Last night I had the opportunity to go listen to Nate Morley with Deutsch Inc. He was speaking at our AIGA Salt Lake event at the Salt Lake Art Center. Nate is a Utah born and raised designer who has worked with national brands like Abercrombie & Fitch, Target, and A&FTV.
Nate was a pleasure to listen to because he wasn't a typical "big Agency" designer. He was very down to earth and presented himself in a way that gave you a thirst for design in general and not the "look at me" approach.
Here are some of the items he spoke about;
The design business has some harsh realities. Here he was speaking about some of the creative briefs that designers get. The briefs are not always the golden opportunities, but you need to do the best you can on the project you have been given.
He suggested five ways to build this momentum.
1. You need to do for the client is give them what they ask for. This will help you build momentum with them and once you build momentum you can start suggesting new ideas that you think are more creative.
2. When giving them a new creative direction, make sure it is easy for them to understand.
3. Prepare ahead of time for all their concerns about it so all they have to do is say yes.
4. Learn to pick your battles. You can't always suggest new ways of doing something or they will loose trust in you.
5. Last but not least, make sure the idea is good. Don't let personal interests get in the way of helping your client.
Some other interesting points he talked about was motivation. What is our motivation. Is it impressing our peers, winning awards, personal reasons, or is it to help the client succeed. We need to make sure our motivation is correct. We need to be passionate about our work but our responsibility lies with our clients. We need to make the look like rockstars.

Labels: AIGA, design