Comments on: Finding the courage to step back http://www.everythingisdesign.com/2007/07/10/finding-the-courage-to-step-back/ Chicago, user experience, interaction design, information architecture, information design, usability, graphic design, product design, strategy. Mostly. Sat, 26 Mar 2011 13:10:02 -0400 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.4 By: Gino http://www.everythingisdesign.com/2007/07/10/finding-the-courage-to-step-back/comment-page-1/#comment-5076 Gino Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:49:04 +0000 http://www.everythingisdesign.com/2007/07/10/finding-the-courage-to-step-back/#comment-5076 Yes. It's "we are never working in advertising, evar." Yes. It’s “we are never working in advertising, evar.”

]]> By: matsu. http://www.everythingisdesign.com/2007/07/10/finding-the-courage-to-step-back/comment-page-1/#comment-5075 matsu. Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:45:48 +0000 http://www.everythingisdesign.com/2007/07/10/finding-the-courage-to-step-back/#comment-5075 i once had to enlighten an art director to the fact that just because our client liked the color green did not mean it belonged in their application's palette. they chose us, i reminded him, to add value. not to say don't listen and consider, but when push comes to shove, if they really understood- if they were really so confident- they coulda done it themselves. like it or not, we are not paid to be fall guys. let the salesmen do the selling, accountants the counting, designers the designing. it comes down to a matter of trust. i actually witnessed the loss of a client, a major auto manufacturer, do to yesmen. make it this color- yessuh. we want to use this typeface- yessuh. use this picture- yessuh. no joke, at the end of it all, the client said, "what the hell is this crap?!" yesman said, "it's what you told us to do." client said, "if i knew how to do it, i wouldn't have hired you!" due to a lack of cojones and trust in his own, educated judgment, this art director lost all future work from this client for the studio, which eventually closed. moral of the story: said art director went on to become creative director at one of the largest national ad agencies. wait a minute, is there a lesson here? i once had to enlighten an art director to the fact that just because our client liked the color green did not mean it belonged in their application’s palette. they chose us, i reminded him, to add value. not to say don’t listen and consider, but when push comes to shove, if they really understood- if they were really so confident- they coulda done it themselves. like it or not, we are not paid to be fall guys. let the salesmen do the selling, accountants the counting, designers the designing. it comes down to a matter of trust.

i actually witnessed the loss of a client, a major auto manufacturer, do to yesmen. make it this color- yessuh. we want to use this typeface- yessuh. use this picture- yessuh. no joke, at the end of it all, the client said, “what the hell is this crap?!” yesman said, “it’s what you told us to do.” client said, “if i knew how to do it, i wouldn’t have hired you!” due to a lack of cojones and trust in his own, educated judgment, this art director lost all future work from this client for the studio, which eventually closed.

moral of the story: said art director went on to become creative director at one of the largest national ad agencies. wait a minute, is there a lesson here?

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