Slides from my talk on 24 September 2014 at Untangle The Web on working with clients better.

1. CLIENTS
Image credit: Shamley Productions (Psycho, 1960)

2. HELLO.I’m Matt
@duckymatt
Untangle The Web

3. @cyberduck_uk cyber-duck.co.uk

4. CLIENTS
WORKING WITH
BETTER
Image credit: Carolco Pictures, Pacific Western, Lightstorm Entertainment, Canal+ and T2 Productions (Terminator 2, 1991)

5. UX?
SO, HOW DOES THAT RELATE

6. Spent days putting this awesome design together
and just got client feedback. Looks like I'll be
spending the next few days ruining it!!
Gah. Working w/ a client who doesn't get this.
Making my head explode. They don't care about UX.
When you push forward a client design request
that you both know is a terrible idea.
Image credit: Talkback Thames and Channel 4 TV (The IT Crowd, 2006)

7. Image credit:Capella International, Eric’s Boy, KC Medien, Moving Pictures and New Line Cinema (Austin Powers, 1997)

8. http://clientsfromhell.net/

9. http://www.sharpsuits.net/

10. http://www.sharpsuits.net/

11. BE RESPONSIBLE
FOR YOURSELF
AND YOUR WORKImage credit:Universal Pictures (Frankenstein, 1931)

12. How much of the shit
we complain about all
day has our fingerprints
all over it?
MIKE MONTEIRO
Photo credit: Amber Gregory: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fontshop/7091584773/ YOU SHOULD BUY HIS BOOK: http://www.abookapart.com/products/design-is-a-job

13. I CLIENT WORK

14. Image credit:Chartoff-Winkler Productions and United Artists (Rocky, 1976)

15. The design process is
weird and complicated
because it involves
people…
!
…who are weird and
complicated.
MARK BOULTON
Photo credit: Anton Peck: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26545827@N00/5691825327/ Source: http://bradfrostweb.com/blog/post/where-theres-muck-theres-brass-mark-boulton-at-smashing-conference/

16. CLIENT WORK IS ALL
ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS
Image credit:Paramount Pictures (Top Gun, 1986)

17. THREE KEY FACETSImage credit:L.A. Films and HBO (¡Three Amigos!, 1986)

18. EMPATHY
TRUST
COMMUNICATION

19. EMPATHY

20. PUT YOURSELF IN YOUR CLIENT’S SHOES
THEY HIRED YOU TO SOLVE A PROBLEM THAT THEY CANNOT ALONE
Image credit:Cinema Group Ventures and Paramount Pictures (Trading Places, 1983)

21. CLIENTS WANT TO BE GUIDED
CLEARLY DEFINE THE ROLES OF
THE CLIENT RELATIONSHIP.
Image credit:Paramount Pictures (Forrest Gump, 1994)

22. Image credit:Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and Cubicle Inc. (Office Space, 1999)

23. ONE ON ONE
INTERVIEWS
Image credit:Village Roadshow Pictures, NPV Entertainment, Baltimore Pictures, Spring Creek Productions, Face Productions, Tribeca Productions (Analyse This, 1999)
http://goodkickoffmeetings.com/2010/04/stakeholder-frontloading/

24. The turning point in
many interviews is when
the interviewee gets up
and closes the office door
and lowers their voice.
PAUL BOAG
Photo credit: Andreas Øverland: http://www.flickr.com/photos/andreasoverland/4954194732/ Source: http://boagworld.com/business-strategy/how-to-improve-your-site-using-stakeholder-interviews/

25. AGREE ON PROJECT GOALS
http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2000-11-05/

26. TRUST

27. INTEGRITY
RELIABILITY
TRANSPARENCY
RESPECT

28. HONESTY
DON’T OVER-PROMISE
AND UNDER-DELIVER
Image credit:RKO Radio Pictures and Walt Disney Productions (Pinocchio, 1940)

29. GIVE UPDATES
EVEN IF THERE ISN’T
MUCH TO REPORT
Image credit:Columbia Pictures Corporation and Hawk Films (Dr Strangelove, 1964)

30. BE RELIABLE
DELIVER WHEN
YOU SAY YOU WILL
Image credit:Warner Bros, Guber-Peters Company and PolyGram Filmed Entertainment (Batman, 1989)

31. This is the extraordinary thing
about creativity: If you just
keep your mind resting against
the subject in a friendly but
persistent way, sooner or later
you will get a reward from your
unconscious…
!
…If you've put in the pondering
time in first.
JOHN CLEESE
John Cleese on Creativity - Watch every second of it, you won’t regret it, I guarantee it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU5x1Ea7NjQ

32. TRANSPARENCY
INVOLVE YOUR CLIENT
THROUGHOUT THE DESIGN
PROCESS
Image credit:Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, U-Drive Productions (Back to the Future, 1985)

33. TAKE THE CLIENT ON THE
JOURNEY WITH YOU
Image credit:MGM and Loew’s (The Wizard of Oz, 1939)

34. SURPRISES
SUCK
Image credit:Lucasfilm (Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, 1980)

35. WORKSHOPS
ARE A
DESIGNER’S
BEST FRIEND

36. EXPOSE YOUR
CLIENTS
TO RESEARCH
DIRECTLY

37. There is a direct
correlation between
this exposure and the
improvements we see
in the designs that
team produces.
JARED SPOOL
Photo credit: Jeffrey Zeldman: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zeldman/8614173005/
http://www.uie.com/articles/user_exposure_hours/

