The Design Matters Live session was great. Kinda like sitting in on a conversation between two friends. Not so much insight into Michael Bierut’s design sensibility but about who he is and what makes him tick. Besides being a Rick Moranis look-alike (in my humble opinion) he’s just as funny. He shared stories of some of his more embarrassing mistakes and his tips on maneuvering through the politics of client relations. His theory in a nutshell is:
Success as a designer = talent + good work + convincing clients that you have talent and do good work
The suggestions he gave for client control stem from the fact that most clients enter into a relationship with a designer with a little bit of fear. Fear that you won’t listen to them. That you’ll come up with some crazy design solution that’s way off and that they’re gonna waste time and money through the whole ordeal. So he compensates for that by being great listener, preferring to err on the side of being too good a listener all so that the client’s made to feel comfortable and (here’s that T word again) TRUST you with their baby (see: company’s image).
The Applying Color session didn’t reveal anything ground-breaking or new so nothing to report there… so it’s off to lunch with my DC friends!
Michael Bierut’s the one to the left…
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