Emmy Winning Designer SHARES 3 SKILLS To Go From An AVERAGE To GREAT Designer (Part 1of3)
Summary
TLDRIn this insightful video, renowned designer Chris shares his expertise on the pivotal skills necessary for designers to excel in their careers. He emphasizes the importance of developing exceptional listening skills as a foundation for understanding client needs, which ultimately leads to more effective and targeted design solutions. Chris challenges the traditional approach of extensive exploration, advocating for a dialogue-driven process that refines ideas and enhances the designer-client relationship, resulting in higher success rates and more fulfilling projects.
Takeaways
- 😀 Listening skills are crucial for designers to understand client needs and project goals effectively.
- 🎨 The ability to create is not enough; designers must also know what to create to meet client expectations.
- 🤝 Building rapport with clients through genuine questions and active listening can lead to stronger professional relationships.
- 🎯 Designers should focus on the right questions to narrow down the creative process and align with the client's vision.
- 💡 Asking diagnostic questions helps in understanding the client's needs, budget, and timing, which is essential for successful project outcomes.
- 🚫 Fear of asking questions due to perceived incompetence should be overcome, as it can lead to missed opportunities and misaligned expectations.
- 🔍 Designers should be willing to acknowledge when they are not the right fit for a project and communicate this honestly to the client.
- 🛑 Honesty about one's capabilities can prevent wasted time and resources, and may even lead to future opportunities with the client.
- 📉 The fear of losing a job due to incapability should be embraced, as it can lead to early discovery of misalignment and prevent frustration.
- 💼 High-caliber clients value expertise and the ability to help them achieve their goals, which can be demonstrated through thoughtful questioning.
- 📚 The process of discovery through questions and listening is a two-way street, allowing both the client and the designer to assess suitability for collaboration.
Q & A
What is the main topic of the video?
-The video is about the three fundamental skills that designers must have to go from good to great, as discussed in a conversation with an Emmy award-winning designer.
Why does the designer emphasize the importance of listening skills in the design industry?
-The designer emphasizes listening skills because it helps in understanding the client's needs and expectations, which is crucial for creating designs that meet their requirements.
What does the designer mean by 'happy ears'?
-'Happy ears' refers to the tendency of some designers to listen only for what they want to hear and then misinterpret the client's needs based on their own biases or desires.
How does the designer suggest using questions to replace design exploration?
-The designer suggests asking a series of diagnostic questions to the client to better understand their needs and expectations, which can then help in creating targeted and effective designs.
What is the significance of knowing the 'wall the bullseye is facing' in design?
-Knowing the 'wall the bullseye is facing' is a metaphor for understanding the direction and focus needed to meet the client's expectations, ensuring that the design work is relevant and effective.
Why is it beneficial for designers to admit when they are not the right fit for a project?
-Admitting when they are not the right fit allows designers to avoid wasting time and resources on projects they cannot successfully complete, and it can also build trust and honesty with the client.
What is the designer's perspective on the relationship between pricing and skill level in the design industry?
-The designer believes that if someone with less skill is making more money, it should be a signal for others to improve their sales and marketing skills, as it can lift the entire industry's standards.
How does the designer address the fear of asking too many questions and appearing incompetent?
-The designer argues that asking questions is a sign of professionalism and care for the client's needs, and it can help build rapport and a personal connection, which is beneficial for both parties.
What is the designer's advice for dealing with a situation where the client's requirements seem impossible to meet?
-The designer advises being honest and upfront about the limitations, suggesting that it's better to know upfront if the project is not a good fit rather than wasting time and resources.
What is the 'Paradox of Choice' mentioned by the designer, and how does it relate to the design process?
-The 'Paradox of Choice' refers to the difficulty in making decisions when faced with too many options. In the context of design, presenting fewer, well-thought-out ideas can be more effective than overwhelming the client with numerous options.
How does the designer suggest using the process of elimination through questions to narrow down design ideas?
-By asking targeted questions, designers can eliminate irrelevant ideas and focus on a few, or even a single, concept that closely aligns with the client's needs, leading to a more efficient and successful design process.
