Designer vs Personal Trainer.

If you are any kind of designer that works with clients, you may have been faced with a challenging brief at least once or twice in your “career” [I put that word in inverted commas as I really don’t like it – it seems so formal, but that’s for another discussion]. You may have had your clients come to you asking for solutions that really challenge the conventional, or maybe it’s just challenging for them.

The success of these [or any other] projects also relies on your clients ability to shift their thinking and start to see themselves in new ways. Perhaps this could be their new home where they ask you to design them a house with a series of open spaces that flow on from one another, but when it comes down to the crunch they freak out and start asking for the walls to be put back in, or they really want that kitchen to be closed off so that you can’t see the mess because “that’s how they live at the moment”.

I was recently involved in pitch to a potential new client which needed to address this very issue on a much larger scale than the house example I gave. The design brief, although not yet established, was clearly going to be a huge challenge for both the design team and the client. And often, as designers, we can use our client as an excuse as to why the project is never going to be the best it can be, or cutting edge, or innovative, because “our client just wasn’t that way” or “they are just too conservative”. I think that we need to remember that the role of our client is not to be innovative or creative. The role is to embrace innovation and creativity, and there is a big difference between the two. How can we expect them to get it, if we don’t show them how?

After some thought, I asked myself this question – are Designers in fact just like Personal Trainers and Coaches?

[I did tell you somewhere along the way that I love metaphors, didn’t I?]

Let’s say your client has a goal to get off their butt to do some exercise and get their fitness to a reasonable level so that they are not puffing each time they walk up a steep street. Or maybe they are already reasonably fit and just want to tweak things so they can run the next City to Surf. Or maybe compete in a triathlon. Or they may even have an ambition to become a world class athlete and a gold medalist. Clearly their goals will depend on where their starting point is, but also the level of commitment. After all, it takes a different amount of dedication from running a fun run to wining the gold. The personal trainer, or a coach has the tools to get their client anywhere they want to go, but first we need to know what the goal is. It’s called beginning with an end in mind.

Very often things get tough along the way, especially if the project is a long one. We get tired, the client loses their focus, other factors come into play like the budget, timing, contractors etc. It can be very easy to lose control especially if our clients starts to lose the track of what we are trying to achieve. It is exactly in those moments that we must be in control, just like the personal trainer. We have to coach our client through and keep our energy high so that the best outcome can be achieved.

Always remember that innovation isn’t an easy process. Just like winning gold. If it was, everyone would be doing it. Growth and results can hurt, and so can training with the coach, but the rewards are all the sweeter.

[image via creativebits.org.]