The great Michael Bierut spoke at CreativeMornings last week drawing one of its biggest crowds to date since Tina Roth Eisenberg a.k.a swissmiss started the series. After reading this review from Design is People, I had to post his pointers on a successful client and designer relationship.
1. Clients are the difference between design and art.2. Clients can be the best part of the process.
3. “My clients are the same as yours.” (He’s dealing with the same issues, great discoveries, and a-holes we all deal with, but, as described later, he learns to avoid the “bad clients.”)
4. The right client can change anything.
5. The best clients love design, or don’t give a damn about it. The worst kinds are the ones in between.
6. Never talk about “educating the client.” It’s not the client’s job to know about typefaces and colors; it’s yours.
7. A great client = (A) Brains (Work with people smarter than you.” -Tibor Kalman) (B) Passion (a personal passion) (C) Trust (Mutual understanding. Non-trust = focus groups) (D) Courage (Not necessarily the kind to storm a castle, but enough oomph to push something through, ask questions, be honest and practical.)
8. “Your great client may not be my great client.” (Everyone works in different ways and has different working relationships. Even the partners within Pentagram do this.)
9. Great clients lead to more great clients. Bad clients lead to more bad clients. (Simple as the work you show and the people you invite in.)10. Bad clients take up more of your time than they should. (Do what you can to minimize this.)
11. Likewise, don’t take a good client for granted.
12. What you owe a great client = (A) Loyalty (B) Honesty (Even to the point of questioning the relevancy of the project.) (C) Dedication (D) Tenacity
13. Once you find a great client, never let them go. (Though this is not monogamous.)
14. If you can find 5 great clients, you’re set for life. His are: Fern Mallis, Rosalie Genevro, Robert A.M. Stern, Terron Shaefer, Laura Shore, Chee Perlman, Judith Friedman, David Thurm, John Tague, and Christy Maclear. He’s lucky enough to have ten+.
15.You probably won’t be able to turn a bad client into a good client, but you may be able to use him to your advantage.
16. Be in a position to walk away from a client/project, even it it means you’ll receive “angry girlfriend letters.”