Outlines
🎨 The Art of Listening in Design
This paragraph introduces a three-part masterclass series featuring an Emmy award-winning designer, Chris, who shares insights on the essential skills for designers to excel. The focus is on the counterintuitive first skill: developing great listening skills. Chris emphasizes the importance of understanding client needs through dialogue and questions rather than making assumptions. He argues that good listening can prevent wasted effort on unsuitable concepts and align designers with client expectations. The conversation also touches on the misconception that asking questions can signal incompetence, with Chris advocating for the opposite—honest communication can build trust and even lead to job opportunities when a designer admits a project may not be a good fit.
🤝 Building Rapport Through Questioning
In this paragraph, Chris discusses the benefits of asking questions in a sales context, drawing parallels to building rapport in personal relationships. He argues that instead of overwhelming clients with options, it's better to engage them with thoughtful questions that reveal their true needs. This approach can lead to a stronger connection and a more accurate understanding of the project scope. Chris shares his experience in the advertising industry, where he learned that asking the right questions and listening carefully can significantly reduce the amount of work required to create a compelling pitch, leading to higher success rates and less wasted effort.
🔍 The Power of Precision in Design Briefs
Chris uses the metaphor of dating to illustrate the importance of listening and asking questions in the design process. He suggests that being genuinely interested in the client's needs, much like being interested in a potential partner, can lead to a more successful outcome. The paragraph includes a story from Chris's experience in advertising, where his team initially created numerous ideas for pitches, leading to choice paralysis and low success rates. By refining their approach to ask better questions and listen more intently, they were able to focus on fewer, more targeted concepts, which not only increased their win rate but also reduced the workload and stress on the team.
📹 Conclusion and Call to Action
The final paragraph serves as a conclusion and call to action, prompting viewers to watch a related video for further insights into the discussed topics. It does not contain substantial content beyond this directive.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Designer
💡Fundamental Skills
💡Listening Skills
💡Creative Brief
💡Expression
💡Client Engagement
💡Rapport
💡Sales Skills
💡Pricing
💡Negotiation
💡Portfolio
Highlights
Emmy-winning designer Chris shares three fundamental skills for designers to excel in their career.
Chris emphasizes the importance of developing great listening skills for designers, contrary to the common belief that design is solely about expression.
Designers should engage with clients through questions and active listening to understand their needs better, rather than making assumptions.
Chris explains that understanding the client's needs early on can save time and prevent frustration from failed design concepts.
The conversation addresses the misconception that asking questions might signal a lack of knowledge or skills to the client.
Chris argues that building rapport through questions and understanding the client's needs is more effective than overwhelming them with options.
Designers are encouraged to be honest about their capabilities and to communicate openly with clients if they are not the right fit for a project.
Honesty and integrity in communication can lead to long-term relationships and future opportunities, even if a designer is not suitable for a specific project.
Chris discusses the importance of retreating and allowing clients to advance when a designer acknowledges they are not the best fit for a project.
Designers should focus on doing less but better by narrowing down their exploration based on client feedback and requirements.
A real-life example is provided where asking better questions and listening improved the win rate and reduced expenses in advertising and broadcast design.
Chris shares his experience with the pitch process and how it evolved from presenting multiple ideas to focusing on a single, well-articulated concept.
The paradox of choice is discussed, illustrating how fewer, well-thought-out options can be more effective than presenting a vast array of possibilities.
Designers are advised to create a clear vision for their projects and to ensure it aligns with the client's expectations before proceeding.
The transcript concludes with the importance of focusing energy on quality over quantity to achieve better results in design projects.
