Do you know how to articulately verbalize the characteristics, the reasons for, a design? Or do your conversations with clients sound like this:

Client to designer: This is an important campaign; we have a big impression to make. Punch it up.

Designer: I know just the thing.

Later, at the presentation:

Designer: Isn't it heavenly? The blue really makes it flow.

Client: There's not enough ooommph.

Designer: I believe its beauty is its own ooommph.

Client: It's not happening for me.

Designer: What do you want, then?

Client: Impact. Um, zip. I'm not sure; I'll know it when I see it.

Later, over coffee:

Designer A: That great poster with the blue graduated fill? Jones didn’t like it. Too sophisticated.

Designer B: Aw! It was totally great! What did he want?

Designer A: Couldn’t say.

Designer B: Clients are so stupid.

The conversation above is from John McWade’s Before & After editorial, “Let’s Talk”. In it, John hits the proverbial nail on its head. Words like “pop,” “snap,” “oomph,” “cool,” “eye-catching,” “punch,” “trendy,” and “impact” are non-communicative crutch words. When clients don’t know how to describe what they see or want to see, they fall back on these crutch words, which communicate nothing useful. These words are emotional, but don’t actually describe an emotion. When a designer uses these crutch words, the relationship is in trouble.

When a designer uses crutch words, she fails to do her job.

Designers need to learn to communicate with clients, teaching clients to articulate design feedback by example. Saying “it flows well” is not as informative and articulate as explaining:  “The asymetrical arrangement of the objects activates the white space—the ostensibly unused portion of the page—transforming it from negative space into a design element all its own. That, combined with the relationship created between the headline and the tagline—see how these two elements are the only elements of that color and how they share equal weight in the page with the same typeface, equal point size, and roughly equal shape?—creates a dynamic flow that leads the reader’s eye through all the salient points of the message we’re conveying. See here? The headline and unique shape to the white space (as it relates to the other objects) instantly grab the eye from the top-left corner of the page, where English-reading people always look first. Then the headline’s slightly forward-leaning shape leads the eye into the main illustration, which leads the eye here, here, and finally, here. Everything critical to the message is communicated, and, because we’ve chosen a clearly defined hierarchy of color, typeface choice, size, and spacing, the relative importance of each object is immediately evident to the reader. See? The headline and tag line are larger than the copypoints, which are colored and styled for greater visual impression than the story block…”

One clearly defined part of a designer’s job—any designer:  graphic, industrial, fashion, interior—is to justify her designs. It’s a requirement in the job description, being able to articulate the reasons behind design decisions.

An excellent and readily available example of justifying design is TLC’s Trading Spaces television series. At the end of each episode both interior designers review their respective designs and explain the reasons for their choices. They justify their design decisions, which, though one may disagree with them (especially with Hildi or Doug’s self-indulgent off-the-wall choices), are always based on well thought out reasons for the choices they made in solving the design problems inherent in their respective rooms. Moreover, they are able to articulate in plain English those reasons.

Design is the activity of solving visual problems. Whether to choose this paper size or that, use four-color process or duotone, Jenson or Century Schoolbook, are all decisions the designer makes. They are not accidental, they are not based on what’s “cool” or trendy at the moment—not for a real designer anyway. These choices are based on rules and knowledge as applied to the design problem at hand, to the individual material being communicated through design. Thus decisions are made, and decisions, by definition, are choices based upon reasons. A designer must articulate the reasons behind the choices—why Jenson and not Century Schoolbook, why four-color process instead of duotone.

Saying “I chose Jenson as the typeface because it gives more impact” is meaningless. What does “impact” mean? Vague adjectives usually mean different things to different people, and, more importantly, they aren’t decisive reasons, no matter how they are phrased.

How do you communicate? Can you articulate the reasons behind your designs? Do you?

Tell the other Design Weblog readers about some of your client conversations, how the clients communicated, and how you communicated to the clients, about designs you presented. You can remain anonymous—we won’t fault you—but do include a real e-mail so you can validate and post your comment (e-mail addresses will never be shared or spammed).