Chapter 9. Working with outsiders

As a designer, you need to work with others. Being a designer and being an artist are two different careers, but most people who do creative work for a living need to do both.

If you love being creative and enjoy spending time coming up with the most amazing designs, you can turn a passion into a paying career. As your design skills grow, along with them you will probably develop an immense passion for creating designs for others. The secret to this part of the job is twofold: really listen and really care. That sounds easy, but challenging clients, coworkers, and deadlines can be a test of patience, especially when you’re already juggling all the details of creating a project.

In this chapter, you’ll learn more about managing design projects and smoothing out their inevitable bumps. From leading original client briefings, to understanding copyright and licensing issues, to developing core project management skills, this chapter offers advice to help you provide your clients with clear objectives and project deliverables that ensure everyone’s expectations are met.

ACA Objective 1.1

Let’s look at a few example scenarios:

Rockin’ Zombies is a metal-opera-jazz-bluegrass fusion band that wants to promote an upcoming free concert at the local farmers’ market.

Hoi Polloi Church needs a brochure for its project to solicit volunteers and donations to help orphaned children recover from Hurricane Sally.

OfficeHome Custodial Services wants a flyer to share with businesses about its upscale, environmentally friendly office cleaning services.

Zak’s Bulldozer wants to promote its tree removal for residential homes using low-impact tools.

The city’s Health Department wants a campaign to promote healthy eating and active lifestyle changes and to inform and warn people about common bad habits.

Pop-Lite is a new, collapsible photographer’s light, and the inventors need a logo and image for their kickstarter campaign.

Each project has different goals, right? Some want to give away something for free. Some want to make money. Some want to solicit help from others. It’s important to help the client pin down the project goals—and that can be difficult to do.

They’re all talking at once!

If a design says too much, it says nothing. It becomes “noisy” and makes it difficult for the viewer to focus on the main idea. This reality is similar to the design concept of focal point. Design projects have a kind of focal point, too. It’s important to clearly define and pin down the most important goals of a project. Sometimes, clients are trying to clearly define their company purpose, vision, or dreams for their organization. Hearing the overall goals and dreams for the business are very helpful in the design process, and necessary so that you understand your client. But to get a project done efficiently—and create a project that communicates well—you must work with the client to establish and narrow the goals for this particular project (Figure 9.1).

The short version of a campaign’s goals is often called the “elevator pitch” because it summarizes the project in the time that it would take for an elevator ride. It’s communicating your purpose in a short, simple sentence. I normally push a client to shoot for seven words or less. The goal is to clearly define the goals for this particular design project.

Here are some elevator pitches related to the previous scenarios:

Come to our free concert.

Help child victims of a disaster.

Get safe cleaning services for your office.

Trees removed without damaging your yard.

Get healthy and avoid hidden dangers.

Get fun and functional little photo lights.

Admittedly, these pitches are not elegant or enticing. There’s no “pop” to the message. But they are the very core of what you’re trying to communicate. It is the reason your client is paying you to design the art. You’ll need more detail than this to produce the best design, but focusing on this core goal can help you reign in the insidious forces of project creep (which I’ll talk about later). But first, let this sink in:

The client’s goals are the # 1 priority.

If the goal is unclear, the finished product will be unclear. Figure out the goal and you can always come back to it as a “home base” when the project starts to grow or lose its focus. Sometimes the goal isn’t obvious or turns out to be different than it first appeared. But it’s always critical, and one of your first jobs is to help the client focus on the primary goal of the project. Nonetheless, at the end of the day, you work for the client, so the client calls the shots, has the final say, and makes the decisions—even if you disagree.

Now let’s talk about the second most important person on the project—the one who doesn’t really exist. I’m talking about the ideal audience.

ACA Objective 1.2

Identifying a target demographic (Figure 9.2) for your project is a critical step, second only to defining the client goals. And generally, it’s also a part of those client goals. For example, when you want to create a new fishing pole, you can easily picture your target audience: fishermen. So you’re probably not going to use the same graphics, words, images, and feel as you would to reach a punk rock audience. And at the same time, expectant mothers probably wouldn’t be drawn in by images that would reach your fishermen or punk rocker target.

