AnonymousDesigns

Creating a quality product is at the forefront of the long list of responsibilities that designers face each time they step into the office. You have to keep pushing yourself to get better and to take your designs to new levels. Every project is a new opportunity to design an award-winning masterpiece and an anchor portfolio piece.

While most projects may start out with this grandiose mindset, the unfortunate thing about graphic design is that it can sometimes become more about polishing crap than creating the nextMona Lisa.

Let me illustrate this with a hypothetical example. Client X needs a logo designed for his landscaping company. You scour your favorite design books for ideas. You click hundreds of landscaping websites trying to get into the mind of the client and his customer. You even go so far as to buy a handful of landscaping magazines to really try to understand the industry. You know in your very core that this is going to be the best logo ever!

Your sketches look great and it is time to make some mock-ups. You parade them proudly around the office and everyone is in awe of your design abilities. You’re starting to think that you just might be the best designer to ever walk the face of the earth.

You send the logos to Client X for review. Of course you know that Logo Option 4 is the obvious choice and that the client will definitely choose that one. You anxiously await the client’s reply—they will certainly recognize and rejoice in your awesomeness. The phone rings; Client X is on the line.

“We showed these around to the team and we weren’t really feeling any of them. One of our guys showed me a font they have on their computer. It’s called Comic Sans. It was really cool; kind of light-hearted, like our business. Can you try that font on some logos in the next round?”

Your heart sinks a little, but your competitive spirit kicks in and you decide that you’ll really show them how good you are in the next round. You make a whole new batch of amazing logos and you throw one in there with Comic Sans as the font in an effort to appease your client. The other designers in the office hail your greatness until they see the Comic Sans logo version, at which point they laugh and point. You try to explain yourself, but their laughter continues. You send the logos to Client X, confident that this time you have hit it out of the park. Client X calls:

“This round was much better. I think we are getting somewhere. We like the direction of Logo Option 8—can you push that one a little harder in the next round?”

You try to remember which one is Logo Option 8. You open the delivery document and scroll to that page and feel completely deflated when you realize they like the Comic Sans logo! Client X continues:

“Also, in our meeting we were thinking you could make the grass icon purple instead of green. My wife loves the color purple and thought that would make the logo stand out more. Oh, and my brother was telling me about this Photoshop filter that can make things look beveled...kind of 3D. We think that would be cool, too.”

This is the defining moment when your responsibility shifts from creating unique and high-concept designs to merely polishing turds. Obviously, in the case of my hypothetical scenario, the client is asking for a turd. Your job is to turn it into the best looking turd it can be and then get that turd out of your production pipeline as quickly as possible. At this point you must check your pride at the door. Don’t spend countless hours trying to convince the client why your logo ideas are better. Simply accept that the design is not going to be the masterpiece you were hoping for and polish it as best you can.

Do what they ask. Polish that crap. Deliver it. And then thank your lucky stars that the project is over and you are free to move on to the next (and hopefully more harmonious with your design sensibilities) project in your queue.

Remember, though. Polishing crap does not mean that you abandon your design principles. If the client wants purple grass in their landscape logo, then use your color theory expertise to choose the absolute best purple color possible. If Comic Sans is their font of choice, then make sure that the kerning and leading are set to total perfection. If the client wants a little bevel and emboss on their logo, then use all the design finesse you can muster to make it just right. Make that crap the best and prettiest crap the world has ever seen, and remember that not every project is meant to be a masterpiece.

Ultimately, in spite of your goal to create the best designs in the world, the reality of the graphic design industry is that oftentimes you must create the best design that your client will allow and work within the parameters they have set—even if that goes against everything you know to be good and aesthetically pleasing.