(really) entrepreneureal

I got a call this morning from a client who’s having last minute jitters.  We’re 4 days from launching an online community website, and it seems that some pre-launch doubts have crept in – and I’ve been told that we’re postponing the release.  Damn.

It’s not that pushing the launch back is a bad idea – there’s always time for improvement- but more that I’m finally faced with the consequences of what happens when one shortcuts the design process.  What do I mean exactly?

The same thing happened last month with a logo design project I was working on.  A short time-line (and zero budget) meant that I felt forced to cut corners: do minimal research, make loads of assumptions, take risks, and go out on a limb in terms of what I thought would approximate the client’s vision.

Ooops.

Turns out that the small “d” design process, involving an iterative ‘deep dive’ into client wants, needs, expectations, desires and dreams is popular for a reason: it works.  And this is especially true for clients who don’t know what they want (or can’t verbalize/envision it, anyway), and both of the above clients fall into this category.  Perhaps not surprisingly, then, short-cutting the process can have undesirable results.

Lessons learned?

• Compromising the design process is like playing russian roulette with the final product.
• Taking (the wrong) short-cuts can jeopardize your client relationship, and creates tensions where there needn’t be any.
• Not making all of this clear up front can have interesting consequences.

I will definitely think twice before doing THAT again…