Brand Message and Intended Use in Danger from Client

[bmoneruiux]

Hey guys!

A question about the importance of the message you’re trying to convey in the design of a website.

We have a client (board of clients really, ugh) that is complaining that their website quickly conveys to the intended user the products they offer and what they’re for…but doesn’t say enough about the company.

They want their homepage to essentially be a stamp of all things them…when their site is ACTUALLY meant for easier access for their brokers to quickly find the products they need and to make payments with ease.

How do we get them back on track with the “message” of the site or its intended use, and steer them away from (excuse my language) swinging their dicks in the air?

Sincerely,

A designer that’s 8 weeks behind due to client inconsistencies and non-designers throwing in their 2¢ and utterly destroying what was a simple project in the beginning.

[bmoneruiux]

Thanks for this.

I was brought into this agency to update them and bring them into the digital/web frontier. But it’s like a constant struggle when I’m trying to educate my staff as well as my client. I’ve always been a doer, never a teacher, so it’s taxing.

However I found out a bit after posting this that this client in particular is notoriously difficult. They ask for something specific, and shoot it down nearly 20 times before finally landing on something that they STILL don’t like but deal with. The also cannot look past “Lorem ipsum” nor FPO imagery. Everything has to be exact.

So….we’re comping out, pixel for pixel, all 189 pages of their site. All subject accurate. All pixel accurate. Because…they can’t visualize anything. This is a painful process.

But, again, I thank you. Watching the webinar now.

[bmoneruiux]

Everything that Mike Monteiro is speaking about is exactly what’s happening here. We have the account team acting like they’re the client and the creative director when they are not. They’re not allowing the designer to design, and they’re not selling the way they need to to the client.

@shaneisme, the client in question is an insurance broker agency, with tons of information and tons of products. Because of this, I feel that they do not need to see every single page mocked. And, also, because we’re not an insurance agency, we should not be in charge of constructing mock articles nor using insurance verbiage. We should be worrying about the design and interaction. But instead they’re caught up in the minutia that are words (filler text) and images (all sourced from their current site). They want us to be insurance experts while designing this site. They also want us to pick photos, but not pick photos, but have them approved, but don’t have time to approve them. Hence why we started FPO-ing.

@nkrisc I WISH it were as simple as a landing page or value proposition. I wish. I’d take a $30-$60k project over a $300k project ANYDAY.

[bmoneruiux]

Haha yeah that is true. I actually had a good chuckle when he said that.

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