Better Business Skills Will Earn You Creative Freedom

I struggled for years to get creative freedom in my design projects. Now, clients almost never ask for design changes.

One fundamental change to the way I communicate with non-designers completely transformed my career.

In the business world, almost no one wants to put thought into design.

Throughout my career, every single one of my clients has been focused on the potential results of a design project. In retail, the golden-egg result is increased conversions. In services, increased credibility. In medicine, perceived quality of care.

I’ve only ever been hired by a designer to do design work one time. We collaborated and created this beautiful pamphlet that we both loved. After submitting it to the director who commissioned the project, it got scrapped. The initial draft was design-focused, instead of being results-oriented.

“I found that if I earn my clients’ trust before I begin my work, they almost never ask for design changes.”

About nine months ago, I began to experiment with a shift in the way I communicate with clients before beginning work on a project. I found that if I earn my clients’ trust before I begin my work, they rarely ask for design changes. I have no doubt that my regular clients and past employers trusted me throughout the last several years, but the relationships were missing a key ingredient. I was focused on the design. Not the results.

Thought in Action — How a picture of a turkey proves my point.

During my time as a designer at a marketing firm near Dallas, Texas, I worked almost exclusively with non-designers. One particular project, a social media post for a children’s painting class, caused me more headache than any other piece I’ve ever worked on.

Mistake 1: My boss posted a simple task on Trello; put together a quick design for a social media post and an e-blast advertising a children’s painting class. Our client was bringing in a well-known local artist for a family activity during which children would paint a “hand turkey” for their moms on Thanksgiving. It couldn’t have been simpler. Design a fun, fall-themed post that catches the eye and conveys the message. I jumped on it, made the design, and had the account manager schedule the post and e-blast. Not a worry in the world.

Mistake 2: …Not a worry in the world. Until that evening, when my boss was reviewing completed work and signing off on scheduled sends. He called me to chat about the design and to get my thoughts about the direction I had taken. I was frustrated because he called during personal time, but I stopped, gave him my pitch, and told him why it would work. I knew him and the client well, so I didn’t stop to ask what they expected from our upcoming mini-campaign.

My boss heard me out, then pitched an idea from another perspective and asked my opinion. He and the client wanted to post an example of the painting that the children would make along with the artist’s logo. I suggested that another turkey during Thanksgiving in a Facebook timeline full of turkeys might draw no attention whatsoever.

Finally, after half an hour of giving my “brilliant” advice, I stopped blabbing for long enough for my boss to tell me that the artist’s logo was very well recognized among the target demographic and that the artist herself had an engaged audience to whom she’d be re-posting. Further, he and the client knew exactly how they wanted the ad to look, as they’d succeeded with a similar campaign that I hadn’t been a part of in the past.

Ok… But I’m still right, right? Wrong.

Mistake 3: If I remember correctly, I respectfully said I’d re-design the posts and have them ready for their scheduled sends. I hope I said that because I was FURIOUS.

How could my boss assign a project to me with no supporting details when the brand recognition and target demographic were not the usual for this client? How could he let me waste my time in the office creating a new design when they already had a successful template? Why was he now wasting my time in the evening when I’d rather be enjoying dinner with my phone off?

Yes, I must seek justice for myself. This is an outrage! How dare they choose to put a turkey on their Facebook during Thanksgiving week?

(Aside: If you’re the boss in question and you’re reading this, hang on for like one more paragraph. I’m about to give you all the cred.)

So, what actually happened? My boss tossed this project up on Trello right after a phone-call with the client. I was wrapping up a big project that day, and we were scheduled to follow up the next morning and review tasks. He planned to add supporting details later that day and to have me start the project on the following day.

Right… This is embarrassing.

Ok, so that one is totallyon me. Let’s recap my mistakes:

1) I started work on a campaign without checking with ANYONE what the expected results/direction for the campaign are.

2) I talked about all my brilliant ideas and why they’re better than someone else’s.

3) I chose to be the victim when my assumptions fell apart.

Had I simply said “Hey boss. I just wrapped this project up, and I want to jump on this event promo you just posted. Got any pointers/input for the campaign?” I would have saved myself hours of frustration.