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[Me] Work Rant
15 years ago
As I've explained previously, I have a job as a User Experience strategist for making websites. That means I find out who the users are, what features they want, what language makes sense to them, what organization they'll understand, and I use that to create the contents of every webpage on the site. Figuring out whether there are separate News and Events sections, or whether we combine them into News and Events, that's me. Deciding what to put on the homepage, how to organize it all, whether to use buttons or links, placing images and text, that's all me. I go from just a vision of "We want a website for people who want to travel to this country" and through much collaboration and research I make dozens of pages which just need to be duplicated in HTML and styled with final images inserted.
The problem I face it work is that everyone, including the clients, think that they're designers. They think that just because they're paying us to make the site, they can dictate what should go where. And can they? Yes. Should they? No. Why not? Because they're paying us to make the site. If they knew what the hell they were talking about, they would be doing it themselves and saving $150 an hour.
Take yesterday, for example. This company comes to us, and they've got a website for their product, but they want a new website. We burn through 30 hours (among other things) deciding what the top-level nav should be, what the sub-pages should be, what should be on every sub-page, so that users who are interested in their product/service can find all the information logically. We're all pretty happy with it, and we think it'll do well. The clients, however, don't think we get it. They tell us that they want us to use their existing site structure. And site content. So basically they just want to change the colors. Brilliant.
I guess a lot of people just don't realize that if your site layout, content and structure is shit, giving it a new look won't bring in more users. If they can't find the info they're looking for, they'll leave... doesn't matter whether or not the tabs looked shinier.
The problem I face it work is that everyone, including the clients, think that they're designers. They think that just because they're paying us to make the site, they can dictate what should go where. And can they? Yes. Should they? No. Why not? Because they're paying us to make the site. If they knew what the hell they were talking about, they would be doing it themselves and saving $150 an hour.
Take yesterday, for example. This company comes to us, and they've got a website for their product, but they want a new website. We burn through 30 hours (among other things) deciding what the top-level nav should be, what the sub-pages should be, what should be on every sub-page, so that users who are interested in their product/service can find all the information logically. We're all pretty happy with it, and we think it'll do well. The clients, however, don't think we get it. They tell us that they want us to use their existing site structure. And site content. So basically they just want to change the colors. Brilliant.
I guess a lot of people just don't realize that if your site layout, content and structure is shit, giving it a new look won't bring in more users. If they can't find the info they're looking for, they'll leave... doesn't matter whether or not the tabs looked shinier.
That bill is for the reorganization alone. Visual design and production will be a good deal more than that.
they want a good service but if you actually care for them its too much >.>
but ont worry, there are good customers as well and working for them makes the whole thing a lot better again^^
It might be similar to why law firms give jobs and pay top-dollar wages to people just to make copies of papers for the lawyers to work there. It might take the lawyer only 5 minutes to make a few copies, but in that time, they could miss a call from a potential client, which means they'd lose a helluva lot of money. Thus, they pay people a lot of money to make copies for them so that these lawyers don't have to leave their offices. Perhaps your clients are perfectly capable of changing the colors of their website themselves but simply aren't in a position right now (for example, they might not have the time) to do it themselves and it would cost them less to get you guys to do it.
Alternatively, they might want to change the colors of the website themselves but don't have the necessary skills (maybe they don't know HTML and don't have the time to learn it) to do it. I mean, I realize in this case that this is something easy to do, but they might not realize this. Still, if they really need this, I can see why they'd pay that much money for someone to do it for them.
But I dunno. :3 Just some thoughts, I suppose. :P
What they wanted was partly brand and logo creation (their product was incredibly lame and had a terrible name), and remake the site. We did the first part, and we're trying to do the second part.
I dunno exactly how you all explained it to them, but you also gotta realize that they might not have understood what you all meant by restructuring the site. They're probably not experts in web design. :P For all you all know, restructuring the site to them means changing the colors and what not.
But yeah, if you gave them a detailed explanation of what you all were gonna do and they agreed to it (assuming they're agreeing because that's what they want from you guys) only to go back and say that's not what they wanted, then yeah, they are idiots.
Though it still pains me that I have to always call onto someone to set up a system or network cause the AF is paying them, when I know how to do half the shit myself... --; I think it's mostly warranty and certifications that prevent me.
Though it still pains me that I have to always call onto someone to set up a system or network cause the AF is paying them, when I know how to do half the shit myself... --; I think it's mostly warranty and certifications that prevent me.
What's worked well for us in similar situations is just showing them regular progress. Maybe 30 hours of work is too short to really break up, but doing 1-hour mock-ups of how you might design the site etc can help a lot. Maybe they just wanted to change the colours, but after explaining why a new design would work better (BEFORE you do it and they have to pay) they'll see the value. Every client's different, and I still think it's a PITA to deal with them, but what else can you do, right?
I deal with this shit daily - you just learn to grow a skin for it. Clients don't seem to comprehend that they are PAYING you for your design skill. They just think you press some buttons and pictures come out, and only you can wrangle the tools to realize there Brilliant vision. I've always been told the most challanging aspect of design is working with clients; they literally just don't understand what you do. And you have to work with this no matter how big or small the client is (my father has been getting headaches from Microsoft over the new 360 packaging, mostly cause they're trying run the show a little too much)
But just embrace the fact that your true design passion will be realized every once in a while by a client who "gets it".
The clients, however, don't think we get it. They tell us that they want us to use their existing site structure. And site content. So basically they just want to change the colors. Brilliant.
Did the company tell you they wanted this in the beginning, or did they told you to make a new website and then did the ol' switch-a-roo on you later on? Sucks to do so much work and end up being rejected for something more inferior though. =\
Businesses can throw around a lot of money for not a lot of work I noticed.
The Mac rant would be very short. Using Macs at work makes me glad I use PCs at home. There are all sorts of things I miss from Windows. Being able to resize windows from any edge or corner. Being able to move and rename files in the file (up)load/save dialog boxes. Showing a breadcrumb trail. Hotkeys for switching a window to a different monitor or quickly fill half the screen for side-by-side document comparison and editing. Then of course there's all the familiarity with Windows I have, and the fact that the work computers are crappy-slow.
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell
Oh how I enjoy being a designer!
Clients from Hell: http://clientsfromhell.tumblr.com/
How a Web Design Goes Straight To Hell: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell
It reminds me of situations where adults taking care of children try to give everything they want, being very specific, and then the children changes their mind and goes toward something done at the begging. I guess whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger... and in this case pissed. Take it easy!
Trying to distance yourself somewhat from the "ownership" of the pages may help. I know how hard that can be from personal experience. It can take years to get into that mindset, but it's much better for your long term personal mental and physical health if you can manage it. Stress is a killer. Literally.
I guess I'll have to keep working at the distance thing. Each project is an extremely involved thing for me--it's not just slapping together stuff on a webpage.