If you aren’t familiar with the saying that a camel is a horse designed by committee, then you’ve probably never sat on a committee charged with overseeing design work. While it can be fun to contribute to the design process, too many dissenting opinions can slow down progress and introduce unnecessary frustration to any project. At worst, design by committee can result in a finished project that is far from the original vision and that ultimately satisfies no one.

Fortunately, here at Amplify Media we go into every project knowing that this is a risk, and we take steps from day one to ensure that the design process is kept on track. Each project is assigned a dedicated account manager, and it is their job to ensure that all design input is heard and given ample consideration. While much of this input is incorporated into the final design, an equal amount is often rejected. Design input that does not make it into the final project is never left aside arbitrarily. Any requests that will make the design more beautiful, functional, and more user-friendly are added to the project. When suggestions do not meet these criteria, the assigned account manager will explain the reasoning behind the decision to everyone involved. Their job is to ensure that everyone is in agreement, and that no one feels their ideas have been rejected without fair consideration.

Listening to our clients inevitably makes our design work better, but only because we’re not afraid to say no when we disagree with what we hear. Our clients expect us to bring all of our expertise to the table when designing their websites, even when that expertise is in disagreement with their requests. If we said yes to every idea because it came from the client and ‘the client is always right’, we would be doing a disservice to those clients, and to their projects. Our work, and our clients’ success, is too important for us to jeopardize any project because we’re afraid someone might not want to hear ‘No.’

(Today's title quote courtesy of Lillian Hellman.)