Or maybe Bob’s using an unsupported browser. Or maybe the task he’s trying to accomplish is something the team decided not to support. Maybe Bob is not a member of the audience the site has been designed for. Now the designer has something to work with. What if we substituted the word “Why” for “No”? Let’s look at the conversation from the designer’s vantage:īoss: “I think we should do this totally idiotic thing.”ĭesigner (wants to say “no” but instead says): “Why?”īoss: “Because Bob from accounting said he had a hard time accomplishing this task.” And since no designer likes being ordered around, the designer walks away angry, implements the horrible idea, and decides to find another gig as soon as possible. It’s the rare boss that likes feeling stupid, so he will more likely select Choice 2: Make it an order. Choice 1: He can walk away feeling stupid for asking. That’s a horrible idea and I’m offended that you’d even mention it.”Īt this point the boss has two choices, both of which suck. Here’s how the conversation looks to the boss:īoss: “Hey, I think we should do this totally reasonable thing.”ĭesigner: “No. This is a conversation that happens in every company with a website at one point or another. The fix is obvious to him, so he says to his designer: “Go make this change.” The designer knows better, and says no. Somebody doesn’t like the way something works, or looks.
#Anyone who would letterspace blackletter would steal sheep how to
“Anyone who would letterspace blackletter would steal sheep.” “That photo ruins the page.”īut what nobody ever teaches us is perhaps the most important thing you can learn to be a successful working designer: How to not say “no.” If I could give one piece of advice to the designer just getting into client work, or even some who’s been doing this for a while, it’s this: The next time you want to say “no” to a client, boss, or colleague, say this instead: “Why?” “I can’t believe they chose that font,” we’ll say. Ask a designer about the design of something and we’re emphatic. We learn to be hard on ourselves and each other in design classes and reviews. Selecting a font, a color, a photo … almost every decision we make is about selecting the best option and saying “no” to the rest.Īs a result, we can be a pretty grumpy bunch. Picking a task to enable means saying “no” to all the other possible tasks (or, at the very least, deprioritizing them). Choosing a primary audience means saying “no” to all the others. Being a designer is all about embracing the word “no.” When we sit down with a blank slate and a job to do, we have to say “no” over and over again.
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