How do designers create solutions for business goals? How can I best empathize with my client?

Key Takeaways

hi my name is Zachary Lewis I'm from Cal State Northridge I'm graduating senior and my question is about uh the work culture here at blind what's the environment like like is this curtain always up is it always as quiet is there cackling throughout the day and like how do you guys like interact with each other to make it through at least a Monday okay I like that so um you know what it's very interesting we're using a lot of different words we're using the word character and now you're talking about culture I think the word character is is something that doesn't get entered too much in the space that that we're we are in you know and right I I think I think so it's a kind of an old throwback kind of a word you know it is yeah I think so I think to me characters did you do what you say you're going to do and that's just the bottom line did you do what you say you're going to do so when it talk when we talk about making the customers happy and fulfilling the brand promise just do what you say you're going to do and then say what you're going to do those are two very simple things to do and unfortunately we don't do a great job there okay and I'll tell you how let's break this down I think Dave wants me to pull back to character so I'm going to do it one more time hopefully this time I'll get it right when you tell your clients you're going to design a logo for them well what does that look like how many chances do I get to look at it what's your process like are you first going to start with some words or you going to do a brand audit what are you going to do are you going to do a user case study you going to do a cost analysis what are you going to do all you said is I'm going to tell you where we end up so the process of you working and being a creative human being is very opaque like I can't see it and what we want to do is we want to make it more visible make it more transparent so everything that I said to you before so the logo is here that's the Tada we're done that's all you guys talk about what you want to do is to break the logo down into finite and concrete steps and I'm really a big believer in process okay that's why the show is called The process by the way is a process is a repeatable Formula that has predictable results when I give you large sums of money I don't want to like go to Las Vegas I don't want that feeling I want it to be yeah I get it so when you guys talk about designing a logo what might that process look like when you're designing a logo what are the steps necessary for you to make that logo everybody always says research but research is a generic term it's true what are you researching is research for you or is it for the client the client okay so what are you researching comp okay so you might say you know there's a competitive audit that's what it's called in business terms competitive hopefully I spelled that right audit okay competitive audit and what are you going to do when you go and research the competitors usually there'll be a trend between like let's say I'm doing one for a bank they're probably have something similar maybe just like of type phas and okay so we're going to do a bank logo yes is that we're doing okay you guys ever do this wait I'm not passionate about it uh that's okay let's you know what I'm passionate about solving my client's problems not fulfilling my own personal need it's a bank all right that's how you make Bank okay I mean some of you guys I don't want to get into this you can watch this video another time some of you guys think you're an artist you want to do your thing but am it designer I saw people's problems and they pay me good amounts of money to do that so we had to change our mindset there okay let's say we have to do a bank logo so the first thing you do is you're going to do a competitive audit maybe just maybe what we might start off before that is we might want to look at what are the goals what are the goals of why you want to make a new logo in the first place is it just because you want to look sexier maybe I don't think so maybe there was an issue with uh the logo that exist existed before because it's United and now we need to change our image we need to change our image and maybe there's bad customer Association bad juju if you will associated with the old brand we need to refresh it maybe it was because there's a change in ownership you know the children inherit the company and they now want to say we're new we're fresh we're vibrant we have new ideas we're letting the legacy of the past go so we should start with what are the business goals okay so there's the business goals here and I'm going to get into that but there's a book that you can read about that it's called creative strategy the business of design and look at it what are business goals okay you guys ever talk about this in class what are the goals of the business probably not that deep I'm pretty sure of it I've been to your schools before not yours specifically but schools around what you talked about the personal what did we do first before school started met and did what talk about our goals for that so goals in an audit right yeah so business goals somebody tell me what a business goal is then I'll test you right now Zach you were like all smileing yeah we talk about that hand him the mic hand him the hot mic well we lay it on me brother we did uh like a rebranding as a project and I had 24-hour fitness and like a business school as I was doing my research I know we hate to use that word but it was like they're kind of known as like the cheap alternative maybe not so clean uh like place to be and so when you look as a goal you want to resurface a new image when you think of 24hour Fitness so it's like changing everything that the audience knows of them to be true and sort of doing a Refresh on that is like that's a goal is a goal would be like a refresh or a clean late if you will is that a business goal um okay I'll tell you why and this is where I like concise clear precise words if it's just a refresh just change the logo mission accomplish you're done what do what do businesses want to do go ahead hand the hand the mic hand the mic so you see like you told me a whole story which was good but you still didn't get to the business goal what's the business goal so you Zach story uh no no more stories I