{"id":802,"date":"2017-03-27T17:30:21","date_gmt":"2017-03-27T22:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/walkingstickdesign.com\/?p=802"},"modified":"2017-03-27T17:30:21","modified_gmt":"2017-03-27T22:30:21","slug":"make-good-design-choices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/walkingstickdesign.com\/make-good-design-choices\/","title":{"rendered":"Make Good Design Choices"},"content":{"rendered":"

How to Make Good Design Choices<\/h2>\n

This was for a talk I gave at the\u00a0OKC WordPress Users Group<\/a> on Monday, March 27th, 2017. In hindsight I should have called this talk, Unicorns, Cake, and Clients.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

At some point in your career, you might ask: Who is my client?<\/em><\/h3>\n

Imagine you\u2019re out hunting in a misty forrest early one morning. It\u2019s still dark outside, the air is crisp an cool. You\u2019re gently treading your way along deep horse tracks. You\u2019ve been up for hours and you\u2019re beginning to think that this hunt will prove to be fruitless.<\/p>\n

Suddenly you hear a healthy snort. It\u2019s close. You crouch down in the underbrush of the forrest floor as\u00a0the sun slowly starts to peak through the mist and clouds. They break for a moment letting a ray of bright orange sunshine pierce the densely packed tree trunks. And then you see it.<\/p>\n

In a clearing about twenty feet in front of you there stands a magical unicorn. It\u2019s mane\u00a0glittering in the morning\u00a0sun. Looking through the branches, you have to squint your eyes at the glint of\u00a0its golden horn.<\/p>\n

The time has come. So, you quietly slip an arrow from your quiver and place it across your bow. Slowly, you draw the arrow back and align it perfectly. You aim just behind the front shoulder of the magical beast. That\u2019s when you remember…UNICORNS\u00a0AREN\u2019T REAL.<\/p>\n

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The \u201cIdeal Client Profile\u201d or ICP, is a wish list of client attributes. Fun to think about except for the fact that they have one glaring flaw. That person you just described doesn’t\u00a0exist. So, who do you already know that most closely fits the profile?<\/p>\n

Instead of imagining an ideal client, talk to one. Which one do you LOVE working with? Take em out to lunch and interview them. Study them, where do they go and why, what do they read and why, what was their last major purchase and why did they make it, how did they make that particular purchasing decision, what’s their favorite brand of clothes, cars, and cans, and why. All this information will reveal to you insights that your competitors don\u2019t have and will never get.<\/p>\n

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Now that we know who<\/em> we\u2019re helping, how<\/em> can design help? A good question to start with is: How do I make good design choices?<\/em><\/h3>\n

The answer to that question, involves a cake.<\/p>\n

My friend John wanted to impress his wife for her birthday. I\u2019ve only ever seen him use the microwave. But, he wanted to bake her a delicious and impressively detailed cake. So, he researched all the best cake recipes and found the perfect one for a carrot cake. He worked and worked on this carrot cake to make it just right. And he did a great job.<\/p>\n

At the big party, he presented the detailed carrot cake to his wife. We all said Wow! Everyone took a selfie with the cake, it was wonderful! Hashtag jealous, Hashtag yum. That\u2019s when I noticed the look on his wife’s face.<\/p>\n

She looked confused and said, \u201cThank you for your hard work but…I don\u2019t like carrot cake.\u201d One of my friends made an airplane crashing noise and we all laughed. She went on, \u201cI thought you were going to make me a Dutch Apple Pie for my birthday. The one I rave about every Thanksgiving. The one my Grandma always makes.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than a little deflated, John set the amazing carrot cake on the table. And said,\u201cDoes anyone here like carrot cake?\u201d We cut it up and ate it and it was amazing. He handed some cash to one of his wife’s friends and ten minutes later she walks through the door with a grocery store apple pie. We warmed it in the oven and it tasted really good too. Birthday party saved!<\/p>\n

The mistake John made is the very same mistake we may have all made at some point in our career.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve learned that design has the power to make amazing things, that no one wants. That\u2019s why it\u2019s so important that we get this first step right.<\/h3>\n

