Thinking Caps

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As we walked through the doors of our last and final destination of the semester I couldn’t help but wonder what gems of knowledge would be shared with us today. Over the course of the semester I’ve grown accustomed to very insightful and frank looks at the everyday lives of designers from several different disciplines. Today was no exception. As we discuss and interviewed the ladies from Thinking Caps several points came up that where both interesting and engaging. Here are a few concepts from our discussion that really resonated with me.

Networking is a good way to keep your finger on the pulse of what’s happening in the community

Finding time to get out and toot your own horn is a must in the design field. How else are you going to meet new people and find new clients? This is something that is easy to take for granted. Especially when we feel like their other things more “important” that we could be going with our time. Ironically if your business for yourself what could be more important than taking time to meet a new client. You might even learn something.

“the dating phase”

This was a title that kept coming up in our conversation. The dating phase is the time in between landing a client and starting a job. Both people are still feeling each other out. I found it sometimes beneficial to almost set up a “speed date” for a project. By setting up a small projects as kind of a test pilot job (speed date) to see how you and your client work together before committing to a larger project. Just like in a real date it’s a bit unclear who flips the bill during this dating phase.

Understand what is being asked of you before getting started.

Oftentimes, we want to jump right out of  “the dating phase” and get to work on a project. It makes sense to get a clear idea of what your client is asking of you before starting work. You and the client will benefit knowing clearly what the expectations are of each other.

Protect relationships.

It often takes more time to acquire a new client than does to protect relationships that you have with an older existing client.

Sometimes clients push you to do better work.

The “difficult” client that knows exactly what they want and how they were done pushes you out of your comfort zone and towards a more creative path that you may not choose on your own. Clients are experts in their field of study just like we are as designers. Client input should be welcomed, embraced and respected.

Find a Ally inside the company.

Gather “intel” find out what the clients expectations are beforehand. It may be a good idea to find somebody inside the company that understands how things work and operate. Such a person could prove to be very helpful in getting things done in a matter that the company expects.

“We tend to want to pee on things?”

Claiming ownership on things that do not necessarily belong to us. There’s a tendency for us to want to claim ownership of things. This tendency can be helpful and harmful. Ownership often insures that we put forward our best foot. But it may also leave us closed off to outside ideals which can be dangerous. Be careful not to “pee on things.”