on a very important right foot.) Frequent writing has become such an important part of my design practice. Usually I measure a good weekend if some solid posts/thoughts/articles were put together. Sure, it’s technically work related, but it compliments design so well. They work in tandem, as one uses up thinking power, switching to the other then replenishes the well, and vice versa.
I drive truck, break arms, and arm wrestle. It’s what I like to do, it’s what I do best.
Bull Hurley quote of the day. Quote of my life. Loved that quality film from the late 80s Over the Top. Fun fact: I was actually in a surf/punk band in college called the Bull Hurleys that practiced a set of surfy songs about trucking and partying. We played no shows.
Anyway, this particular quote from Mr. Hurley really stuck with me. Our household watched that movie literally hundreds of times as I was growing up (my father drives truck for real). I feel like that quote has played an integral part in helping me understand brevity and cadence. As you hear this 3-point cadence, it speaks to your core and you just know everything this big dude is all about. You know that 3-thing introduction now so common on Twitter, LinkedIn, and at TED conferences? I say it has origins here with this large bald-headed man.
Long-form bio? Na, just give me your 3-things. Tell me a paragraph of what you’re up to? Na, just give me your 3-things. If they’re interesting, then I’ll watch your movie.
Mind the overcorrect
Something didn’t turn out quite right and now you need to course correct? Make sure what you’re planning to do next is smart, thoughtful, and weighs the appropriate risks and rewards. Don’t just jump to one extreme because another proved to not be a good path forward.
Things I wish I wouldn’t have said
These statements, in general, aren’t always things I wish I wouldn’t have said, but they can certainly be reoccurring:
- Yes, we can come down on the budget.
- Sure, I can work with your dev team.
- No, we’re not too busy for your project.
- Of course, I can get this back to you by the end of the week.
Mainly what I think is at work here is my sense of optimism. Perhaps it’s over-confidence. Maybe too much excitement. The idea of what’s possible can be so intoxicating that there are times I fail to see the downside. Sometimes that’s not a huge deal. Other times, it’s the reason the train comes off the rails.
I often assume ideal outcomes, smooth sailing, and the best in people. It’s not that there are evil forces at work when these things don’t prove to be true, it’s just that working on creative projects is tough business. Making things happens isn’t easy. Solving problems and working through challenges with teams of different types of people shouldn’t be assumed to come with no bumps in the road.
So why do I often assume a bump-free road? Because when you’ve been lucky enough to have some really synergistic experiences on projects (I hate the word synergy, but there it is), that’s all you really want moving forward.
I want projects to be done before the deadline, to come in right on budget, and for everything to sail along with plenty of hugs and high fives at every point along the way. I know, I know, such a fantasy. But where would the world be without dreamers, hey?
Design Packages Starting at $99.99
That’s a joke. The $99.99 thing. But in all seriousness, we’ve had a few conversations at R&R&R about standardizing our responses to new work inquiries, especially with startups. We’ve worked with many startups and we love their passion, intensity, and new ideas. We’re following our dreams of do-gooder design and we love working with people who are following theirs.
As startups need to make a certain amount of money to exist, designers need to get paid what they’re worth to continue to design. So the nickel and diming that can come with startup design conversations does get tiresome. If startup money is tight, it’s equally true that designer time is tight. So we’re up for meeting inquiries halfway.
In the startup world, one of its driving existential forces is to try to streamline processes. To make things that save time and cut out unnecessary steps. All of this we love. To build on this idea, in order to save our time and provide startups with cost-effective options, we’re thinking of putting together standardized startup responses to design work requests. Especially with branding and websites.
When we do proposals, they take time. They are thorough, nuanced, and really try to get to the heart of specific client problems. They aren’t just pulled off the shelf. At least, not yet. We think they might be able to be. While we do love projects heavy on strategy and prefer to be involved at all points along the way, whether with a brand or the web, we also know this isn’t always needed or can be afforded. How about just a down and dirty logo? Or a basic, single-page website? We think we know what these look like enough to be able to say we can do them at a lower cost which is great for startups, and in many cases, it’s all they need at a particular point in their journey.
The flip side of this: the process is a template. The startup only gets what the template has to offer. Say that’s 3 options with 3 rounds of feedback and the deliverables are x, y, and z. Always and without negotiation. The website has this number of blocks and these calls-to-action, always and without negotiation. Done and done.
The cost may be more in line with what’s doable on the startup side. And on the designer side, we cut out a lot of strategy, planning, and revision (read: TIME) to just do the making. For some designers, this may sound blasphemous. Others it may be obvious. But we think in some cases this may be a perfect solution. It could allow us to be more affordable to some startups strapped for cash. They could get some expert, professional branding and we get to do more work with the dreamers and the doers out there. Perhaps a win-win.
Or perhaps a colossal waste of time. (And the startup does have to have some money, so we’re clear.) Just a little thing we’ve been mulling over which doesn’t include thoughts around equity or the benefits of being the design partner for a startup, which does seem to be a rarer type of inquiry. Anyway, back to work.
