10 Problems Only Graphic And Web Designers Will Understand
3. Design By Committee
A committee is a life form with six or more legs and no brain. - From the Notebooks of Lazarus Long, Time Enough For Love, by Robert A. Heinlein.
The ideal client is a one-person operation. You only have to convince one person of your ideas and why they will work. Add a partner into the mix, and the difficulty doubles. Add more, and the difficulty expands exponentially. One person at the table (usually the one who hired you) loves what youve done. Another doesnt like the color of the logo. Another thinks it should use a different font. One cant put a finger on it, but theres something wrong there. Another's horoscope says that they should avoid the appearance of conflict. Dont these people understand how hard it is to create something original, or that has at least the appearance of originality? But theres a flip-side: the clients that have committees deciding on your work are the ones with plenty of money. If youre dealing with a single person shop, that person is probably skating the edge of default just as much as you are.
