I recently posted a link to the Clients From Hell tumblr page. This gem popped up yesterday and I found myself compelled to actually think about it instead of shaking my head ruefully and laughing the bitter, bitter laugh of the freelancer gone cynical. Here’s the offending bit of what was probably intended to be humor:
I don’t know what I want…but I don’t want it to look like a website.
One presumes that the hell-client in question is consulting with a web designer.
One also presumes that said web designer was responsible for posting this snippet (with no accompanying story) to the CFH blog.
In my case, one further presumes that the web designer is not a terribly imaginative person, to find this request so upsetting. Either that, or they’re just not the creative sort. (Of course, the client may have followed their statement up with “And I Don’t Intend To Pay You What Your Time Is Worth, Isn’t That Delightful?” or some other variation of the classic fallacy that art isn’t work so we should just do it for free, right? But the designer didn’t include that bit in their CFH submission, so we have only the one sentence to go on. -Ed)
See, some designers are really the kind of person who just wants to get their run-of-the-mill project specs, whip out the project, and collect a check. There’s nothing wrong with this. It’s no muss, no fuss, no real need to put your own creative energy on the line. Just boot up Dreamweaver, add a menu bar, some navigation, slap a Flash banner on there in the header, and post it to the server. Of course, that “simple” process takes hours and hours and hours. But that’s not the point I’m trying to make.
Instead, I’d like you to consider this: a designer who was serious about the project, and willing to take it as more than just a quick paycheck, might have thought about what the client really meant.
I like to think they may have meant something like this: websites that look like an archetypical “website” are boring and done to death. What can you do to make my website stand out and look less like a “website” and more like “interesting design” to visitors? There’s a great Boagworld article I just saw the other day on this very topic, and you should go read it. Now. I’ll wait here until you get back.
Now, admittedly my own site doesn’t really fit into this ideal. It’s not supposed to, though – I just want to be able to blog and post art in a familiar and user-friendly way. This site isn’t designed to get me loads of webdesign work. It’s set up to take the least amount of time out of my limited creative time every day. It works and it’s easy. By those standards it’s a success.
Those aren’t the only standards, though. Consider the CFH hell-client’s request again:
- They want a website. Easy, check.
- They don’t know what they want in a website – which means the designer can start off with carte blanche more or less, and that’s good…or at least, better than a request involving the client’s deceased housecats.
- They don’t want their site to look like a website. Whoa! that’s…
…actually pretty tame as requests go. Anybody who’s dealt with artist-designed Flash sites knows that web pages are more than just menus and articles. They’re a highly customizable user interface, and the possibilities are wide-open. Design is not a limiter. Limits to websites come from things like budget, willingness to employ systems like Flash that may not work for 100% of users, the intended method of updating the site, and so on.
I guess my point is this: designers, please. If your client comes to you with a request like this, don’t immediately start pulling your hair out and fumbling for the bottle of Scotch under the desk. Sit back, take a deep breath, and try to think outside of routine.
You may surprise yourself.
P.S. – Don’t know what “ideate” means? Look here.