08 Clients

App Prototyping Studio

Mick McQuaid

mcq@utexas.edu

University of Texas at Austin

19 Aug 2026

Week EIGHT

Clients

Clients can be difficult! Let’s look at all the ways we see here.

“My daughter did not like this” means that the client has done user research, but with only one user! This could be an opportunity to educate the client about user research! How would you do that?

“Substitute for Comic Sans” is, of course, a joke since Comic Sans is the most frequently deprecated typeface. But did you know that Comic Sans is actually good for dyslexics? Despite all the jokes about Comic Sans, there may be a good reason to use it!

What does Too “Fancy” mean? In this context, it is meant to suggest that the client is inarticulate about what he (I’m choosing male pronouns because of the picture) wants. Therefore the designer has to help. How can you, as a designer, help the client be more articulate here?

Continuing down the right side, we have “Fill all white space!! I want my money’s worth!!” This suggests that the client equates quantity of verbiage with effort and hasn’t heard Dieter Rams edict that design is about trying to take everything away. How can you help the client see what viewers see?

“Logo should THROB!” is another example of the client being inarticulate. What might the client mean here? Is it worthwhile to pursue or are there some points on which the designer should remain silent?

“Call me, re: payment” is another joke, because many clients are notorious for having issues about payment—a really tough subject to handle.

The previous book was popular enough to spawn a sequel and it’s cover is similarly an opportunity for designers to sharpen their communication skills.

“Make everything bold!!” reminds us that, when everything is emphasized, nothing is. How do we convey that message to the client? Should we convey that message to the client?

“Let’s go with something darker than black” seems like a non sequitur, but is there something behind it that we should try to understand? Remember, color theory tells us that the appearance of colors is relative to the appearance of proximal colors. The previous book recounts an incident in which a designer was able to pass off the same color choice as an improved color choice by surrounding it with a different background.

“Let’s use Papyrus to class it up!” is another joke about a deprecated font, the second most frequently deprecated font after Comic Sans. I know of no redeeming feature of Papyrus like I do with Comic Sans, but I suspect it has its place.

“Remove the glasses! No one likes people with glasses!” is funniest if it’s said by someone wearing glasses. Like the use of the daughter as user research on the previous cover, this imputes user study that never happened. How can you help the purveyor of this unfortunate generalization?

“Overpaid hipsters” reflects the dehumanizing picture some people have of designers. How can they be humanized and how can their modest incomes be put into perspective?

“Let’s just say Oprah wrote it” conveys an unfortunate fact about the effect of marketing in the publishing industry at the same time it makes a joke about the duplicity of that industry. I’m not sure I can find any nugget of knowledge in this one!

Greever (2020) on Clients

The big meeting

For the pitch meeting, communicating the designs was more important than the designs!

Time spent designing was small compared to time spent preparing the pitches

Client could have derailed the months-long effort in a minute

What makes a good design good?

Is it good use of space?

Is it simplicity?

Is it when you can’t remove anything?

What do you think?

None of these!

Greever claims that these are internal to the designer and don’t respect the need to communicate

Everyone is a designer in their own mind, just as everyone is a music critic even if they can’t play

Good design is, to some degree, subjective (but there are design features like symmetry and tension that play across cultures and epochs)

The power to say no

Clients are not monolithic

Many people may have the power to say no for different reasons

They’re all stakeholders

And yet, design by committee doesn’t work

People disagree

People get defensive when they disagree

People fail to focus on the issues when they get defensive

Grumbling compromise results

Home page syndrome

Home screens or pages become a catchall

Different stakeholders believe their thing will work if it’s more prominent

Communication is the job

Most stakeholder issues can be explained as miscommunication or misunderstanding

Designers must be communicators
- Setting expectations
- Following instructions
- Articulating product and process

What is “articulate”?

Understand your message and understand the desired response

Being articulate includes

Imparting intelligence \(\Rightarrow\) trustworthiness

Demonstrating intentionality \(\Rightarrow\) purpose and focus

Expressing confidence \(\Rightarrow\) you mean what you say

Showing respect \(\Rightarrow\) plays well with others

Greever’s definition of good design

Solves a problem

Easy for the users

Supported by everyone

By the way, my definition of good design is

When the client and users have no regrets, that is good design!

Solving a problem

Metrics matter

What matters most to stakeholders?

Introspection helps intuition

Constantly ask how what you’re doing solves the problem

Keep writing about the problem and solution

Make it easy

Ask how each thing you do affects the user (can’t always be sure)

Write (and revise) a user story

Usability \(=\) common sense \(+\) research

Get everyone’s support

Not getting support means going over the same ground over and over

Getting support is Greever’s primary focus

Support \(\neq\) agreement

Get forward momentum, not consensus

Ask over and over why this beats alternatives

This means thinking of and thinking through alternatives

This means anticipating how stakeholders will react

It’s worth listing alternatives and problems they face

Maybe wireframe alternatives

Answer these questions

What problem does it solve?

How does it affect the user?

Why is it better than the alternative?

Greever (2020) on Stakeholders

What you must do

Improve stakeholder relationships

Earn stakeholder trust

Establish stakeholder rapport

Apply UX principles to stakeholders

Study stakeholders just as you study users

Empathy for stakeholder

Perspective of stakeholder

Building the relationship

See stakeholders as human

Create shared experiences with stakeholders

Develop empathy for stakeholders

Ask good questions of stakeholders

Mock client time

Break into pairs

One of you is the client

Client conveys desire for shopping app to designer

Designer tries to understand the client

Client doesn’t have to make it easy!

Switch roles

Take five minutes to prepare
During that time, client thinks about what they want in a shopping app
During that time, designer thinks about how they can elicit info
Come together for the interview
Repeat Steps 1–4

END

References

Greever, Tom. 2020. Articulating Design Decisions: Communicate with Stakeholders, Keep Your Sanity, and Deliver the Best User Experience. 2nd ed. O’Reilly Media.

Colophon

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