Creating a demographic helps you focus on who you want to get your message. It’s understanding the goals of your listener/viewer as well as the speaker, your client. You need to make sure you share information in a way that will connect or resonate with that audience. And if you understand what your audience needs and feels, you can show how what you’re sharing meets those needs.

The easiest way to do this is to create imaginary “perfect fits” for your client’s project. Here are some points to consider:

Income: Determine if you want to focus on quality, exclusivity, or price.

Education: Establish the vocabulary and complexity of the design.

Age: Dictate the general appeal, attitude, and vocabulary.

Hobbies: Help choose images, vocabulary, and attitudes.

Concerns, cares, and passions: Identify core beliefs, trigger points, and so on.

It’s pretty easy to see how different audiences will need different images. You don’t want images of extreme sports in an ad aimed at expectant mothers. You wouldn’t use a crowded nightclub image in a design for a camping and canoe outfitter company. It’s a pretty obvious concept, but inexperienced designers sometimes design to please themselves, and that isn’t always what pleases the target audience.

What makes your audience unique? Who has the problems that this product solves? Have those pictures in your mind. Work these ideas over with your client and help them envision their “typical customer.” Then look for images that will appeal to that ideal customer, this project’s target demographic.

Think of yourself as a matchmaker. You’re trying to introduce your client to the perfect customer or consumer. Speak in the language that the ideal clients would want to hear, and use images that will bring their lifestyle and outlook together with your client.

Ultimately, you work for your clients. Help them see what you regard as the most effective way to reach the audience and identify the right questions to ask, but don’t fight with them. Your clients have insight or perspective about their target audience that you are unaware of. When you disagree with clients about a design decision, help them realize their vision for their project. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to put the final piece in your portfolio, but you’ll still get to put their check in your bank. If it comes down to what the client wants versus what you think the identified audience will respond to, do what the client asks. It’s the client’s project, audience, and money (Figure 9.3).

This rule has one exception that you need to follow at all times. When your client asks you to skirt copyright law, you are still responsible to respect the law and your fellow designers. Often they’re just confused, and you can help them understand that you can’t copy other designs or employ copyrighted materials without authorization. Along those lines, let’s take a moment to talk about copyright.

ACA Objective 1.2

Copyright law is generally misunderstood by many people, so understanding it is an awesome way to score high on trivia night. You may also help your struggling author and artist friends realize that they don’t have to pay an attorney tons of money to “make sure they get their stuff copyrighted.” You can do it for them, or show them how to do it themselves. It’s free and easy. As a matter of fact, it’s probably already done.

Keep in mind that I’m a teacher and writer, not a lawyer. This chapter is not legal advice; it’s just intended to help you understand the law and the reasons it exists so you can appreciate it. It’s easier to obey a law that you understand and appreciate, and copyright laws protect our rights. So let’s get on board.

Here’s something to remember: Copyright law promotes freedom and creativity. Let’s explore how.

ACA Objective 1.2

Imagine that you’re in a restaurant talking with a friend. During this conversation you make up a song on the spot. A famous singer in the booth behind yours hears you, and writes it down. He claims the copyright to those lyrics, makes a million bucks with your spontaneous song, and there’s little you can do about it. However, if you recorded it on your phone when you sang it, you recorded it in fixed form first. So, you own the copyright on the lyrics, and the artist now owes you a truck full of money. Kind of weird, eh?

Why does the law have this quirky little rule? Because the courts have to decide who actually owns copyright when its ownership is contested. And courts rely on tangible proof. So the law makes it simple by stating that she who first records something in fixed form wins. This way, you’re not going to try to sue someone if you have no proof that you were first. But even if you were, and you can’t prove it, you’re out of luck.

So why are there copyright notices on music, DVDs, and one of the first pages of this book? If we don’t need it, why do we display it?

Simply put, it reminds people who owns this copyrighted material. When no date and copyright symbol are displayed, people may think they can legally make photocopies of this book for their friends. Most people assume if no copyright notice appears, then no copyright exists. (They’re totally wrong.) The presence of a visible copyright statement discourages this conclusion and behavior.

