Ask HN: How not to be an annoying customer for a designer?
We are working with a freelance designer on our small start up. My partner works on the business side of stuff, and the communications with the designer, while I develop the app.
I get the feeling we are not syncing well with the designer, making it a more 'Give us X' kind of relationship instead of a more mutual creative process.
I want the designer to be proud of the design he gave us. So, from the customer side of this, have you got any tips? (We are working remotely)
I am a webdesigner and I am currently creating a website for a client. At the beginning the client told me that he wants a nice design, really ease to use, etc. Two days later he sent me a spreadsheet of 'What a top 5 marketing website looks like' full of ads, facebook like boxes, etc asking me to do something like that. As a designer, I like doing "what feels right", not "what it must have" especially if these requests are ads. I emailed the cliend that I would not work on a webiste like that and that I needed much more control over the final design. It helped. He now lets me do what I want to do and most of the time he likes it. He gained trust in me. I also enjoy more adding "must-have features".
While this is the reverse story of yours, I believe what you need is more trust in your designer (or your designer needs more trust in you). It is possible your designer is not enjoying working on your website and he needs more freedom. Maybe you should tell him to design it like he things it should look like, and if necessary remove anything that he considers useless.
Tell him to take a few hours and draw a sketch from scratch. Let him experiment. Then, once the quick sketch is complete arrange a Skype meeting and talk it over. Ask him questions, but don't be rude ("We really thing we need to include this feature"). Maybe he simply tells you "It doesn't feel right". Believe him, most probably he is right.
Finally try to reach some agreement. "OK, we will remove feature A, B, C, but we must have feature E and F. Is that fine?". I am sure he will like this and try harder to create a better user interface.
In short: Ask him to make decision. Trust him and give him freedom.
This isn't a real answer but... http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell
In seriousness, just be aware that sometimes the changes you ask for can seem incredibly simple but have major ramifications for the overall design. Also, treat your designer like he knows what he/she is doing. I don't think there is a designer out there that doesn't want input but to some degree you have to trust their vision even if it doesn't quite mesh up with yours.
I also had a client that spent a month tweaking and tweaking (make the logo bigger, move it over about an inch, add this below the logo, etc.) and then was surprised when their website wasn't available on time. That can be frustrating even if you're getting paid hourly.