Let’s do it live: Resolving design issues in real time

Part of our job as designers seems to be reading our clients’ minds. At some point, we’ve all received design feedback that leaves us scratching our heads and wondering, “What?” 

When it’s clear that a simple follow-up in Basecamp isn’t enough, Teal designers opt for a live design session with the client. 

Opening the “hood” provides an opportunity for the designer and the client to have a candid and casual dialogue and resolve issues in real time. The client can freely express their opinion and offer ideas, and the designer can probe, listen, and modify the design. There can be plenty of nuance behind a piece of feedback, and it doesn’t always clearly come through when it’s written. Something that might seem overwhelming at first can actually be addressed with a small tweak, which prevents us from overcorrecting. 

Recently, one client wasn’t excited about our proposed color palette for a website redesign, even though it adhered to their brand. Certain color combinations rubbed them the wrong way, but they couldn’t identify why. As we worked through options together in a live session, they realized that the red/yellow/brown palette subtly reminded them of dying autumn foliage. Thanks to our conversational, collaborative working session, we easily resolved the problem by adding neutral colors to the mix. 

Making the call

So how do we know when to hold a live design session? These types of feedback are good indicators:

• Sweeping: The feedback has a cascading effect on all the designs and would involve plenty of rework.
• Vague: We simply don’t know what it means.
• Conflicting: It is confusing and can easily be misinterpreted.
• Not actionable: It’s unclear how to address it (or whether we should address it at all).

Setting up

There aren’t a lot of rules when it comes to live design sessions, other than keep it simple:

• Set expectations for the call.
• Minimize the number of participants: Ideally one to five members of the client team who provided the original feedback, alongside one to three people from the agency team, such as the designer, art director, and project manager.
• Keep it short: Thirty minutes to an hour should be enough.

Working it out

Here are some tips for designers:

• Be open: Do not shoot down an idea. If it’s an interesting idea and you’re not sure if it will work, try modifying the design in real time, create a few iterations, and have them react immediately. If it’s out of scope, gently remind them why. 
• Be inviting: Casually encourage people on the client side who are quiet and not as vocal as others to offer their opinion. If they’re in the call, they likely have one. 
• Be friendly: The working session should be positive and forward-looking. The client should be amenable to the changes, and feel better and more excited than when they were before the call.
• Be prepared: To relieve the pressure of changing the design in a live and quick fashion, it helps if you’ve created a few design solutions before the call. Remember that it’s a working session, and not a presentation. 
• Be transparent: There are issues that you won’t be able to fully address during the call. You can follow up later, as long as the client is aware of the possible solutions that you’ve discussed.

Designers can be apprehensive about showing a source file, because it can be disorganized and unpolished. But one of the things we’ve learned over the years is that clients deeply appreciate what goes on behind the scenes. Even if they don’t understand design at a technical level, being able to collaborate in Figma, Photoshop, or another application makes them act as the experts on their brand and see that they’re part of the solution.

Ultimately, live design sessions allow for quicker buy-in from the client during future design iterations and even other phases of the project. We are establishing trust and understanding with them, positioning ourselves as experts, and most importantly acting like normal human beings who listen and respect one another.