How do you handle conflict in a design project?

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Music and links from this episode

Zapomnieç by Nonima

Viscous by FRAIL

Perfect Match by Kilyo

Line-by-line notes

Every designer has worked on frustrating projects

Most design projects have little bumps in the road

But sometimes, they turn into full on car crashes

At some point in every designer’s career

They’re going to have to handle conflict

This is AADA, and I’m Craig Burgess

MUSIC

Design projects can go wrong in a thousand ways

If you’re really unlucky, they’ll go wrong in a thousand ways all at once

The client can be wrong, the designer can be wrong, the research can be wrong

Deadlines might get missed, emails might get missed, meetings might get missed

People easily misunderstand things

Seriously, there’s so much that can go wrong

It’s no wonder then that experienced designers have to become conflict resolution experts

Let’s talk about one of the most common ways conflict arises in a project

A client making lots of changes to a design

You’ve been working with a client

You’ve been designing them a new logo

But you just can’t seem to get it completed

Every time you think you’re nearly there

The client makes another change

And most of the changes the client is making seem pointless

What do you do?

When a client is making lots of changes to any kind of design work

There’s something deeper going wrong

It could be the designer isn’t good enough

and the client feels like they need to improve it

It could be that the client is being polite

and that they don’t really like the design but they’re trying to improve it stealthily

Finally, it could be the client thinks they’re the designer

And they merely see you as a facilitator of their ideas

Whenever a design goes through more than a couple of changes

And you don’t feel like you’re getting anywhere with the project

You can’t keep going and not saying anything

At some point, for everybody’s sanity, a conversation needs to be had

The air needs to be cleared

In a situation like this

You need to ideally get to the problem before everybody gets pissed off

Which is sometimes easier said than done, because people can be excellent at hiding when they’re annoyed

Then that conversation needs to be had

These kind of conversations aren’t easy for anybody

Nobody likes talking about negative stuff

Unless you’re some kind of monster, or you’re used to that kind of thing

Lay out the problem or issue clearly to your client

“It seems like we’re struggling to get this piece of design work signed off”

“Why do you think that is?”

“What’s stopping us from getting this work signed off from your end?”

Then let them talk

When you’re trying to resolve a conflict, you need to encourage your client to talk

You need to get every last bit out of them

Every last annoyance and hangup about you needs to come out

And even though that could be uncomfortable to hear

Don’t be tempted to go on the offensive

Don’t be tempted to elevate the situation to start to argue or fight back

Let your client talk and explain the situation

Once they’ve explained their entire situation, then you have the time to talk

Explain your point of view, but don’t blame anybody

Be polite and friendly

Because at the end of the day

Everybody wants the same thing

The designer wants to do a good job and make the best possible thing for their client that they can

and the client wants the designer to make the best possible thing they can

Sometimes though, things get muddled a little bit

And tensions can build up

Make sure you iron them out as soon as you can

And keep your projects running smoothly and stress free

MUSIC

This was AADA and I’m Craig Burgess

I had to reuse music from episode 86 today, as Free Music Archive was down

I featured:

Zapomnieç by Nonima

Viscous by FRAIL

Perfect Match by Kilyo

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