So it certainly can’t cause any harm to scratch a copyright symbol on your art when you’re finished with it (Figure 9.5), but it’s more to remind the public than to protect you. You’re already protected by law. Adding the copyright symbol to your work is like putting one of those security system signs in your front yard. It won’t stop a really determined thief, but it can deter less committed offenders. If you think it destroys the look of your front yard, you don’t need it for protection.

ACA Objective 1.2

Metadata is information that doesn’t show up on the document itself, but is hidden inside the file. This is a perfect way to store copyright information, contact information, and so on. On some digital cameras, metadata can even record the lens information, the location via GPS, whether a flash was attached and fired, the camera settings, and more. In digital files, metadata can share the computer on which it was created, the time, and even the name of the creator. Be sure to use metadata when you’re publishing your work online, whether it’s using Publish Online, exporting as an eBook, or exporting as a PDF, and always check files, such as images and graphics, that your clients give you to make sure that you’re not violating another designer’s means of making money when you’re trying to make some yourself.

“But I’m not trying to make any money with their art, so it’s OK, right?!” Well, that’s a tough question with a few interesting rules attached.

ACA Objective 1.2

All these uses are completely legit. The guys that came up with the copyright laws were very careful to make sure that the laws don’t limit—but promote—creativity. They did this with a set of ideas known as fair use.

Fair use policy is a set of rules that make sure copyright protection doesn’t come at the cost of creativity and freedom. Copyright can’t be used to limit someone’s personal growth or learning, freedom of speech, or artistic expression and creative exploration. Those ideas are more important than copyright, so copyright doesn’t apply when it gets in the way of these higher ideals. You are free to use copyrighted materials in the pursuit of these higher goals. Some people (mistakenly) believe that fair use doesn’t apply to copyrighted materials; but in fact, it only applies to copyrighted materials. Here is a list of issues that a court would consider when making a decision about fair use:

Purpose: If you used the work to teach, learn, voice your own opinion, inspire you to create a new piece of art, or report news, you’re probably safe. Protected reasons include educational purposes (teaching, research), freedom of speech (commentary or criticism), news reporting, and transformative work (parody or using the work in a new way). It isn’t considered fair use if you’re making money from the use, using it just for entertainment, or trying to pass it off as your own work.

Nature: If the nature of the original work was factual, published information, or the work was critical to favoring education, you’re probably safe. Was the content already published, fact based, and important for society to know? Then you’re pretty safe to use the work. But if it was unpublished, creative (such as art, music, film, novels), and fictional, you’re probably not cleared to use it.

Amount: If you use a small amount of a copyrighted work, it’s more likely that your use of the work was fair use. If you used only a small quantity—and not the main idea or focus of the work, or just enough to teach or learn from—you’re probably safe. If you used a large portion of the work or basically ripped off the central idea or the “heart of the work,” it isn’t fair use.

Effect: If nobody was harmed because of the action you took, then your action was probably fair use. If you used a legitimate copy of the original work, and it didn’t affect the sale of another copy, and you had no other way to get a copy, you’re in pretty good shape. But if your copy made it less likely that someone would buy the original or you made a large number of copies, you’re probably hurting the original creator, and that’s not fair use.

As mentioned earlier, copyright law really tries to address a simple question: “How can we promote more freedom and creativity in the world?” This is the question that copyright laws seek to answer. Fair use makes sure that beginning artists can experiment using anything they want. Just be sure not to share anything that might be another artist’s copyrighted work.

But as a beginning designer, how can you get quality assets to use in real-world projects? Happily, you have access to more free resources than ever before in history via the Internet and free stock photo sites. Let’s look at some in the next section.

ACA Objective 1.2

The second way is to let the copyright expire. Copyrights normally expire between 50 and 100 years after the death of the original author, but exceptions to this rule and extensions can be requested. It’s beyond the scope of this book to discuss copyright at length, but it is important to realize that some materials have expired copyrights. When copyright is expired or released, the work is said to be in the public domain. This means that copyright no longer applies to the content, and you can use the material without worrying about infringement.