love stories but I'm pressed for time give me a business goal and don't don't do the magic wand just keep right there identify a new target market that's not a business goal money to make money okay Revenue right it's called Revenue make more money right increase Revenue what else to um no new new product Market new product development so if they have new new if they have a new look then they're appealing to a different target market and they okay appeal to New Market okay it's called repositioning okay repositioning okay and there there could be a goal of building awareness okay and they all make sense they're all tied together you see that we need to let people know the bank this a your old bank we do things differently we're going to trade in Bitcoin whatever it is so we need run an awareness campaign so people know what we're doing and we used to be into the old like gold bllons or whatever it is and we're going to move it to repositioning we're we're with the digital currency and by doing that we need to attract more customers so that they spend more money or deposit more money whatever it is or borrow more money and that's going to increase Revenue these are business goals and it doesn't matter what business you're in chances are these are their goals so this is pretty generic you see how this is a repeatable formula a process okay so we're getting somewhere you guys understand the difference so you see like how much of you guys were thinking about these three things how many of you guys probably none because you guys could even say it you're not thinking about it because you didn't say it so hold on hold on bur all right you can say that okay look if you're not thinking about it how do I know you're not thinking about because you didn't say it what chance do you have of doing it I like this group Aon focus on them all the uh Studio feedback shots are on them no matter who's talking no matter what just get all those shots get them nice and tight on those three specifically okay then going to do a competitive audit right now I know who we're competing against we're actually competing against the people in the Bitcoin space and not Wills Fargo Bank of America so what you do is there's something called like you're going to do a vertical analysis vertical Sor my try not to split my pants or they're kind of tight and then you do horizontal okay horizontal meaning in Industries are not related to this at all so we're going to look at all the banks the verticals and we're look at the horizontal like uh what's Apple doing what's uh Google doing what are people that are not even related because we can learn something from what they're doing what is Uber Airbnb doing okay so we can draw ideas from that that's why we're looking uh at research to solve this problem there's a good quote from the book um creative strategy I'm going to not try to do the quote it's written by Douglas Davis and there's something he says I realize that Aesthetics are not a compelling reason for a business to change their operation so I need to learn the language of business so I can provide a better reason as to why I'm doing what I'm doing does that make sense when somebody's going to spend $100 million saying it's cool it's what the kids like is not a very compelling reason all right and then what somebody had said I think Zach said it well in his story it's like I'm looking for customer feedback because what you think you're saying and doing your customers are telling us a whole different story okay oh we we love our our our employees they're they're this is most this is are Freer range humans here everybody get to do what they want and be super creative then you go talk to them like oh what an oppressive regime I hate my job and I can't wait 659 my my computer's already shut down you know it's like I'm out the door I can't wait to get out of here because I'm working on my side job trying to get out of this place I don't know so culture brand character are all the same just different words old school word word overused wrong application word and culture Tony Shay the you guys know who Tony Shay is he's the founder of you know where you guys spend all your money on shoes or at least where my wife does Zappos he says forget brand he says forget brand get the culture right and the brand will follow you cannot have a toxic culture and have a positive brand it just does not work and he has a story about how that works too okay make sense get the culture right all right um you guys know who Tony Shay is now yeah look up read his book it's called delivering happiness so you see now we're starting to get into something that doesn't look like it's from design school anymore what we're going to do is talk about business goals and revenue repositioning and awareness uh we're going to do competitive audits to understand what we can learn from these companies and how we can advise our client there's not even aesthetic here we talking about business things what can we learn okay we're going to go do customer feedback we're going to talk to real life customers and we're going to troll the forums to see what they're saying when when people don't think they're listening we're going to go on to Facebook we're going to read views we're going to go into Yelp we're going to read everything that people are saying good and bad so Chris character of brand we also have to use empathy right so the context of empathy within the within this talk conversation we're having about it right where does that empathy reside to you where does empathy reside yeah in in terms of we're talking about brand we're talking about the goals the revenue repositioning awareness custom uh you know uh journey and so forth right yes so what what about empathy okay are you I love these big broad open-ended questions because it gives me room to maneuver and if I don't get it right Dave you you read you know I know this is the pretty broad this empathetic based approach is is quite different and unique you know and and because that opens up a whole whole new set of of discoveries and also observations you have to do right and they may not align well with your business model business goals all right where is it here the word trust was here right talk about trust we trust people who believe what we believe okay so here's you and there's me okay and empathy says I feel what you feel I feel what you feel I want what you want sadly sadly broad