38. RESPECTImage credit:Paramount Pictures, Alfran Productions (The Godfather, 1972)

39. SORRY DAVE
Image credit:MGM and Stanley Kubrick Productions (2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968)

40. FIND THE PERFECT BALANCE
Image credit:Paramount Pictures and Lucasfilm (The Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981)

41. Your ego is a
bad designer
CHRISTOPHER BUTLER
http://www.newfangled.com/your_ego_is_a_bad_designer

42. UNCOVER THE
UNDERLYING
PROBLEM
GET THE CLIENT TO
FOCUS ON PROBLEMS
RATHER THAN SOLUTIONS.
Image credit:Warner Bros. (The Big Sleep, 1946)

43. STAY POSITIVE MEANS YOU CAN SAY NO
WITHOUT BEING THE ‘NO’
PERSON
Image credit:Walt Disney and Pixar Studios. (Up, 2009)

44. People will forget what you said.
People will forget what you did.
But people will never forget how
you made them feel.
MAYA ANGELOU
Photo credit: York College ISLGP http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maya_Angelou_visits_YCP!_2413.jpg

45. COMMUNICATION

46. ACTIVELY AVOID
MISINTERPRETATION
FORK HANDLES
OR FOUR CANDLES?
Image credit: BBC. (The Tow Ronnies, 1976)

47. When you're struggling
to write a sensitive email,
stop trying. Pick up the
phone and call instead.
CARL SMITH
http://devianthippie.com/ Source: https://twitter.com/carlsmith/status/430505161765974017

48. PRESENT DESIGNS,
DON’T JUST EMAIL THEM
Image credit: Dreamworks SKG, Universal Pictures, Scott Free Productions, Mill Film, C&L, Dawliz and Red Wagon Entertainment (Gladiator, 2000)

49. DESIGN FEEDBACK
CHINESE WHISPERS
Image credit: Thames Television (The Sooty Show, 1968-1992)

51. YOUR DESIGNS WON’T
SELL THEMSELVES
Image credit: Gracie Films and 20th Century Fox Television (The Simpsons, 1997)

52. “WHAT DO YOU THINK?”
IS THE ENEMY OF
CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK
Image credit: Warner Bros, Hawk Films, Peregrine and The Producer Circle Company (The Shining, 1980)

53. The client didn’t hire
you to make something
they liked, and
something they like may
not be the thing that
leads to their success.
MIKE MONTEIRO
Photo credit: Amber Gregory: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fontshop/7091584773/ BUY HIS BOOK, ALREADY, DAMNIT: http://www.abookapart.com/products/design-is-a-job
Source: https://medium.com/@monteiro/13-ways-designers-screw-up-client-presentations-51aaee11e28c

54. KEEP DESIGN CRITIQUES
GOAL ORIENTED
Image credit: NASA (http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/about/history/jsc40/jsc40_pg8.html)

55. SKETCH
Image credit: Twentieth Century Fox Films, Paramount Pictures and Lightstorm Entertainment (Titanic, 1997)

56. PROTOTYPE
Image credit: Paramount Pictures, Marvel Studios, Fairview Entertainment and Dark Blades Films (Iron Man, 2008)

57. STYLE TILES
http://styletil.es/
3
Image credit: Sandollar Productions and Touchstone Pictures (Father of the Bride, 1991)

58. PROTOTYPEPATTERN LIBRARIES
http://boagworld.com/design/pattern-library/
3
Image credit: Universal Pictures and Alphaville Films (The Mummy, 1999)

59. TEST
Image credit: The Ladd Company, Shaw Brothers and Warner Bros. (Blade Runner, 1982)

60. EMPATHY
TRUST
COMMUNICATION

61. SO NEXT TIME
Image credit: Michael White Productions, National Film Trustee Company and Monty Python Pictures (Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 1975)

62. WHAT COULD YOU HAVE
DONE DIFFERENTLY?

63. COULD YOU HAVE DEFINED
THE ROLES BETTER?

64. DID YOU SET AND MANAGE
THEIR EXPECTATIONS?

65. DID YOU COLLABORATE AND
INVOLVE THEM AS AN EQUAL?

66. DID YOU STRUCTURE
FEEDBACK APPROPRIATELY?

67. SOMETIMES…

68. No matter how much you try,
you can’t stop people from
sticking beans up their nose.
JARED SPOOL
Source: http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2011/07/08/beans-and-noses/Photo credit: Brandon Dilbeck (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JellyBellyBeans.jpg)

69. MORE OFTEN…

70. LEARN
Image credit: Lucasfilm (Star Wars: Episode I, 1999)

71. AND DO BETTER
Image credit: Warner Bros, Village Roadshow Pictures, A&E Television, Bazmark and Red Wagon Entertainment (The Great Gatsby, 2013)

72. THANK YOU
@duckymatt
Untangle The Web
Copyright: Studio 37 & La Petite Reine & La Classe Américaine
& JD Prod & France 3 Cinéma & Jouror Productions & uFilm (The Artist, 2011)