ACA Objective 1.2

Stock photos are really popular items licensed by photographers, and you can find them from many sources at varying prices. Stock photos are images for which the author retains copyright, but you can purchase a license to use these images in your designs. For almost everyone, this is a much less expensive solution than hiring a photographer to go to a location and shoot, process, and sell you the rights to an image.

Creative Commons licenses include many different combinations of the following attributes and use many different symbols to identify the type of license

(Figure 9.6). You’ll need to do some research when using Creative Commons licensed materials and when releasing assets with Creative Commons licensing.

Public Domain licenses, or “CC0” licenses, allow artists to release their works to the public domain. It’s a bit difficult to give your materials away to the public domain, but CC0 is generally recognized as a way to do so and is respected in most parts of the world.

Attribution (marked as “BY”) requires that you credit the original author when using his or her work. You can do whatever you want with the work as long as you give that credit.

ShareAlike (marked as “SA”) allows you to use the item in anything you want as long as your creation is shared under the same license as the original work.

NoDerivs (marked as “ND”) requires that you not change the material when you incorporate it into your own work. You can use NoDerivs material freely, but you must pass it along without change.

NonCommercial (marked as “NC”) means that people can use your work in their own creative works as long as they don’t charge for it. You’re getting it free, so if you want to use it, then you have to be generous and also give away your work for free.

Creative Commons licenses are widely accepted and used, and you can find a ton of amazing resources that use this licensing. If you have any questions about Creative Commons licenses, you can find out everything from a general overview to very detailed legal descriptions at www.creativecommons.org.

To get design ideas for client projects, you could look at other designers’ projects for inspiration or look at designs created for a similar audience. You can look at online portfolios, such as Behance, for inspiration or use social media, such as Pinterest or Instagram.

But what do you do when you’re the leader? What happens when you need to do something new and fresh for your job? What if the boss doesn’t know how to do it and that’s why she hired you? How do you respond when the client’s main request is this: “Do something that hasn’t been done before.”

That’s where the problem-solving process comes in—the only skill you really need to be successful. If you can do that, you can figure out anything.

ACA Objective 1.3

The problem-solving process is creative in itself. A good solution to a problem can be artistic in its elegance and efficient grace. A problem solved well can be beautiful. This is the most important section of this whole book, because if you can grasp problem solving, you can learn whatever you need to learn now and in the future. Here is where we shove you out of the nest.

The following process will help when you need to solve a technical problem on hardware or equipment, handle a design problem within InDesign, or figure out how to get your hand out of that jar you got it stuck in. It will help you translate a tutorial written for an earlier version of InDesign into your current version (things change fast these days). And it boils down to three simple steps: learn, think, and do.

Mess it up here, and by definition, you are not solving the problem. You haven’t properly identified it, so how can you solve it? You might be solving a problem, but you’re not solving the problem. Sometimes you can actually make the problem worse by implementing a plan that creates a new problem without solving the real one.

You can avoid trouble down the road by clearly understanding and defining the problem at the start. “My client wants to sell a million interactive eBooks” is not a problem you can solve, it’s a desire the client has. So what’s the problem you can help with? He hasn’t sold eBooks before? That’s not it either. How do you get to the bottom of the problem?

Start with good questions (Figure 9.8): Do people need an interactive eBook? If so, do people know interactive eBooks are a thing? If so, do they choose a competing eBook? If so, why do they choose this other eBook? Why do you think they should choose the eBook you will create for your client? Who would be most likely to buy the eBook? What is your budget for eBook advertising? What do you want to spend on this particular project? What are your expectations?

Many clients become frustrated with this set of questions. They just want to see some action so that they can feel like they’re doing something. But let me repeat that old saying: “Aim at nothing, and you’ll hit it every time.” This is when you sharpen your axe so you don’t have to bang at the tree all day.

This part of the project can be fairly informal on smaller projects, but can be huge on large projects. Here’s a list of critical questions to answer:

Purpose: Why are you doing this design project? What result would you consider a success?

