Communication Is Your Art and Your Living
Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 3:01 am
[b]Communication Is Your Art and Your Living[/b]
It’s not enough to create great art. If you are going to
succeed as a creative professional, you will need to be an
effective communicator.
by Jeffrey Foster
"All the worst mistakes I made in my twenty five years as an Art Director, in agencies and as a freelancer, were the result of not listening well to my clients"-Ann Rhodes, freelance art director, winner of numerous awards including the Clio, New York One Show award, and CA Annual's New York Art Directors Club. See rhodes-d-signs.com
If you're a creative professional -- whether a graphic designer, art director, photographer or illustrator -- the way you relate to the world is through your art. But the way you pay your bills is communicating. You communicate ideas through your art, creating visual explanations of ideas too complex to be understood through words alone.
You are a visual artist. But words, both spoken and heard, are essential for communicating with your client. No matter how outstanding your art, if you don't know how to communicate effectively with your client, you're sunk.
In the worst case, your portfolio gets you the job and you work hard on the project, putting your very best creative energy into it. But because of miscommunication, you end up creating the wrong thing and the client fires you or refuses to pay. The check you were expecting to pay your suppliers and cover your rent vanishes, taking with it untold hours of hard work. It happens, and it hurts.
Not as bad is when the client isn't particularly happy with your work, but feels equally responsible for the outcome. This kind of decent client will pay you for what you delivered, but will never hire you again. Your plan for year-over-year growth is stymied and your vacation house in the country is on hold for at least another year.
On the other hand, the positive impacts of communicating well can be as dramatically good because business people want to work with artists who turn their vague concepts into visual poetry. In the best of the possible world, your communication skills will help you, together with your client, realize that what is really needed to spur sales is a not a small brochure. It's a marketing plan that encompasses a four-color 48-page DM catalog, an interactive website, plus an illustrated newsletter. That's when you get the contract and a renewal.
Since you are a designer and work with great partners (the writer) your ability to communicate well and deliver good work jumpstarts your clients sales and the wonderful cycle of success spirals upward.
So how does the visual artist create the opportunity for the best of all possible outcomes and avoids the worst?
The key to successful communication is to listen.
Listen to what the client has to say. More specifically, you will want to use a set of techniques that is known as "active listening."
[b]Active Listening, a Creative Tool[/b]
Techniques to help the creative professional succeed.
Active listening is used in therapy, negotiation, and conflict resolution. But it can be used in any situation where understanding is critical. It makes perfect sense for the creative professional to use it when your paycheck is on the line.
First, as you begin to listen:
Squarely face the person
Open your posture
Lean towards the speaker
Maintain eye contact
Relax and listen.
While your client is talking, ask yourself:
What are the facts they are trying to convey?
How do they feel about those facts?
Once you have heard the first set of ideas and concerns from the client you want to make sure you really understand this is where active listening comes in. The tools to use are these:
Paraphrasing.
Restate the message as you understand it, but usually with fewer words. Don't repeat it, re-phrase it.
Where possible, try and get the conversation to focus on the main point. It's important to say what you heard your client say, so that you are both sure you understood what was said.
Let's see how it works in a typical nsider this scenario. A marketing manager is describing a job he wants to turn over to a designer. The client, says " I think the brochure we did last year had too much stuff in it. There's too much information and I am not sure how well we organized it. Our target customers didn't seem to understand what we were selling and for that reason our sales team found it useless."
The designer paraphrases back, "What I hear you saying is that you need an effective tool to support your sales force. You want it simple and well organized, with a focus on the key features of this product."
Clarifying.
This is the process of bringing vague material into sharper focus. The purpose is to untangle unclear information or correct a wrong interpretation so that you can get more information and correctly identify what the speaker was trying to say.
For example, a client says, " I like what you did, but I want it to look stronger." You clarify by asking some questions, "Does that mean you want the type to stand out to create a bolder feeling? Or do you mean you want the image we pick to convey images of strength?"
Perception Checking.
Request the speaker to provide you with confirmation for your perceptions. The reason you do this is to get feedback on your assumptions.
For example, the designer says the client, "Let me see if we are on the same page. Your new product isn't well understood by your core customer base for your current products. You think that the marketing materials you are sending out are
unclear and too technical? You want our firm to take the materials you have and create a fresher look. But you want to stay with the some of the same elements you have used before so that your customers don't think that you have totally
changed what kind of company you are."
Obviously, this exchange can have an enormous effect on whether you succeed or not. If the client disagrees, this is his or her chance to spell it out.
Summarizing.
Recapping what you and the client have agreed was said. The purpose is to pull together all that the client said so that at the end of the meeting both of you are confident that all is understood.
In summing up, a designer might say, "Based on our conversation I am going to create at lest three layouts for a four-color, six-fold brochure. We will have a lead image on the cover and one or two images on each page. You are supplying us with several product shots and you want us to pick one to use. The rest of the images we will find and you would like us to stick with royalty-free images. You want a cheerful, colorful feel, evoking feelings of afety and security to support the benefits of your product to your target market--homeowners in their early 30's with young children. I will show you my work in a meeting we have scheduled for next Friday at 2:00 PM."
Are you saying to yourself active-shmacktive, I just want to take notes and get out of there? Does this seem like a lot of effort? Are you thinking, can't they just write a creative brief and let me get to work? I don't like words or talking-- if I was good at talking I'd have gone into sales? I work on intuition and artistic sensitivity. I know I can figure this out by seeing what they need.
The point is that many of your clients don't know how to tell you what they need and therefore you are responsible for learning it from them. Only by listening and talking can you guarantee that your work will meet the clients needs and expectations.
To put it simply: "Listen well and prosper."
