Design legend Paula Scher emphasizes that understanding and aligning with client interests is crucial and often requires proactive communication and insightful questioning, even when clients struggle to articulate their needs.
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how do you align with your clients
interests in this next clip you're gonna
want to hear from design legend Paula
Scher and how she's able to talk to
clients and figure out what they want
even when they don't know how to
communicate it a lot of it starts before
you begin designing because it has to do
with your conversation with them but
mostly if you ask somebody what they're
looking for in a couple of key ways
they're going to be able to tell you and
the one thing that I've done at
pentagram is we have this book of
trademarks that has I don't know about
five hundred marks that we've done over
the years and I if I have particularly
if there are three participants who are
the clients or more I give them each a
book and I tell them to take it you know
a sticky note and mark the ones they
love in one color and the ones they hate
in the next color so that way I can tell
what their tastes are is somebody really
a mod modernist or somebody like a lot
of curlicues that's important thing to
know if you have a group of three and
they come out all the same and they pick
the same ones that's fantastic if they
come out all different you're in trouble
because you're gonna have different
tastes making decisions around the table
so you have to know what they see
sometimes you just ask them what they
like and after they get through Nike and
Apple you can get into the real things
that you need to find out like what are
their competing businesses etc but you
do learn a lot from that because that
tells you a bit about what kind of form
they like and if they talk about their
competitors find out how much they want
to be like them and how much they want
to be different from them and that's
very revealing but these are things that
give you cues on how to design something
and if you don't ask those questions
you're really not in a position to be
informed about how to approach it it's
one thing to say you have a good idea
for a forum or interpreting the business
but if you do it and it's very pure and
very modernist and you have somebody who
doesn't like that you're gonna have a
problem with the forum so you have to
know that from the get-go and that way
you sort of know how to do it pretend
and and women will understand this
pretend like you have to shop for
somebody else that's a little bit of
what designing for somebody else is you
got to go out you got to get them a
shirt you know they'd like and you have
to analyze everything they wore and what
they always have but they always bought
and what they never bought and then you
know sort of how to pick it that's kind
of what you're doing when you design
it's a girly answer I love that answer
actually you actually gave me some
really great actual things that we could
implement so super awesome the idea that
you can ask your client about
competitors like they want to be the
same or different how do you phrase that
in a way that allows them to tell you
the truth because I think every client
you ask that there we want to be totally
different but just like everybody else
well first of all they're human and you
have to assume that's gonna happen from
the get-go you know if everybody goes to
a party they're all wearing black you
can't make somebody who always wears
black put on a pink party dress and go
to the party you can make them wear a
red belt on the black dress but that's
about as far as you're gonna take him
and you got to let it go just make it a
terrific red belt you might zip up the
whole outfit but you have to think about
things in those terms if a client tells
you that they don't want to be like
someone but they're competing with them
it means they want to be like them a
little bit not just in the bad ways in
the good ways and you have to find out
what that means sometimes that doesn't
have anything to do with their graphic
design sometimes it has to do with the
way they the company's organized or the
kind of media they get or something they
Envy about the other the other person
and I think a little perception and the
conversation will help you do it it's
it's not that different from talking to
a friend and trying to find out what
they want or what's bothering them if
they sat down and talk to you these
people are coming because they need
something and you have to figure out
what it is they need and the way to know
if you're on the right track is to play
back some description of something that
might be along the lines of what you
might do for them to see if you get a
positive read on their faces they're
nodding you know does that is this
something or do they not know what
you're talking about and
you can use examples should it be like
such-and-such or what do you think of
this and those those answers are very
key when they start to tell you that
they like something or don't like
something you should listen very
carefully when they do [Music]
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