Target: Who needs this message or product? Describe your typical customer.

Limits: What are the limits for the project? Budget and time are most necessary to nail down.

Preferences: Aside from the results already discussed, are there any other results you’d like or expect from this project?

These examples are intended to show how quickly you can determine a client’s expectations. The answers to these questions define the size of the job and how you’ll best be able to work with the client.

Sketches and written notes from this initial step will help. Gather as much information as you can to make the rest of the project go smoothly. The more you find out now, the less you’ll have to redesign later, because the client hates the color, the layout, or the general direction you took the project. Invest the time now, or pay it back with interest later. With a clear idea of what the problem is, you’ll get the information you need to solve it in the next step.

re-search. It literally means “search again.” Lots of people fail to re-search, they just search. They look at the most obvious places and approaches, and if things don’t immediately click, they settle for a poor, but quick and easy solution.

Depending on the job, researching can be a relatively quick process. Find out about the competitive products, learn about the problem you’re trying to solve, and understand the demographic you’re going to target. Sometimes this can be done in your initial conversations with the client, but for larger projects you may need to spend more time. The main thing is to be sure to analyze the problem, and look for ways that others have solved similar problems. Again, the more research you do, the better information you’ll have about the problem you’re trying to solve, which will help you with the next step.

As a designer, you’ll often do much of your thinking on paper (Figure 9.9). Sketch it out first and have that reference to show the client and to come back to for clarity.

But sometimes analysis happens. You start analyzing how to complete your ideas when you should be creating them. Here are some of the things that trigger the critical mode of thinking. Don’t do them when brainstorming.

The No-No’s: Judging your ideas. Trying to finish an idea when you should still be brainstorming. Getting stuck on a particular idea. Planning out the project. Thinking about how much time you have. Thinking about the budget. Thinking about numbers. Grouping or sorting your ideas. Developing the idea that you think is best.

Here’s what you should be doing:

The Go-Go’s: Listen to music. Look at cool art online. Call a friend. Doodle on something else. Read a poem. Take a break. Go for a walk. Listen to some comedy radio. Write a haiku. Meditate for 5 minutes. Exercise. Sleep on it.

When you’re in brainstorming mode, don’t edit your ideas. Let them flow. If a crummy idea pops into your head, put it on paper. If you don’t, it will keep popping up until it’s been given a little respect. Give the weak ideas respect. They open doors for the great ones. Brainstorming is completely a matter of creating ideas.

The larger the project, the more formal this process will be. Small projects with just one person working on them will have little planning needed for moving forward. But larger projects will need a project plan to set the project requirements for the team.

If you don’t perform this admittedly tedious step, what won’t you have? You won’t have a definition of what needs to be done, a direction to head in, or a target to hit. Everyone will be in the dark. Although this step doesn’t seem creative in itself, creativity isn’t the priority at this particular juncture. You’re at a journey versus destination moment. Creativity without limits is a journey, which is great for your own work, but a disaster for a client-driven job. A client-driven project requires clearly defined goals—a destination. You need to arrive somewhere specific (Figure 9.12).

Two critical points that need to be a part of every project plan are the project scope and project deadline.

Project scope is the amount of work to be done. On the designer’s side, this is the most important thing to establish. If the scope isn’t clear, you’re subject to the Achilles heel of design work: project creep. This is a pervasive problem in our industry (and I’ll address it later in detail), but simply writing down a defined scope can prevent the problem. Get in writing exactly what you need to do and make sure specific numbers are attached.

Project deadlines dictate when the work needs to be done. This is the client’s most important element. The deadline often affects the price. If the client needs 10 JPEG images in 6 months, you can probably offer a discount. If they need art by tomorrow morning, then they’ll have to pay an additional “rush” fee. Deadlines on large projects also can be broken down into phases, each with its own fee. This division of tasks helps you pay the bills by generating cash flow during a large and lengthy project. It also limits the impact—for you—of payment delay.

