Posts About Design Basics
Professional Relationships and Social Media
Relatively speaking, relationships used to be simple. Or at least simpler. Maybe just not as complicated.
Once upon a time your professional relationships stayed in one place, your personal relationships in another, and you controlled where those blurred through. That control is no longer in your hands. Your friends, family, co-workers and clients are all free to mingle and there’s nothing you can do about it. And while you may have lost control over who gets to talk to who, you can still control your own behavior, so let’s focus on that.
Continue reading "Professional Relationships and Social Media" »
Written by Mike Monteiro on August 9, 2011 with 8 comments | 
Getting Comfortable With Contracts
When Erika Hall and I started Mule 10 years ago, we were excited to be able to take on our own clients, make our own decisions, and most of all, to do what we loved to do. One task that didn’t break our top ten was negotiating contracts. And while it still isn’t our favorite part of the job, it is the part that makes everything else possible.
If you’re a baseball fan you’re probably familiar with the adage that “natural hitters” make shitty teachers. They’ve never had to think about how to hit a baseball, they’ve just always been able to do it. (Ted Williams is, of course, the wonderful exception to this rule.) Scrappy hitters, who have to fight for every little base hit, analyze their stance, their grip of the bat, gloves or no gloves, the size of the bat, ad infinitum. They end up learning to hit. As a result, they make better teachers because they can spot the types of adjustments other players need to make.
I am a designer. I work for a living, I solve problems within a set of constraints, I hire people, I rent space, I pay bills, and I have payroll to meet. These things are not in addition to the job, they are A PART OF the job. None of this came naturally to me. I had to learn it all.
Continue reading "Getting Comfortable With Contracts" »
Written by Mike Monteiro on April 5, 2011 with 16 comments |
How To Pick the Right Clients
A few years ago I was interviewing a designer for a job. We ended up passing on him. Not because the work was bad, it wasn’t. And not because he interviewed badly, he didn’t. We passed on him, because while reviewing his portfolio, we came across work for a client I won’t name. Let’s just say their product kills people.
“Why did you work on that?” I asked.
There are two answers I would have accepted from him. “I don’t have a problem with their business model—in fact, I think there are too many people in the world.” Weird? Sure. But hey, he would have been making a stand. The second answer I’d have accepted would’ve been, “They’re terrible, but I really needed the money and had no other options.” I can’t begrudge anyone making a living, and we’ve all done things we’re not proud of.
Instead he looked surprised that I was asking the question and said something to the effect of it just being the next project on his plate.
I asked him if he agreed with how they made their money. He replied in the negative — he’d just done the design. I told him we didn’t take on any projects that we couldn’t ethically stand behind.
And here I’ll quote him: “Must be nice.”
And that’s when I decided not to hire him.
Continue reading "How To Pick the Right Clients" »
Written by Mike Monteiro on February 24, 2011 with 21 comments |
Giving Better Design Feedback
In previous posts we’ve gone over how to buy design and how to sell design. Let’s take a look at how to give good feedback.
For our purposes, it’s worth noting the difference between a critique (which happens between peers or from more senior professionals, such as art directors), and feedback (which comes from clients). In other words, feedback comes from people paying a designer to solve business problems—people who may not be suitably impressed that you implemented a 16 column grid across a golden mean. (I’ll be impressed FOR them.)
How Did We Get Here?
Let’s assume the presentation went well. The design team put in a solid performance, cleaned up after themselves, and shook your hand with the appropriate amount of pressure on the way out. Hopefully someone took notes and offered to make them available to you. Those will be helpful. You should have also reached an agreement with someone in a project manager capacity about when your feedback is due.
Continue reading "Giving Better Design Feedback" »
Written by Mike Monteiro on December 15, 2010 with 30 comments |
Presenting Design Like You Get Paid For It
In my last post, I wrote about buying design. That was mostly for potential clients, but a designer might learn a thing or two from it as well. Now, let’s imagine that you’ve been lucky and good enough (It takes both, chum.) to sell your services to someone. You’re now in the position to solve some design problems and present those solutions like you’re getting paid for it (which you are).
I’ve been presenting design to clients and internal teams for a long time (Bush senior in the White House when I started), and I still get anxious about it. It may have been a while since I’ve thrown up in a client’s bathroom and washed off next to the person I’d eventually be presenting to, sure, but I still get nerves. The only thing that’s changed is I’ve gotten through enough presentations to I know I can do it.
Along the way I’ve picked up a few helpful tips that may help designers as well as clients to know what to expect during a presentation. Bear in mind that this works for me. It’s A way and not THE way, and all dogmatic systems that suggest the contrary are bullshit. Happy place.
Continue reading "Presenting Design Like You Get Paid For It" »
Written by Mike Monteiro on August 30, 2010 with 12 comments |
Tips On Buying Design
I sell design for a living. I also design things, but right now that’s beside the point except inasmuch that if I can’t sell it, there’s really no need for me to make it. As with all transactions, you need a seller and a buyer. And because I enjoy selling design, I really want you to enjoy buying. (I also want you to buy it from me, but let’s not focus on that right now.)
Some people we talk to are nervous about the process because they aren’t designers themselves. This makes them feel as though they are at a disadvantage. We want to help with this. We want clients to feel terrific about having an opportunity to work on a design project with skilled professionals (even if they are skilled professionals other than us).
By the end of this piece you should know enough to be reasonably good at buying design (especially from me) because I’m going to show you that you already know how to do it. You probably make purchase decisions several times a day. Design doesn’t have to be a great mystery. Those same tools you use to buy other things can be used to buy design.
Let’s start at the top:
Continue reading "Tips On Buying Design" »
Written by Mike Monteiro on August 12, 2010 with 20 comments |
