Your Best Design
As a designer why is it that your best design usually is your portfolio site or a site of your own? Is it because clients suck in general? Do they put too many constraints on you? Do you just not have the passion to do for them what you are willing to do for yourself?
When you think about it logically it doesn’t make much sense. Every design you pump out should be a masterpiece, but that isn’t always the case. Every design you release should showcase the ideas and direction of your client with the visual identity you have created.
Unfortunately, many clients don’t trust the eye of designers. Many times you get told that you need to tweak this because they don’t like it particularly. I have said many times that it isn’t your job as a designer to inject your style into a design, but to design a site that puts to screen the ideas behind the client. Unfortunately, the clients need to learn that lesson as well because they seem to always want to invoke their style into a design.
Often it will come in the form of a client saying that they want their site to look like another site. Already you are given constraints that aren’t fair to you as a designer. Every designer should be given a blank slate. Yes there are assets of the company that must be included in the design, but otherwise the layout and direction should be fresh. What is funny about all of this is when you provide a design similar to the one they asked for they usually follow with “we don’t want it to look that similar.” Maybe they just wanted that one sidebar color or liked the font used in the footer. You never know with these guys.
But let us not put all the blame on the designer. Often times the designer is at fault for not communicating properly what their job is and how they plan on going about it. I have seen designers ask clients to provide them with a list of sites that they like no matter if it has anything to do with the site or not.
When you design for yourself do you make a list of the sites you wish to emulate? Do you hope that your site looks so similar to another site that it is almost impossible to tell the difference? It’s a shame that too often the best designs are personal. You design for the love (and money) of design and yet you are put inside a box and given one tool to paint the walls.
If you want to design and simply have fun with it you might consider avoiding clients at all costs. Or you can make sure to design as many of your own sites as possible whether you release them or not. Every painting that a painter paints doesn’t get seen so why do we think that if we are going to spend time designing a site it must have a purpose? Go out and create your best design and then keep it to yourself.
At the end of the day it is your who needs to be happy for your best work to come out.
4 Responses
J Phillips / 04.16.08
I totally agree with a designers’ own work being their best. I was told early in my design career that you will always be your hardest client. So pair that with the fact that [good] designers are perfectionists down to the detail. That’s a lot easier to do when there are 1) no constraints, and 2) no time/budget associated with your own projects. You aren’t under the gun so imagine how client sites could turn out if there were no constraints/time/budget associated?
Paul Scrivens / 04.17.08
I don’t want to imagine, why don’t you show me instead.
J Phillips / 04.17.08
I will show you when I have a client that says “Here is my business idea, do what you want and charge me whatever.” Unfortunately I’ve never had that before.
Joe Maddalone / 04.17.08
Funny, I am cursed with the statement Mr. Phillips says he never hears. Problem being that I am not much of a designer.
My latest attempt at focusing on designing over developing is http://www.fabuloushairconcepts.com, still a work in progress, but there was literally no direction at all, zilch, zero… it took everything in my power to just get them to look at it now and then. Having done two other websites and a ton of print design for them they just seem to have faith where I don’t.
btw — I didn’t mention this for critique, just that from a developer-first perspective I find it intersting that I probably spend more time on design for clients than my own sites.
– Site done in SwishMax (the non-designer Flash tool, methinks)
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