The first step in every successful design process I\u2019ve undertaken is\u00a0filling out\u00a0a creative brief. You can call it a client questionnaire, you can call it a game plan, you can call it a treasure map for all I care but you will not be successful making websites without one. It is the lens through\u00a0which all design decisions are judged.<\/p>\n

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Otherwise you\u2019ll end up making a very pretty website that\u2019s also very useless…or one that\u2019s pretty useless. I see that you see what I did there!<\/p>\n

How can a creative brief help me design a website? I\u2019m glad you asked.<\/h3>\n

Ask you client what\u00a0their favorite things are and why. Their answers may take your design a surprising direction. One that connects with them in a way you could have never known otherwise.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ask your client what their customers care about. If you wanna get really crazy, ask to interview your clients best customers. Having their feedback is key to moving your clients closer to their goals.<\/p>\n

ASK: If your website were only able to do one thing, what would you want it to do?<\/h3>\n

Ask them what\u2019s missing from their current website? What do they\u00a0wish their\u00a0current website could do?<\/p>\n

Design choices are less about “good\u00a0vs. bad\u201d and more \u201ceffective vs. ineffective.\u201d The bigger the pile of effective design choices, the better it works, the faster your client will\u00a0reach their goals, and the happier their customers will be.<\/p>\n

Have you ever experienced poor design? I sure have. Just visit any state agencies website.\u00a0Stack enough non effective design choices up and you\u2019ll end up with a fine work of Modern Art. It\u2019s interesting, but it doesn’t help move your client closer to their goals.<\/p>\n

By figuring out what your client wants, you can avoid delivering something that doesn\u2019t fit the direction they want to take their website.<\/p>\n

Ask: What do you want your site to do best? Then, get\u00a0rid of everything that does not help their site do that thing.<\/h3>\n

Don\u2019t let your website get in the way of helping your client serve their customers. The easier you make it for their customers to do what your client wants, the\u00a0bigger the hero you\u2019ll be to your client.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Make the brief the \u201cbad cop\u201d to keep the project on track and to keep all the design choices pointed toward the same goal.<\/p>\n

TIP: For some excellent client information, show them five to ten websites and ask them what they like and dislike about each. Don\u2019t just send them a link to the web form. Talk them through your brief in person if possible or on the phone at the very least. So much is communicated through body language and tone that you\u2019re putting yourself at a disadvantage to rely on a web form.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Study the things your client positively responds to on the websites they choose. The things they focus on are the things they\u2019ll look for on their site when it\u2019s launch time.<\/p>\n

Your challenge is to find the best way to use those things to help them reach their stated\u00a0goals.<\/p>\n

There are tons of Ideal Client Profile PDFs and Creative Brief templates online. But I\u2019ve made a list of good questions to keep in mind\u00a0specifically for this talk tonight. It\u2019s available on my blog for you to download and use, right now<\/a>. I hope our brief time together has proven helpful to you as you continue to serve your clients.<\/p>\n

Helpful resources\/books:<\/h3>\n

45 Incredibly Useful Web Design Checklists and Questionnaires<\/a><\/p>\n

Design for Hackers<\/a><\/p>\n

Hack Design<\/a><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Make Me Think<\/a><\/p>\n

A Book Apart<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How to Make Good Design Choices This was for a talk I gave at the\u00a0OKC WordPress Users Group on Monday, March 27th, 2017. In hindsight I should have called this talk, Unicorns, Cake, and Clients. At some point in your career, you might ask: Who is my client? Imagine you\u2019re out hunting in a misty […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Clint Walkingstick","author_link":"https:\/\/walkingstickdesign.com\/author\/clint-walkingstick\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/walkingstickdesign.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/walkingstickdesign.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/walkingstickdesign.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/walkingstickdesign.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/walkingstickdesign.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/walkingstickdesign.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/walkingstickdesign.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/walkingstickdesign.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/walkingstickdesign.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}