statement give me in a little bit of trouble designers are terrible at empathy they're terrible because a lot of designers I know are very self-centered okay self-centered like I like this font I like these colors this is what Lux means to me and every brand every client that comes through the door you're going to get the treatment the treatment is you get what I do okay we're not Picasso we're not Cleon Peterson we're not just doing our art we're here to solve a problem and so there could be a whole class on teaching you guys how to empathize with the other person I have an exercise I do in my class right I give them a character that cannot be uh let's just say you're a thousand- yearold being from from outer space how do you see the world what do you say what do you think and we just sit down we just just like turn off the lights and we just think and he say here's the situation I'm going to throw a scenario at you tell me how you behave and think what do you do and they fail they fail pretty hard because all their answers sound just like them okay this is the whole like uh saying try walking in my shoes before you judge me and that's always something I tried to Aspire to think about before I just totally cut somebody down then I cut them down but I think about that first right I sit there and like oh yeah you had a hard life and yeah so what so what we all have okay right no tisues here I asked that question because it's kind of wrapping around what you said very first thing you said 51% rule right being empathetic to about other person's situation right situation that goes on there how do you truly how do you show that you know and you also brought up by a United Airline the CEO I think was name was his name is Oscar Munoz or whatever he tweeted out something about some obnoxious thing right I mean that did not come across as someone who's very caring about the individual you know what I mean and so you know part of overall branding the character the trust right giving right it kind of resides it circles around the word empathetic being empathetic to other individuals so if you care about that your client what their goals are really truly needs are putting your side of your egos in whatever you need to do your job is to solve that problem by way of using that word and you know what's that process what's that what's that step that you need to do right here's the test here's the true test when you have a client if you are willing to do what's best for your client and what's not good for you then you truly have empathy for them you're acting as a fiduciary for them when you act in the best interest of your client and not for yourself for example let's just say uh what's your name again Sam Sam Sam is the best logo designer on this planet let's just say he is and he does that so well Sam's just going to kill it right and Sam doesn't do anything else it doesn't do web design he doesn't do editorial like who likes editorial right doesn't do packaging just does a logo and he's killer at it myfolio yeah I have seen your portfolio he is like this generation is Paul Rand a oneman killing machine when it comes to logo okay that's Sam we're we're painting a fictional narrative here just for context maybe rooted in reality I don't know and then a client comes to him like Sam we love your work you're amazing Chris says you're amazing everybody says you're amazing right amaz balls here we go and they talk about their problem he talks about the business goals and all that kind of stuff like we want you to resign a new logo but then he starts digging around he starts listening to customer feedback and actually has nothing to do with the logo this is when Sam steps up to the plate and says say you know you have a million dollars I would love to take your money i' love more than anything just to take this and give you an awesome logo because I can make you better logo however after I've done my process I've realized what you need is you need new customer service agents you need a new website and you need some literature around this new campaign sadly this is not what I do but you should call Chris and he'll help you out that's when you know Sam is in service of the client and not himself that's how you know that's the true test if you're willing to put your own personal selfish Financial creative goals aside and put the client first something really wonderful happens though Sam says to the client go work with Chris he hires us we do a great job and the client's thrilled how do you think the client feels about Sam they're going to remember him for what uh for being honest and transparent for being honest and transparent and for showing empathy huh showing empathy there like is a trustworthy dude now think about that you guys now he may have lost a job but he may have gained a customer for life that's my feeling okay cut what would point right direction he just said like I hear your problem I understand it I'm not the guy I'm going to give you my resources please use them think about me in the future when you have a great logo that you need or a logo that you need to have redesigned I would love to do that for you okay now I know you have a thing I I want you guys to think about this for a minute there is a strategy you can use and the first strategy is to tell all your potential customers you don't need me you don't want this you can't afford it you don't need me you don't want this and you can't afford it there is a strategy and I use it myself because all of a sudden it's like this guy it's very disarming doesn't want to sell me anything says whatever I need it probably is not something that we do whatever it is it's like I have nothing to sell now instead of us looking at each other like this face the face right we're going to look at the problem together side by side and there's a big difference there we are going to stand shoulder toh shoulder as collaborators and try to figure out the problem versus I hear something I'm going to sell you something I hear something I'm trying to sell you something very clear now just as a little detour and we're to get to you a little detour here is there's this book it's called a pickup artist you guys should read it for psych psychological things you know they say for guys it teaches guys on how to hit on girls okay and it says that in in a street in a random encounter the last thing you want to do is headon confrontation like oh my God hey