I strongly encourage you to also include the following items in your InDesign project plans. These items, when shared and discussed with your client, will save time, money, and disagreements. These additional deliverables are the raw materials of project planning and help convey the exact target of the project. It’s my opinion, and that of experienced designers, that the following two deliverables are critical for every design project.

Sketches are really helpful to show the client your design direction. Even better is when the client has an idea of what they’re looking for and can give you their own sketch. Does this limit your creative freedom? Yes! It also saves you a ton of time. The goal of a client job is to get a project done to their satisfaction. If they’re very particular and know what they want, you’re not going to convince them otherwise. Sketches save time because they limit your direction to a direction that the client will accept, and they help you get to that acceptance faster. That means you get finished and paid sooner. The better the sketches are before you get into actual design, the fewer changes and redesigns you’ll need. You don’t need to be a master sketch artist. Just convey the idea. Sometimes sketches may just be wireframes, very rough representative sketches of how to lay out the document.

Specifications are detailed, clearly written goals and limits for a project. Many times, the specifications themselves will be referred to as the “project plan” and become part of the contract. This is admittedly the least creative and most boring document you will create, but it is also the most critical. All project plans should include two critical pieces of information: the scope of the project and the deadlines that need to be met. Be sure to always include both of these items in your project specifications.

Here’s how it happens: Joe Client creates a product and wants to sell it. He comes to you for marketing materials. You determine that he wants a logo, a flyer, and a three-page informational website. A price of $2,500 is settled on and you’ve got a month to get it done. You go to work.

Then Joe realizes that he also wants some images for social media. Could you just make a few? He also realizes that he needs to put his new logo on new business cards. Could you just design a card with the logo on it? Oh, and he can’t figure out how to get his product onto his favorite online marketplace. Could you just help him set that up? And he changed his launch date. He doesn’t need it next month, he needs it next week because he just reserved a booth at a large convention. By the way, do you know anything about designing booths?

Can you see how critical it is that you created a detailed project plan with task definitions and deadlines attached? Sometimes the client asks for something and it takes you 30 seconds. It’s a good idea to always happily deliver on these little items. A favor is any job that takes you 5 minutes or less. After that, the favor turns into work. And your only defense is your contract defining a clearly stated scope.

Just make sure that the project’s scope is clearly stated. If the contract says that you’ll provide any images for the company’s web presence, then you’re in trouble. On the other hand, if it says that you’ll specifically provide up to nine images for a three-page website, then you’re in great shape. Taking the hour it requires to specify your project and its deadlines in detail will save you from many hours of work and contract revisions.

If the client approved a sketch with a basic layout, and then asks for something different, you need to charge them for the change—if it’s going to take more than 5 to 10 minutes. Sticking to this policy helps the client think about changes before sending them to you. If you fail to charge when addressing impromptu changes, the client has no reason to think about the requests in advance. Charging your customer for additional changes focuses them on what they really want.

Of course, if the client asks for something that actually makes the job easier and faster, then make the change and do it for free. The bottom line is this: Establish good will whenever it’s good for both you and your client. But when an 11th hour alteration serves only one side of the relationship, the requesting side has to pay for the service. In the end, this arrangement ensures that everyone ends up winning.

ACA Objective 1.4

Establishing this open communication channel encourages and enforces a healthy exchange of opinions and can enable you to most efficiently adjust and fine-tune your project to suit your client.

Assuming a good project plan with sketches and a good feedback loop, the test and evaluation phase should just require minor tweaks—no different than any other iterative work resolution. If you didn’t have a good feedback loop and the first time the client sees your work is upon delivery, that client could become really unhappy and demand innumerable changes. Avoid this migraine headache with an effective and well-defined feedback loop as part of your well-developed plan. Those two tools are your weapon against project creep and unreasonable clients.

Working within an experienced company can also be an amazing education, as you can develop your strengths, learn about the industry, and slowly increase your involvement in the other aspects of this career beyond InDesign proficiency.

Congratulations! You have reached the end of Learn Adobe InDesign CC for Print and Digital Media Publication and have prepared yourself to sit the Adobe Certified Associate Exam. Well done!