In this time of market saturation, what do you look for in the things that you buy? If you are like me, the latest and greatest stuff just isn’t enough. I want to buy from brands that I like and people I enjoy working with—companies and people who are accountable for their actions. These accountable companies ultimately make my life easier. I can turn projects over to them and trust that my needs are going to be met, and that when we run into problems they will fix them. So when it comes to my own company, I strive to offer clients the same things I’d expect if I was in their shoes.

Can you imagine how scary it must be to be a client? When they hire you, they have no idea what you might create for them, and most don’t even know what to look for when hiring a graphic designer. They are simply making a leap of faith that you understand their needs, and will help them to the best of your ability. Establishing accountability with your clients will reassure them that you have their best interest at heart. In turn, clients will be more open to your design recommendations.

Accountability means different things to different people. To me it includes things such as:

• Listening and understanding the clients needs and concerns.

• Always keeping the clients’ best interest at heart.

• Putting myself in the end-user’s shoes.

• Maintaining elements of the existing brand that are working (rather than recommending they scrap it all and start over)

• Reading and understanding the content I am designing.

• Recommending the best and most economical formats, applications, and exposures for their messaging.

• Selecting and recommending the best partners for the project.

• Selecting and recommending the most eco-friendly materials for the project.

• Always having an answer for how and why I arrived at a recommendation.

In summary, being accountable for your work is a win/win situation. Clients will prefer working with you and they will begin to trust you and your recommendations. As a result, your work will be better. Imagine how much easier it will be to sell a revolutionary design to a client who trusts you. You will also feel better and more confident in the work you are producing because you truly understand and feel passionate about it.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 25th, 2007 at 10:15 am and is filed under Design Careers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.