What do you do with unused designs?

[fastpurplemedia]

Hello everyone!
What do you do once a superbly sensible design goes unused as, not because of your fault, the client loses interest within the project?

[CodeGraphics]

Put it in your portfolio. I say, ‘not launched.’

[Paulie_D]

>Put it in your portfolio. I say, ‘not launched.’

Noooooo!

That’s like saying….NO, it **is** saying the client didn’t like it enough to buy it. Why would you advertise your failures (or lack of success).

If you like the design that much put it in a different section of your portfolio named like “Additional Designs”.

[Alen]

Do NOT show any work:

if it doesn’t represent your best work,

if it doesn’t highlight the type of work you want to get,

if it’s incomplete

If you are trying to sell your services to potential client, show your best work and eliminate confusion. If you are trying to get hired to work for an agency or design studio, I guess it’s ok to show experimentations… but the client vs. employer should clearly be separated. As they serve two different purposes.

It’s a good idea to keep the design for reference/resource, it’s possible you might use the code base for another project… but the things you show, things that get you hired, be very strict and only show your best.

Hope that helps,

Alen

[chrisburton]

> Why would you advertise your failures (or lack of success).

Some design projects that go unused are due to being killed internally by the client no matter how good or bad they are. It happens quite often which has nothing to do with failing.

[Paulie_D]

True but my point was that you don’t **advertise** them as non-successes as was suggested…you re-package them.

If I read “This was a great design and the client was enthusiastic but decide not to go with it”…in my head it comes out as “Client didn’t like it enough to follow through”.

Unfair, unrealistic…absolutely but that’s the way things are. Never **advertise** something you **almost**sold is pretty much axiomatic…isn’t it?

[CodeGraphics]

When I said he should include it in his portfolio and then informed the user that the project was not launched. This is important because a potential client can see a project which you claimed you did and go to the internet to search for it. Now, if you mention that it was not launched, that will be simple sincerity on your part and shows you are a human. We all have unlaunched and unfinished projects.

I was talking about something like this: http://michieldegraaf.com/twithor
Scroll down.

[chrisburton]

I don’t see this as relevant. Because the client has killed the project does not equal failure to sell something. Why are we going into hypotheticals?

[chrisburton]

Completely agree with @CodeGraphics

[Paulie_D]

A potential client is not going to be impressed by stuff you **almost** did.

A portfolio is about **marketing** yourself, what you have done and what you can do.

Yes, if you really like a design, highlight it in a separate area but don’t **ever** tell anyone else that someone didn’t like/buy it. All you are doing is giving them an excuse NOT to buy.

[chrisburton]

Paulie, with all due respect, think about what you’re saying. You don’t think clients want to see your ideas regardless if projects were launched or not? We’re not talking about putting text that says “client hated it”.

[Paulie_D]

No….that’s not what I’m saying.

I’m saying show it but don’t say that it wasn’t sold.

[chrisburton]

Why not? What if a potential client sees that and wants to use that idea?

By the way, do you actually mean the designer not state “unsold”?

[Paulie_D]

The suggestion was to indicate that the design/project was ‘not launched’.

Now I agree that there could be multiple reasons for that but it indicates that something negative happened. To me, and perhaps I am in the minority, marketing is about reinforcing positives and downplaying negatives.

By all means show an unused design as “Available” which might be a better option) but why highlight something that didn’t proceed?

[chrisburton]

Because a design may not always be “available” due to legal issues however it may be worth displaying.

And that’s why I believe it is probably best to explain in small detail why something may not have gone forward. I agree there are situations when you shouldn’t display something.

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