[url=\"http://thecreativeforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38\"]source[/url]
It’s not enough to create great art. If you are going to
succeed as a creative professional, you will need to be an
effective communicator.
by Jeffrey Foster
"All the worst mistakes I made in my twenty five years as an Art Director, in agencies and as a freelancer, were the result of not listening well to my clients"-Ann Rhodes, freelance art director, winner of numerous awards including the Clio, New York One Show award, and CA Annual's New York Art Directors Club. See rhodes-d-signs.com
If you're a creative professional -- whether a graphic designer, art director, photographer or illustrator -- the way you relate to the world is through your art. But the way you pay your bills is communicating. You communicate ideas through your art, creating visual explanations of ideas too complex to be understood through words alone.
You are a visual artist. But words, both spoken and heard, are essential for communicating with your client. No matter how outstanding your art, if you don't know how to communicate effectively with your client, you're sunk.
In the worst case, your portfolio gets you the job and you work hard on the project, putting your very best creative energy into it. But because of miscommunication, you end up creating the wrong thing and the client fires you or refuses to pay. The check you were expecting to pay your suppliers and cover your rent vanishes, taking with it untold hours of hard work. It happens, and it hurts.
Not as bad is when the client isn't particularly happy with your work, but feels equally responsible for the outcome. This kind of decent client will pay you for what you delivered, but will never hire you again. Your plan for year-over-year growth is stymied and your vacation house in the country is on hold for at least another year.
On the other hand, the positive impacts of communicating well can be as dramatically good because business people want to work with artists who turn their vague concepts into visual poetry. In the best of the possible world, your communication skills will help you, together with your client, realize that what is really needed to spur sales is a not a small brochure. It's a marketing plan that encompasses a four-color 48-page DM catalog, an interactive website, plus an illustrated newsletter. That's when you get the contract and a renewal.
Since you are a designer and work with great partners (the writer) your ability to communicate well and deliver good work jumpstarts your clients sales and the wonderful cycle of success spirals upward.
So how does the visual artist create the opportunity for the best of all possible outcomes and avoids the worst?
The key to successful communication is to listen.
Listen to what the client has to say. More specifically, you will want to use a set of techniques that is known as "active listening."
[b]Active Listening, a Creative Tool[/b]
Techniques to help the creative professional succeed.
Active listening is used in therapy, negotiation, and conflict resolution. But it can be used in any situation where understanding is critical. It makes perfect sense for the creative professional to use it when your paycheck is on the line.
First, as you begin to listen:
Squarely face the person
Open your posture
Lean towards the speaker
Maintain eye contact
Relax and listen.
While your client is talking, ask yourself:
What are the facts they are trying to convey?
How do they feel about those facts?
Once you have heard the first set of ideas and concerns from the client you want to make sure you really understand this is where active listening comes in. The tools to use are these:
Paraphrasing.
Restate the message as you understand it, but usually with fewer words. Don't repeat it, re-phrase it.
Where possible, try and get the conversation to focus on the main point. It's important to say what you heard your client say, so that you are both sure you understood what was said.
Let's see how it works in a typical nsider this scenario. A marketing manager is describing a job he wants to turn over to a designer. The client, says " I think the brochure we did last year had too much stuff in it. There's too much information and I am not sure how well we organized it. Our target customers didn't seem to understand what we were selling and for that reason our sales team found it useless."
The designer paraphrases back, "What I hear you saying is that you need an effective tool to support your sales force. You want it simple and well organized, with a focus on the key features of this product."
Clarifying.
This is the process of bringing vague material into sharper focus. The purpose is to untangle unclear information or correct a wrong interpretation so that you can get more information and correctly identify what the speaker was trying to say.
For example, a client says, " I like what you did, but I want it to look stronger." You clarify by asking some questions, "Does that mean you want the type to stand out to create a bolder feeling? Or do you mean you want the image we pick to convey images of strength?"
Perception Checking.
Request the speaker to provide you with confirmation for your perceptions. The reason you do this is to get feedback on your assumptions.
For example, the designer says the client, "Let me see if we are on the same page. Your new product isn't well understood by your core customer base for your current products. You think that the marketing materials you are sending out are
unclear and too technical? You want our firm to take the materials you have and create a fresher look. But you want to stay with the some of the same elements you have used before so that your customers don't think that you have totally
changed what kind of company you are."
Obviously, this exchange can have an enormous effect on whether you succeed or not. If the client disagrees, this is his or her chance to spell it out.
Summarizing.
Recapping what you and the client have agreed was said. The purpose is to pull together all that the client said so that at the end of the meeting both of you are confident that all is understood.
In summing up, a designer might say, "Based on our conversation I am going to create at lest three layouts for a four-color, six-fold brochure. We will have a lead image on the cover and one or two images on each page. You are supplying us with several product shots and you want us to pick one to use. The rest of the images we will find and you would like us to stick with royalty-free images. You want a cheerful, colorful feel, evoking feelings of afety and security to support the benefits of your product to your target market--homeowners in their early 30's with young children. I will show you my work in a meeting we have scheduled for next Friday at 2:00 PM."
Are you saying to yourself active-shmacktive, I just want to take notes and get out of there? Does this seem like a lot of effort? Are you thinking, can't they just write a creative brief and let me get to work? I don't like words or talking-- if I was good at talking I'd have gone into sales? I work on intuition and artistic sensitivity. I know I can figure this out by seeing what they need.
The point is that many of your clients don't know how to tell you what they need and therefore you are responsible for learning it from them. Only by listening and talking can you guarantee that your work will meet the clients needs and expectations.
To put it simply: "Listen well and prosper."
[url=\"http://thecreativeforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38\"]source[/url]