Meet your client where they’re at
“I’m a designer, of course I won’t make the logo bigger” or, “I’m a designer, what do you mean make it pop?”.. I see versions of these everywhere on Tiktok and Instagram.
I get it, it can be frustrating when a client’s expectations interfere with my vision for their brand, or website design. I absolutely love it when a client allows me carte blanche to overhaul their website’s design or logo. There are clients however, that have a powerful attachment to their original brand design, and they don’t want a complete revamp. Maybe there isn’t room in their marketing budget for a total overhaul, but they want to modernize their website. Put simply, a client wants you to meet their business where it’s at. They want to use their current assets, but they want me to make it look and work better. Sure, it’s easy to dig my heels in and insist that the sketch of a logo their buddy made 20 years ago just won’t work on a website made in the 21st century. I can just shrink their logo and drop it in the top left corner and pretend it’s not there. OR, I can remember that design isn’t solely about me executing my vision, MY job is to solve problems.
If they want to preserve the nostalgia, the kitsch, and the memories, take it as a challenge instead of an impediment, it will make us better designers.
Here’s an example: Dirk has a moving business. He’s been pouring his heart and soul into its success since 1987. He and his best friend started it together right out of high school. It’s supported his family, two college educations and yearly vacations and memories for 37 years. Now he’s ready to slow down. The business partner and best friend who sketched their logo passed away a couple of years ago. His daughter wants to take over managing the business and really wants to revamp his logo and website to look more polished and modern. He’s invested so much love, effort and commitment to his moving company that he’s reluctant to let go of all the details that knit his brand together.
So how do I meet him where he’s at?
For starters, his buddy’s sketch gets to stay. Frankly, sometimes the goofy or childlike sketch is the best thing about a brand, and there are ways to re-format, trace and clean them up to allow for scaling bigger ;).
All I want to do is improve readability and tighten up the text.
Secondly, I want to give his website a bit of a face-lift, there are some accessibility issues here including colour contrast and font choices. I love that he’s taken a photo of his moving van, but it doesn’t tell a story – well, it may tell a story, but it looks more like a True Crime story?
Drumroll…
See? Much better, AND the logo’s bigger! We took a picture of a customer’s precious possessions packed up carefully in the back of the truck, the craft colour of the boxes fit nicely with the colours in his buddy’s sketch. We increased the size of the text, brought in the blue shade to tie everything together and added a cute little hand-drawn phone icon that matches the sketch (details matter!).
A client’s business is more than just a project. Dirk’s moving company represents almost 40 years of love, sweat (literally), and effort. If they want to preserve the nostalgia, the kitsch, and the memories, take it as a challenge instead of an impediment, it will make us better designers.
