The Ideal Client: Looking back on the first week of interviews

The first week of our exploration into the whys and wherefores of creative-client relationships with Represent Recruitment has proved what we suspected all along; everyone has a different way of doing things!

Kicking off the week, freelancer Patrick Fry struck a humble note when discussing how designers see clients. “I seem to hear a lot of negativity from other designers about their clients; there’s a common belief that clients are idiots, and designers know what really works. But when you are creating for an audience, every opinion matters. Sometimes it’s our job just to listen.” Patrick also emphasised the importance of being able to have fun as part of the creative process, a timely reminder in an era when budgets are low and pressure is high.

Following Patrick was Lucienne Roberts who weaved in some real-life anecdotes to explain how best this relationship can work. She warned of the dangers of “design by committee” – “a misguided attempt to reach consensus that nearly always leads to mediocrity” and she had a poetic bit of maternal advice for both parties involved. “My mother used to quote this line from Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven, the poem by WB Yeats”, she told us. “ ‘Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.’ The clients who understand this are those that I hold most dear.”

On Wednesday and Thursday we got two sides of a controversial client-related coin – the question of account managers. Matt Judge, principal of Eight Inc was clear about the benefits of this set-up. "It is their job to know the brief, and be a constant and consistent point of contact for the client throughout the process. The reassurance that you are being heard is something we can all relate to. Through this connection they become the “client in the room,”offering valuable insight and an objective opinion to the creative team. 

“In exchange, this position also offers valuable support and protection to designers in the form of a buffer, helping to decipher often cryptic feedback and distinguish between reasonable and unreasonable demands. Without this role neither client nor designer gets the service they need.”

But art director Anna Lomax wasn’t so sure. “There is nothing worse than a middle man who keeps you away from talking through ideas with the client, and insists on badly relaying second hand info to and from designer and client.”

She cited the trust placed in her by Clarks Originals which she found creatively invigorating. “They were so up for everything I suggested and excited as I started to produce things for the project. They accommodated every request, even when underneath they were probably thinking I was crazy. They must have been a little nervous about what I might produce!”

Similarly Studio Thomson held up this kind of mutual respect as a key feature of a successful relationship. “It can be established very quickly in a relationship if the client already has an admiration of your work, and if the designer likes and understands the brand. Ideally the client would have approached you because they like your work and feel that it will be beneficial for their company, and from a designer’s perspective it’s important to invest time in fully understanding the client and their needs.”

Join us again next week for five more insights into this all-important relationship!