Transcripts
if you are a designer and you plan on
making this a very serious career for
yourself this is the video for you I am
going to have a deep dive conversation
with legendary designer Emmy
award-winning designer the person who
oversaw projects for the likes of Justin
Timberlake Coldplay Gnarls Barkley and
even Xbox and Microsoft walk us through
the three fundamental skills that
designers must have to go from good to
Great you want to stick around for this
three-part masterclass series okay Chris
you've been in the design space Going on
30 years now I think you have trained
many designers under you and you've seen
the differentiators between someone
who's really great at their craft and
someone who for lack of a better term is
mediocre needs some work so I want to
just microscope in on the three skills
that you think every person who desires
to become world-class designer should
master and let's start with kind of the
first one that comes to mind for you I'm
glad that we're having this conversation
though because I get criticized a lot
about talking about the business about
pricing selling and negotiation that
they think oh my God you're just trying
to tell a bunch of the lame second third
rate creatives on how to go get more
money and that for whatever reason is
bothering people first I just want to
address that if someone is lower tiering
to make more money than you maybe that's
a signal that you need to learn more
sales skills or marketing skills because
this is a good thing when when people
with less skill than you are making more
money than you it should lift the entire
industry up because the inverse is not
good for industry they're pulling the
prices down so I think instead of
sending me hate mail you guys should
send me love letters I really think that
but let's get into it so the presumption
is you have some fundamental skills like
you know the tools either through
self-taught being self-taught or you've
taken courses or you've interned
somewhere where you have some basis
skills you know how to put things
together so let me start off and this is
not in any particular order the first
skill that I think is going to be a game
changer it's kind of counterintuitive is
to develop great listening skills and
this is like why do you need to be a
good listener to be a good designer is
it designing about expression and making
things most of us who know how to create
things can create anything and although
we desire the open creative brief where
they say anything you make will love we
think there's this fantasy in our mind
that we just get to make whatever we
want and people give us money and in
some instances that's true when you
ascend yourself to a state of being an
artist or an artisan or something like
that and you have a clearly distinctive
style people would just give you money
to do more of the same that's both good
and bad this is a long-standing practice
within photographers and illustrators or
Image Makers because they want to be
known for specific Styles when you hire
me you get my style the only problem is
when that style goes out of style and
all styles go in and out what are you
going to do now you wish people would
give you the opportunity to do a
different style kind of complicated or
sometimes you get bored of your own
style it's like you can't do something
else because they won't like it so now
you're stuck doing the same thing over
and over and over again even though
you've personally moved on aesthetically
so what I I want to do is to say look
yes you're capable you can do anything
so the real question is what should you
be doing not how you should be doing it
so the only way I know how to do that is
to engage with the client whoever it's
giving you money through a series of
questions and listening with open ears
not with happy ears happy ears are like
listening for whatever you want to hear
for and then kind of morphing that into
whatever it is you think you heard and
we see this happening all the time
because as the expression goes it's
easier to hit a Target once you know
where the target lives something that I
learned from my business coach Pierre
McLaren is you don't need to tell me
where the bullseye is you just need to
tell me what wall it's facing because
oftentimes we're looking in the north
Direction and the bullseye is on the
south wall so I need to be oriented in
the right direction and the only way I
know how to do that is by asking the
clients questions so when he said that
to me it was like wow this is amazing
because now I can start to design a
series of questions and reduce the
number of options down hence orienting
myself towards the wall in which the
Bull's Eye is on and then it takes away
a lot of stress so I want to replace
design Exploration with questions and
words and dialogue and so instead of
toiling hours days or weeks on a on a
concept that may not work and then to
feel super frustrated when the clients
say this isn't working this is not what
we expected which is heartbreaking for
any creative I want to begin the
conversation with dialogue by asking
questions and then just being really
silent and being very still and just
listening Mo what do you think about
what I just said I agree with it but I
gotta ask on behalf of the audience
Chris doe can do that Christo can go
into a meeting listen really well take
solid notes ask clarifying questions but
what if I'm the designer who needs the
job and I ask all these questions and
then the answers become something that I
can't do what do I do then okay there's
two things that you brought up your
primary question and your other question
which is a lot of people think I need
the job and if I ask the clients too
many questions will that signal to them
I do not know what I'm doing oh won't
that be annoying and won't that drive or
push them away and in fact nothing could
be farther from the truth I know you can
find so many examples in your real life
when you walk in as a buyer as a
consumer of something unsure of what it
is you're buying either product or
service and the person actually spends
