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One of the most difficult parts of being a designer is the realization that when it comes to creating a visual product, everyone feels that they want to share their opinions and want to make their own versions of the product and then end up saying “I think I liked it more before …”
It's like when you create a super simple design, with a direct message to the point, without having to overload it. And when it reaches the customer's hands, they want to add this and that, resulting with it looking like a desperate cry of attention and of course making it end up looking somewhat frightening.
Certainly there is no way to make everyone happy and much less to make our design perfect on the first try, so the first thing to do is to take a deep breath and maintain the best attitude. It’s important to always expect the request for changes to your design, it’s almost 100% guaranteed that this will happen.
Often we want to defend our designs with a sword and shield because we feel that there is no better way to do it than we already have. Well, although we are the experts, it never hurts to hear an opinion from someone else in order to potentially be presented with a perspective we may not have thought of.
Let me make this very clear, I do NOT mean that you should go and make all the changes that are suggested, because clearly it would end up being chaos. It’s important to realize we are designing for mere mortals – people who are not familiar with the concepts and the idea that the message is supposed to be clear to all. For this reason, simplicity will always be the key to keeping the customer happy and with a well-designed design.
Something that is also very common and that to me seems the saddest difficulty of our profession is that we are considered a flexible discipline. When it comes to paying for our projects, many clients have 20 thousand priorities that come before paying for our work. If you are a freelance artist, this can create huge financial strain, and although there is no science that teaches us the best way to charge for what we do, there are always contracts…use them.
Another problem that we encounter frequently is when it comes to reviewing the final product, for some reason, your time becomes theirs and everything is needed urgently. Relax. For this dilemma, the most logical and convenient solution is to set a clear work schedule and a limited amount of changes to avoid spending hours with 20 versions of the same project.
And the last and most important point: have fun. All projects take time, each one is a challenge and we need to figure out how to solve any problem in the most convenient and effective way. By respecting what the client needs, but at the same time always enjoying every part of the process, in the end it's your profession and there is nothing more fun than “making pictures”.