you're amazing that puts people like whoa what right right even creepier is the tap on your back hey hi how you whoa whoa what right exactly get away from me right or like that's when you do the Judah Flip or whatever right and what's the best way to approach a girl from the side from the side so you walk like this and you don't make eye contact you're just like hey whatever so I'm not a threat to you I'm not even interested in you I'm looking over there that's how you do it now I know now you know side that's how we work together that's how you're not um coming on too aggressive okay somebody asked me on the internet yesterday it's like I created an ad it's says call me now 50% off your first logo he says why isn't this working super desperate dude I don't know you there's there's no establishment and you've already said my prices are too high because I'm willing to give it to you for half off all right think about this in a retail model in the retail space when a a a clothing retailer has 50% off sales what does that do to you it trains you never to buy full price and un unfortunately this is what's happened to all retailers now okay ever since this recession and this uh online shift towards buying things online retailers have no more tools they've gone to the discounting tool and that's a losing proposition okay so the question is what's the price at the Gap it's always 30 to 50% off now and so if I bought it at 100% I'm not going to buy it again she has a question um I agree with that so you build trust with the client but then also in the story that we were talking about Sam would also build trust with you and you would build trust with Sam right that's right so then that in the future could that possibly create him jobs as well with you if you can't do that like what they're asking for the customer or would you ever bring him in as like a collaborative job is that well let me tell you how this works cuz you're thinking this is very painful Sam just gave Chris a million dollar lead this is what we call a hot lead it's not a cold lead they're ready to spend money he's already determined how much money and they're ready to move f pass so that's a hot lead what Sam will do is like Chris I have a client it may or may not be a good fit for you if it is a good fit service them well please okay and I would love a finder fee if you if you provide one done hands washing hands that kind of thing we're all good okay you got it yeah I I would like a finders fee I give work out to lots of people all the time somebody comes in I just hand it off I need a freelancer I need this I need that and so I just move things around that that's just done for Goodwill I would probably have a lot more money in my bank account if I charge every single time but you guys should do that that should be part of your uh business mindset when somebody gives you a lead you should think I need to pay them for the lead I need to put enough money in the budget so I can pay them for that because reps sales reps work on a commission they make anywhere between depending on who you're talking to between 5 to 18% okay some make 2 5% if you're talking about a Hollywood agent they make a lot of money not not that much but they make a lot of money okay um so you should get into the idea like we pay for sales leads so when you book the job you send money back that's how you guarantee you get more leads it's the right thing to do reciprocity okay does that make sense yeah so there's a real business relationship we're not talking about the kindness of strangers okay okay cool yeah all right Chris you know yes sir we we could probably spend you know hours you know this is why I love this guy you know Chris and he's he's and I told you guys that he's such a generous guy you know he's busy busy busy but you know over the years I've known Chris uh you know all the things that he's able to build and design and reshape um he's been a very true um he's he's you know I call him my mentor you know he coaches me on a lot of things so it's it's a really a treat for for me to come out here with you guys and share you know obviously not only he's you know business mind but also who he is as a character as an individual so we want to thank you and then what what we want to do maybe next time we pick up a conversation about creative confidence confidence and what does that mean you know and how do we deploy that as as a designer aspiring designer so um can we than you Dave give uh Chris a big round of applause please thanks guys I I was going to say in terms of the subject of confidence I will say this is that I've laid out plans we make courses we've done probably 160 170 videos now but it all comes back down to this thing somewhere inside remember that fractured psyche there's some something deep inside some of you many of you it says I'm not worth it I'm not deserving of this period and the the thing I keep finding out is this feeling of guilt a great feeling of guilt to charge people money for the things that you derive pleasure from okay think about that this comes natural to you some of you draw some of you guys paint some of you guys like to code sites and things like that if somebody wasn't paying you this is what you'd be doing and then when a client says we'll pay you you're like oh I don't know I guess I only worked on them for three hours and I'm is this okay kind of right do you think Kobe Bryant do you think LeBron James feels 1 ounce of guilt for doing the things that they love think about that for a second so why is it okay for Jack Nicholas to play golf and Serena Williams to play tennis and all these people or poker players to make millions of dollars doing like gambling basically that's what they do but when it comes to designers we have this guilt thing this thing that says and and I I get attacked by by people all over the Internet it's like you're just about the money this is wrong you're such an a-hole this and that they just come up it's like why you talk about money so much it's like you know what one of the things that I want to do my practice of uh my Act of random kindness my random act of kindness is to try to help creative people just like you to empower you to have a different mindset so that you are paid what you're worth now there's a lot of unlearning that must be done deep deep stuff okay and that's what I hope for you guys to understand your relationship and then confidence will come [Music]