10things#3 - One vision produces better results. Mostly.

I don't like being told what to do - nobody does - but it really grates my cheese when it happens around a subject that I trust myself in, like web design (those of you who just snorted and rolled your eyes - feel free to leave now). If you have that trust in your abilities, unless you have that same trust in the person telling you what to do, the outcome is never going to be optimal.

The best work I've produced, the work I'm happiest with, and that which garners the most praise, has always, without exception, been that which I've conceived, designed, executed, and updated on my own. When you're involved from the conception (this wasn't meant to be a parenting analogy, but it looks like it's going there), have your hands (fingers?) in the ideas, can sculpt the code yourself, and add the finishing touches without having a meeting about it, the end product almost never suffers (assuming you have said trust noted above). What normally happens though is one of two things;

1) Other people stick their nose in and helpfully suggest things that you've already dismissed (designing something isn't like GCSE maths, I don't have to show my working, only the end result) and you waste time doing it for their sake, or trying to convince them it's a bad idea that you've already passed on.
 
2) Clients have a defined idea of what they want from the outset, any deviation from which is met with resistance - they hire you because they like what you've produced in the past, not because you're good at jigsaw puzzles! Putting a website together isn't a copy and paste job from other sites (although some idea of style is helpful), it's more like growing a tree - you can't have a specific leaf without having first grown the tree from a seed - the leaf is defined from the seed, not the other way round.

So next time you need a website (or any creative endevour) built from scratch (or re-designed), help your friendly neighbourhood designer out and give them more freedom to get to what you want. What they've produced in the past wasn't a fluke, and if you want the same qualities, let them follow their way of working.

This blog post is part of the 10things list.

*Yes, I'm aware this all sounds fairly arrogant. Yes, I'm aware some of my design work is borderline shitty. Yes, this is my blog, and I'll rant incoherenly if I want to.

**None of this is specifically aimed at anyone, although when I rule the universe, certain people will have their noses chopped off.

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