What does saying yes too often really lead to?

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Music and links from this episode

Too Far Gone by Ryan Little

Interstellar Export by The Insider

Calm The Fuck Down by Broke For Free

Line-by-line notes

Over the next two episodes

I want to present two sides of the coin as a designer

There’s the saying yes side

That’s saying yes to amends, or things you think you shouldn’t say yes to

Then there’s the other side

The saying no side

The standing your ground, and not budging side

Today is saying yes

Let’s explore saying yes

This is AADA, and I’m Craig Burgess

MUSIC

I’ve said many times before

Design is a weird profession

There’s no formal education required

Every agency works differently

And every designer works differently

We all work with clients differently as well

And say yes or no to different things

When you first start out as a designer

You say yes a lot

When a client asks you to change something

You just do it

Often you don’t even question it, because you don’t know any better

Or you might not have the confidence or the experience yet to say otherwise

I think there’s actually two types of designers

There’s the Yes Designers

These kinds of designers will always do whatever the client wants to please them

Clients like these kinds of designers for obvious reasons

And some designers would argue that as a designer you should always be like this

After all, the customer is always right, right?

Well, wrong

In the design world, the client is often wrong

And it’s our duty as a designer to make the client aware of that

We should tell them when they’re wrong, always

Not in a nasty way

And not in a combative way that ruins relationships

And not even in a difficult way

I just believe that before we say yes, it’s our duty to explore the reasons behind a change

If the changes that a client is asking for are sensible, go nuts. Just change it

But if a client is suggesting stupid things

Or things that will make your design work worse

Challenge the request

And don’t automatically say yes

Try and find out the underlying reasons for these changes

Sometimes they’re silly, and purely because a client wants to put their stamp on a project

This is OK to a point

But when those pointless changes start to affect the end product

It isn’t OK anymore, and you should start raising your concerns

Automatically saying yes to a client on everything sets up a weird unbalanced relationship too

People come to us as designers because we know about design

We’re professional designers

That means they want out opinions on stuff, and want to know if it’s best for them

If we’re so eager to please all the time and just say yes, we don’t show our value as a designer

When we’re really against some change further down the line too, we’ve already shown we’re a pushover

I’m not saying it’s wrong to say yes to clients, I do that all the time

But you do have to be very careful when you do say yes

And consider all the implications that decision has on your relationship

You owe it to your client to make sure you don’t say yes just to please them

They’ve hired you as a professional, and they want your professional opinion

That doesn’t work if you’re a Yes Designer

So stop just saying yes

And start considering the power of the word Yes a little bit more carefully.

MUSIC

This was AADA and I'm Craig Burgess

Music featured in this episode was

Too Far Gone by Ryan Little

Interstellar Export by The Insider

Calm The Fuck Down by Broke For Free

For a line by line rundown of this episode... /ep132

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