Emmy Winning Designer SHARES 3 SKILLS To Go From An AVERAGE To GREAT Designer (Part 1of3)

Summary

In 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

00:00

🎨 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.

05:00

🤝 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.

10:00

🔍 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.

15:01

📹 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.

Keywords

💡Designer

A designer is a professional who creates visual or functional items, often in the fields of graphic design, product design, or fashion. In the video, the term 'designer' is used to refer to individuals who are serious about their craft and are looking to excel in their design careers. The video emphasizes the importance of certain skills for designers to go from good to great, which is central to the theme of professional development in design.

💡Fundamental Skills

Fundamental skills refer to the basic abilities or competencies that are essential for a particular field or activity. In the context of the video, these are the core skills that every aspiring designer must master to achieve excellence in their work. The script discusses the importance of developing great listening skills as one of these fundamental skills.

💡Listening Skills

Listening skills are the ability to effectively hear, understand, and interpret spoken messages. The video emphasizes the importance of developing great listening skills for designers, as it allows them to better understand client needs and expectations. It is highlighted as a counterintuitive yet game-changing skill for designers to master.

💡Creative Brief

A creative brief is a document or guideline that outlines the goals, target audience, and general direction for a creative project. In the video, the creative brief is mentioned as an ideal scenario where designers have the freedom to create anything, but the speaker argues that understanding the client's needs through listening is more important than just creating freely.

💡Expression

Expression in the context of design refers to the act of conveying thoughts, feelings, or ideas through creative work. The video discusses how while designers can create anything, it's more important to understand what should be created based on the client's needs, rather than just focusing on the act of expression.

💡Client Engagement

Client engagement refers to the process of interacting with and involving clients in the design process. The video script discusses the importance of engaging with clients through a series of questions and active listening to better understand their needs and expectations, which is a key aspect of successful design work.

💡Rapport

Rapport is the harmonious relationship or understanding between people. In the video, building rapport with clients through asking questions and listening is highlighted as a way to establish a personal connection and trust, which can lead to better design outcomes and client satisfaction.

💡Sales Skills

Sales skills are the abilities needed to sell products or services effectively. The video script addresses the criticism the speaker receives for discussing sales skills in the context of design, arguing that the ability to sell and negotiate is important for designers to command higher prices for their work and to lift the industry standards.

💡Pricing

Pricing refers to the process of setting the cost at which goods or services are sold. The video mentions the importance of understanding pricing in relation to the value of design work, suggesting that designers should not undervalue their skills and should learn to price their work appropriately.

💡Negotiation

Negotiation is the process of discussion and compromise to reach an agreement. The video script briefly touches on the importance of negotiation skills for designers, as it allows them to secure better terms and conditions for their work.

💡Portfolio

A portfolio is a collection of an individual's work that showcases their skills and accomplishments. In the video, the speaker uses the metaphor of a portfolio being like physical attractiveness, which gets one considered for a job, but it's the ability to listen and engage with clients that can 'seal the deal' in the design industry.

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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