A talk about how we as designers can take more responsibility for our design process and manage our relationships with clients better.

1. HELLO.
I’m Matt
@duckymatt

2. CLIENTS

3. WORKING WITH
CLIENTS
BETTER

4. SO, HOW DOES THAT RELATE TO
UX?

5. Spent days putting this awesome design together
and just got client feedback. Looks like I'll be
spending the next few days ruining it!!
Gah. Working w/ a client who doesn't get this.
Making my head explode. They don't care about UX.
When you push forward a client design request
that you both know is a terrible idea.

8. http://www.sharpsuits.net/

9. http://www.sharpsuits.net/

10. BE RESPONSIBLE
FOR YOURSELF
AND YOUR WORK

11. I
CLIENT WORK

13. MARK BOULTON
The design process is
weird and complicated
because it involves
people…
!
…who are weird and
complicated.
Photo credit: Anton Peck: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26545827@N00/5691825327/
http://bradfrostweb.com/blog/post/where-theres-muck-theres-brass-mark-boulton-at-smashing-conference/

14. CLIENT WORK IS ALL
ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS

15. THREE KEY FACETS

16. EMPATHY
TRUST
COMMUNICATION

17. EMPATHY

18. PUT YOURSELF IN YOUR CLIENT’S SHOES
THEY HIRED YOU TO SOLVE A PROBLEM THAT THEY CANNOT ALONE

19. CLIENTS WANT TO BE GUIDED
CLEARLY DEFINE THE ROLES OF
THE CLIENT RELATIONSHIP.

21. ONE ON ONE
INTERVIEWS
http://goodkickoffmeetings.com/2010/04/stakeholder-frontloading/

22. PAUL BOAG
The turning point in
many interviews is when
the interviewee gets up
and closes the office door
and lowers their voice.
Photo credit: Andreas Øverland: http://www.flickr.com/photos/andreasoverland/4954194732/
http://boagworld.com/business-strategy/how-to-improve-your-site-using-stakeholder-interviews/

23. http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2000-11-05/
AGREE ON PROJECT GOALS

24. TRUST

25. INTEGRITY
RELIABILITY
TRANSPARENCY
RESPECT

26. HONESTY
DON’T OVER-PROMISE
AND UNDER-DELIVER

27. GIVE UPDATES
EVEN IF THERE ISN’T
MUCH TO REPORT

28. BE RELIABLE
DELIVER WHEN
YOU SAY YOU WILL

29. This is the extraordinary thing
about creativity: If you just
keep your mind resting against
the subject in a friendly but
persistent way, sooner or later
you will get a reward from your
unconscious…
JOHN CLEESE
!
…If you've put in the pondering
time in first.
John Cleese on Creativity - Watch every second of it, you won’t regret it, I guarantee it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU5x1Ea7NjQ

30. TRANSPARENCY
INVOLVE YOUR CLIENT
THROUGHOUT THE DESIGN PROCESS

31. TAKE THE CLIENT ON THE
JOURNEY WITH YOU

32. SURPRISES
SUCK

33. WORKSHOPS
ARE A
DESIGNER’S
BEST FRIEND

34. EXPOSE YOUR
CLIENTS
TO RESEARCH
DIRECTLY

35. JARED SPOOL
There is a direct
correlation between
this exposure and the
improvements we see
in the designs that
team produces.
http://www.uie.com/articles/user_exposure_hours/
Photo credit: Jeffrey Zeldman: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zeldman/8614173005/

36. TOO MUCH RESPECT

37. BEING THE NO GUY, DAVE

38. FIND BALANCE
BE PATIENT AND TALK TO
YOUR CLIENT AS AN EQUAL

39. CHRISTOPHER BUTLER
Your ego is a
bad designer
http://www.newfangled.com/your_ego_is_a_bad_designer

40. UNCOVER THE
UNDERLYING
PROBLEM
GET THE CLIENT TO FOCUS ON
PROBLEMS RATHER THAN SOLUTIONS.

41. STAY POSITIVE
MEANS YOU CAN SAY NO
WITHOUT BEING THE ‘NO’ PERSON

42. COMMUNICATION

43. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz2-ukrd2VQ
FORK
HANDLES
OR FOUR
CANDLES?
ACTIVELY AVOID
MISINTERPRETATION

44. CARL SMITH
When you're struggling
to write a sensitive email,
stop trying. Pick up the
phone and call instead.
http://devianthippie.com/

45. PRESENT DESIGNS,
DON’T JUST EMAIL THEM

46. RWD

47. “WHAT DO YOU THINK?”
IS THE ENEMY OF
CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK

48. DESIGN FEEDBACK
CHINESE WHISPERS

49. KEEP DESIGN CRITIQUES
GOAL ORIENTED

50. SKETCH

51. PROTOTYPE

52. PATTERN LIBRARIES
PROTOTYPE
http://styletil.es/

53. TEST

54. BE PREPARED TO BACK UP
YOUR ARGUMENTS

55. EMPATHY
TRUST
COMMUNICATION

56. SO NEXT TIME

57. THINK: WHAT COULD YOU
HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY?

58. COULD YOU HAVE DEFINED
THE ROLES BETTER?

59. DID YOU SET AND MANAGE
THEIR EXPECTATIONS?

60. DID YOU COLLABORATE AND
INVOLVE THEM AS AN EQUAL?

61. DID YOU STRUCTURE
FEEDBACK APPROPRIATELY?

62. SOMETIMES…

63. JARED SPOOL
No matter how much you try,
you can’t stop people from
sticking beans up their nose.

64. MORE OFTEN…

65. LEARN

66. AND DO BETTER

67. THANK YOU
@duckymatt
#UXPOND