How to balance between client's conventional expectation and designer innovative approach in UI/UX work flow?
Dinesh Singh
Creative Director at Healthmug & Plufit (e-marketplaces for health products) | UI/UX | Brand | Graphics
It's a delicate matter in UI/UX design, balancing the conventional expectations of both a client and a designer against the innovative approach to the discipline. Following is a methodical approach to achieve the balance:
Initial Consultation: The project should begin with a detailed discussion that conveys the vision and goals of the clients, target audience, brand identity, and any specific requirement that the project may need. Clarify the expectations and constraints.
Show and Tell: Document their typical expectations, including the specific design elements, features, or styles they prefer.
Design Principles: Elaborate on the design trends, user experience principles, and how it modulates their projects for better innovation.
Show Examples: Show case studies or examples of similar projects to overlap innovative design solutions.
Establish Well-Defined Goals: Make certain that you and your client are on the same page about the purpose of any project. In cases like this, traditional expectations can be fulfilled with a new solution as they may directly relate to the established goals.
Define What Cannot and Can be Compromised Upon: It is crucial to understand which elements cannot be compromised upon by the client, and which features might be tackled innovatively.
Blend Tradition with Innovation: Create a design that combines some familiar features to meet traditional expectations, and some innovative features to enhance usability or aesthetics.
Prototype and Iterate: Create wireframes and prototypes that have traditional heuristics along with your innovative ones. Share these prototypes to get feedback and iterate upon them.
Update the Client: Apprise the client about the design process in all steps. Notify them especially on how innovative sections are enhancing the design.
Feedback: Ask for the opinion of the client on the design cases. This will make sure their concerns are incorporated and produce a walk-decoration ambiance
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Realistic Goals: There should be a precise definition of what can be done and what cannot be done within the framework of the project. Make the client understand the trade-offs possible when a conventional and innovative approach is used.
Compromise: In the case that compromise becomes necessary, be open to compromise. If any portion of the creative ideas is not really viable or realistic within the expectations of the client, then consideration of any alternative approach must be discussed.
Demonstrate Value: Express how the creative components of the design will enhance the user experience, user engagement, or conversion rates. If possible, support your argument with data or projections.
Provide Success Examples: It is crucial to give examples of how similar innovative strategies have paid off in past projects.
Be Transparent: Be frank what could be done upfront and what may require time or augmentation of resources.
Empathize: Place yourself in the shoes of the client and acknowledge his perspective and his issues. In case if the relationship is good, then he may be more receptive to new ideas.
Plan Adaptability: Dealing with feedback, and the changing needs of the client, might require alteration of design. Flexibility is a must in balancing innovation with expectations.
Document Changes: Keep a log of all the changes and decisions made at every point of the project so that everyone can be in tune with the amendments and not have any misinterpretations.
After-Action Review: After the project gets completed, the work needs to be shared with the client. The segment that was carried out well and the aspect that can be improvised for the next projects has to be talked about.
By following these steps, you can ensure that you balance your conventional client expectations and new design solutions effectively. This means coming up with a final product sure to satisfy the client's needs, leveraging creative design to result in a much better experience for the user.