time talking to you to assess your needs
your budget your timing and other things
that normal sales people don't even
bother to ask what happens then is you
build rapport and it and a personal
connection with this person thinking
they really care whether they do or not
that's the feeling that you have you
might come in and say I need a certain
car and then they go through a series of
questions diagnostic questions to help
you understand like you're better off
trading in this car for this and buying
a used car and you'll get more bang for
the buck and has a higher resale value
and so you're building a relationship
with people so many creatives myself
especially in the beginning of my career
I was afraid to ask questions thinking
who am I to be asking them these
questions and won't that signal to them
I'm an idiot I don't know what I'm doing
but in fact it's the thing that gets you
the consideration for the job of course
you still have to have the talent and a
skill it can't just all be cotton candy
puffs of something that you can't bite
down on hey before we get VAR I just
have a really simple ass I'm not here to
sell you anything but it would mean a
lot to us just to help with algorithm
and how it runs to leave a comment right
now you can type in what city you're
from type in your name type in anything
it'll help other people find this video
and if you're truly getting value don't
forget to subscribe so that leads me to
your primary question which is I need
this job what if I ask him certain
questions and I can't do it on the
surface it seems like a really
legitimate question right but let me
just ask you this what if you proceed on
a job where there's nothing that you can
do that will satisfy the client aren't
you better off knowing that upfront
versus later on because that sounds like
some form of torture though like you're
a hip-hop guy you can freestyle battle
rap there's a lot of skills that you
have I'm not saying that you can't do it
but what if I wanted you to compose a
country song that is a mix between Opera
and Country right and you didn't know
that that's what I wanted so you're
coming at me with like heavy beats super
dope lyrics and you keep showing me
option after option and I keep telling
you that ain't it that ain't it I know
when I see it and eventually League yo
bro what's up and I say to you as a
client you know what's up you're fired
I'm not gonna pay you I'm gonna give you
really bad review because you just
wasted a lot of my time so now you've
wasted time and energy and good will
when you know you could not have come up
with a solution that the clients would
be happy with so that fear that fear of
like what if they say something I can't
do well that's good news to find out
early on to say like you know what based
on what you said here's what I heard you
say this this and that and I don't think
I'm the right fit here's something
that's cool that's going to happen the
person's gonna say oh thank you for the
honesty very few people would say that
but you know what I have a good feeling
about you tell me what you would do
instead that you can do or can you hire
other people to help you I mean it's
just intrigued because of the Rapport
we've built that I want to continue down
this path because I think someone else
would just assume what it is that I want
now what you've done is you've spoken
about the elephant in the room which is
I don't think I'm a good fit you've
taken one step backwards you've
retreated and if they're like you know
what we really like you they're
advancing they're pursuing you now and
you're not pursuing them it's a classic
principle and the win without pitching
Manifesto right you're doing something
really good there and you're being
really honest and ethical about how you
do this so now they've given you
permission to go work with other people
they've also changed their expectations
about what you can and cannot do and
they're opening their mind to like what
else is there and if they just simply
say you know I appreciate your honesty
I'm gonna go look somewhere else you've
saved yourself some massive heartache
and potentially you planted a seed for a
future relationship with this person who
may very well come back to you and say
you know what I love your honesty so
much that I'm going to give you another
shot at a different project that I hope
you'll feel like you can do I really
wish that whoever is listening to this
replays that last two to three minutes
because I've done personally exactly
what Chris has said about retreating and
then seeing them Advance just from a
place of honesty and I wish for
everybody to be able to experience that
once you lean in with courage to be able
to tell yourself with Integrity that
this is not something that you can do
you'll be amazed at how the client just
looks for a way to work together or
completely changes the scope and I think
like having learned this from you Chris
the position that you put yourself in
even if you don't work together you're
on their vendor list just from like your
honesty for whenever they need something
that you can do I now really understand
what you were talking about when we
would do role plays that are super
aggressive and you'd be like Mo the
clients that I've worked with they don't
even push against me like that so I'm
foreign to this experience what I've
learned with High Caliber clients is
when you're listening and asking
thought-provoking questions they're also
listening to your line of questioning to
determine your level of expertise and
what you do and they're deciphering is
this person really what they say they're
about does this person really know the
scope of what a project like this would
take based on the line of questioning
based on how they're trying to filter me
of being a client or bring me in as a
client the second thing they're trying
to do is understand if you can actually
help them I remember a client saying
this to me like after we had worked
together for a while he was like that
first discovery call I saw your work but
I wanted to know if you could help me
