"Design Is A Job" so defend your process!

Chapter 6 of Mike Monteiro's Design Is A Job was a tough pill to swallow for me. Monteiro tells of an experience where a client asked him to present up-front sketches (a step that typically came later in Monteiro's design process). When he turned the client down and explained his reasoning, they hired him! Gutsy move that paid off in this situation. What I wondered as I read the account, was if that strategy would play out so well for a less-established designer?

I know I've been guilty of breaking my process in order to please a client. Monteiro explains that relaying your process to a client should happen before they hire you. I think that's probably the critical step that I'm missing. I've tried to hint at my process on my new portfolio site, but perhaps I should go back and do some editing to outline specifics.

A warning Monteiro gave details the way a client may try to break your process. He says to guard against clients that:

• ask for visuals right away
• want you to work out of order
• want to do your work for you
• block your access to others in the organization
• rush!
• "waffle" over decisions
• ignore goals in favor of organizational politics
• want to try trendy ways of doing things

Seeing this list makes me recognize times through my career where these things have likely happened. I'll be sure to keep this close-at-hand for future jobs in an effort to stick to my process no matter what the client thinks is the best plan.

Evaluating Content Strategy

Two weeks ago I featured NYC web design boutique Vento for their nice responsive layout. This week, I'm looking past the surface to the content to evaluate it's effectiveness. I am basing my evaluation on Erin Kissane's ideas in Elements of Content Strategy. Specifically, Kissane says good content should be:

• appropriate
• useful
• user-centered
• clear
• consistent
• concise
• supported

I would consider my web-design knowledge to be "beginner-level". That's actually a good thing when it comes to evaluating the content on this site... I can put myself in the shoes of a client who knows they need a website, but that's about it. If that were truly the case, I fear that Vento hasn't been as successful as they could be in the "user-centered" category. Industry terms and jargon like "custom CMS," "strategic design planning," "driving conversion" and the host of product names littered throughout the site likely mean nothing to a client who wants a website. Explaining the technicalities of the how the site was built seem counterintuitive to what a client is shopping for in a web design firm. I want to know how the website will affect my bottom line by serving my customers.

I also have to dock Vento a few points when it comes to clarity and consistency. A few of the navigation items feature dropdown menus, but also allow the user to click on the top-level nav. Clicking on this top-level takes me to a page that then has different - but very similar - navigation choices. For example, the Services drop down menu features four navigation choices, while clicking on the word Services leads to a page that has six navigation choices. Closer inspection shows that the dropdown has a list item for this "overview" page that is the same destination as clicking on Services. The dropdown then combines Design & Development which are separate items on the overview page, combines SEO & Online Marketing which are separate on the overview page, has an individual list item for IT Solutions, but has no list item for E-Commerce which is on the overview page. These types of small inconsistencies get confusing. Going one additional level reveals that the "read more" under the Design category on the overview page and the "read more" under Development actually go to the same destination! This appears to be an effort to fluff their content and appear to be a larger company than what they are. Unfortunately, it just confuses users and actually turns me away from wanting to use Vento for my own website.

Vento's site is beautiful and seems very professional. I do think they should consider revising their content strategy to focus more on providing customers with information that will help them make a decision about whether to hire the firm instead of hoping to compete with large companies in the size and depth of the website. Sometimes less is better!