The Disconnect

 

And so someone comes looking for a logo. They want to "re-brand." They want to "freshen their look." Wonderful. You can do all of the above. And it's quite nice to be wanted. But if you listen close to what people often ask you for, you may discover that what they want and what you should deliver aren't necessarily the same thing.

Design tends to be a little myopic. Everything is focused on the end result. The shiny new logo, the next cool website. All the questions clients ask are oriented towards the what and the how. And designers oblige them. After all we love to make stuff. It's what we like to do. However, rather than what or how the most important question to ask is why.

When designers can only answer the what and the how disconnected from the why, designers become a commodity. "What" and "how" equal product and production. The "why" equals design and thinking. Asking and answering the why will not only lead to better results in terms of the finished product, it also results in clients that understand the value of deign, how they should communicate and a better sense of their own motivations as a company. Asking why gets to the human part of design. After all your client can't motivate others to build relationships with them, unless they know what motivates themselves.