and a lot of times that listening and
that line of questioning is it's a dance
of like they're on show for you as like
can you take them on as a client and
you're on show for them if like you can
actually help them and it's really
interesting how that happens from less
talking and more question asking and
retreating whenever you're not a good
fit so I really hope that people can
experience that and lean into doing what
you're telling them to do because it's a
very liberating thing to experience I
just wanted to add some context to my
personal experience when that came up do
you have anything else to add around
this number one or do you think it's
safe to move into the second one you
know everything's add to this so good
let me let me make a metaphor that
everybody can understand I think let's
just talk about relationships right you
ran an event to party you're a single
person you're out to meet somebody that
might be a long-term relationship for
you and you see lots of Attractive
people this works whatever gender you
are and attractiveness is what gets you
considered now you can consider your
portfolio your body of work your real
all that kind of stuff as your level of
attractiveness okay but what's going to
seal the deal when you meet this person
they can say things like I'm more
interested in learning about you versus
talking about themselves versus trying
to sell you on how great and
accomplished they are and if you're
anywhere kind of more mature in your
life you're already way tired of those
people whether it's men or women it
doesn't really matter like you know what
I've had this experience before I'm not
interested in you just sucking up all
the energy but the person who winds up
being the most interesting person is the
person who's most interested they're
interested in you they want to ask
questions they want to learn about what
your needs and wants are and when
appropriate they might say a thing or
two and it's it goes down to this
fundamental thing everybody wants to
talk about themselves so if you want to
be more attractive to other people ask
people genuine questions about what
they're looking for and then just be
willing to listen I want to tell a story
to put this like into Super concrete
example okay this is a real story this
is real life I've worked in advertising
and broadcast design for over two
decades unfortunately as industry
evolved and there were more people more
suppliers than there were demand for the
work we got into this thing where the
whole industry became highly competitive
it was Pitch based so you only win
projects based on your ability to pitch
so being fairly new to this I hated the
pitch process we were doing work for
free in hopes of getting work it's a
horrible practice but that's how the
industry evolved into unfortunately so
in the beginning we'd get on the phone
we'd talk to them they would tell us the
the script the idea the creative brief
and then we would go away and with a
team of five to ten people we would work
on multiple ideas the reason why we did
that was because we didn't have a clear
idea ourselves as to what might work we
let the clients use broad language they
use suitcase words words that have many
meanings depending on who's asking and
we just did that and that's how we
thought we were supposed to pitch so
instead of walking in with a few ideas
we'd walk in with volume it was tonnage
we would overwhelm the clients with so
much exploration and so many different
possibilities and we thought well that's
a competitive Advantage they're going to
be blown away by old ideas now you know
this Mo we start to create the Paradox
of choice you ever go eat at Cheesecake
Factory it takes a exponentially longer
at Cheesecake Factory to pick what you
want because the menu is like 10 pages
deep you're not worried that you're
you're gonna have a bad meal you're
worried that you're not gonna have the
best meal so like maybe I want the
chicken cacciatore I want the pizza or
one of the Caesar salad I don't know
what I want and so naturally takes you a
really long time to go through this if
you've ever watched an episode of
Kitchen Nightmares the first thing that
Gordon Ramsay does is he chops that menu
down to nothing because what you can do
is you can make a few excellent dishes
and allow the clients to pick one or two
things that it's going to be a really
amazing experience and so we would pitch
this way for many years until we learned
that if we just ask better questions and
we listen the amount of exploration like
say we're gonna explore 10 ideas it
becomes two sometimes just one and we
tell the clients we actually have a very
clear ideas what you what you want we
would say it in words and describe it
and say is that what you're thinking do
we have this correct and they're like
yes that's it now imagine if we had the
same 10 people that were going to work
on the project work on 10 different
ideas we get them to work on one idea so
instead of going a mile wide we go a
mile deep so now we can get into very
specific ways in which each frame is
going to look the story The conceptual
development is really tight and then we
say that we might lose but we have a
better shot of clearly articulating our
vision for what it is that we're going
to do that the clients that have one
decision to make not ten the one
decision they have to make is is this
what we want if it is we got the job and
we saw something quite remarkable happen
our win rate went up our expenses went
way down we required fewer people to
work on it and it reduced amount of
burnout that people were feeling because
when you pitch on a job then you don't
win time and time again it's
demoralizing and it feels like it's a
waste of money time energy effort and
artistic capability so that's a really
concrete example of how when we ask the
right questions that we listen and we
focus our energy on doing less but
better everything works out better if
you found that listening and asking
really great questions is a skill you
want to dive deeper on watch this video
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