Mirificam Press

Everyone's a Design Critic: How to Handle a Client Critique

March 17th, 2008 in Business & Process

by: Matthew Griffin

On Sunday at SXSWi, Jason Santa Maria and Rob Weychert double-teamed an issue that's been an ongoing struggle in my own experience. It's the issue of clients who inexplicably become design experts when it's time for you to present your design. The presentation was well thought out, well presented, and very helpful. I'll start with their practical advise for presenting a design for client critique. Then I'd like to present their list of the top five client requests as a comical ending to an otherwise serious topic. It will make you laugh, it will make your cry. It's truly moving.

Preparing for a Critique

In preparing for a design presentation, you should always start by reviewing the history of the project. Sometimes in the confusion of juggling work we forget the specifics, and that's not something you want to realize in the middle of a meeting. Go over your information architecture, why you chose the color palette, what factors affected your choice of typography. Once you've adequately realigned your mind to the task at hand, form a brief description of the design your are presenting. It should be short, concise and accessible—avoid design jargon. "You should introduce your designs like you would introduce a friend at a party," was Jason Santa Maria's comment. When you call to set up the meeting, make sure to set a time limit. Long meetings tend to digress into blood baths. Keeping it short will help everyone stay focused. Before you actually leave for your meeting, make sure you specify roles for each member of your team to avoid confusion. Also, don't take a bunch of people. Just take the ones that really need to be there.

During the Critique

Start the design presentation off with a quick recap of the research and planning you've done that has led to the development of your design. This sets you up as the expert and minimizes the client's urge to second guess you. Unveil the design and give your description. When the time comes to discuss the design with the people in the meeting, focus on problems, not solutions. When you immediately suggest solutions to the issues your clients raise, you may inadvertently set them up for disappointment. Things that sound good in theory may actually be impractical in reality. Write down everything they say and tell them you will address their problems in the next iteration. Stay positive about all of their comments and don't get combative. Remember, it's nothing personal. Always look for common ground that can be built upon.

After the Critique

In order to be effective after the critique, it's important that you document everything that was said during the critique. Take detailed notes and follow up on all of the client comments in your second iteration of the design. The rest is just wash, rinse, and repeat.

I'll leave you with the top five client requests.

1. My unqualified friend has different ideas
2. Purple is my favorite color. Why don't you use that?
3. We need more stuff above the fold.
4. There's so much empty space. Can't you fill it?
5. Can't you make the logo bigger?

Like I said, touching. I'd like to thank Jason Santa Maria and Rob Weychert for sharing their experience and knowledge at SXSWi 2008.

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