Proscodi Designer/Client Surveys

(September 05)
An Analysis of Results

Results:
Design Client survey results
Designer survey results

The Proscodi Designer/Client Surveys were conducted to clarify a number of issues fundamental to the formal establishment of Proscodi. 160 designers and 58 clients engaged in the survey, a sufficient sampling which is borne out by the consistency of responses. Survey results show that graphic designers and their clients are generally in agreement, especially in the areas of integrity and the pursuit of excellence. Minor differences occur between value judgment distinctions such ‘important’ and ‘very important’, but when combined the percentages are almost the same. Similarly with ‘somewhat important’ and ‘not important’, which when added together sounds more like ‘no, not really important’.

Skipped questions are particularly interesting. When asked to describe ‘ethics’ in the design industry, 43% of clients and a whopping 58% of designers declined to answer the question. When asked to share other issues or further comments 77.6% of clients and 67.5% of designers declined to answer. This is perhaps not surprising, considering the effort required to write an analysis or an interpretation. Ticking boxes is much easier for professionals who have possible time constraints. And it’s reassuring that very few respondents declined to answer any of the other questions.

So what do graphic designers and their clients agree upon?

There seems to be a consensus in what qualifications are required by designers to impress their clients. Forget schooling or even a resume, neither group gave them much weight in importance. Clearly it’s your talent, personality, portfolio and experience that will win you the job. But don’t forget the references, 60%/69% of designers/clients believe them to be important to very important.

With regard to business ethics in the graphic design industry, designers and their clients are almost in complete harmony. Graphic designers should always act in the client’s best interest; work with and abide by contracts; engage in ethical business practices; maintain accurate documentation; protect client privacy and rights; and represent themselves accurately and professionally. ALWAYS!

Theoretically, these results should not come as a surprise. But it does beg the question of whether the respondents know the practicalities of conducting business ethically. Certainly Proscodi has a responsibility to provide such guidelines. Interestingly, three graphic design respondents thought it only somewhat ‘important’ to act in the client’s best interest, and one designer (I think it must be the same person) felt it is ‘not important’ to engage in ethical practices, or to protect client privacy, or even to represent themselves professionally. It is difficult to justify such responses.

It’s not surprising that designers and clients agree to the pursuit of excellence, with all respondents (except a handful) considering the pursuit to be ‘important’ to ‘very ‘important’. However, only 71% of clients compared to 82% of designers ranked excellence in branding and aesthetic design as being ‘very important’ to improving their business. I can only imagine that branding and design are elements of complex marketing strategies. And only 62% of clients compared to 80% of designers considered projects being free of mistakes and achieving efficient production to be ‘very important’. Perhaps this is because clients expect these processes to be the responsibility of their designers and are not aware of the pitfalls.

Similarly excellence in communication to ensure smooth workflow was considered ‘very important’ to only 57% of clients compared to 75% of designers. Again I believe that clients have an expectation of smooth workflows and it’s up to their designers to achieve this. Whereas both groups consider the pursuit of excellence to be important, graphic designers place greater importance than their clients. Designers are aware that it is this ‘excellence’ that separates them from their competitors. Whether they have the tools or experience to achieve these levels of excellence is questionable, and the PGDA would be a useful resource for aspirants.

There is general consensus that maintaining the highest level of integrity and promoting the value and legitimacy of graphic design is ‘important’ or ‘very important’. However the weightings are interesting. 16% more designers than clients consider plagiarism and copyright infringement as ‘very important’. 14% more designers than clients consider work that disregards health and safety, is discriminatory or offensive; or using unaccredited material for self-promotion as ‘very important’. I guess designers take great pride in their work, their craft and how they achieve their results. It’s possible that integrity is an expectation by clients of their designers.

An overwhelming 90% of all respondents would find a Proscodi website useful, given the website would target clients and provide information about working with designers, the design process and getting the most from the client/designer relationship. Clients and designers agree on content, except for the value of a client list. 45% of designers compared to 70% of clients consider the client list to be ‘important’ to ‘very important’. With such a broad cross-section of respondents, a client list can be meaningless unless a designer has a stable of ‘blue chip’ clients, whereas clients would like to associate themselves with such high fliers. Neither group places great importance in seeing schooling or resumes on the website. Not surprisingly the portfolio and details of experience are considered most important. After all, it’s the individual styles and abilities that set designers apart.

A criterion for Proscodi membership (ranked by designers) and access to such information on the website (ranked by clients) was considered. It’s not surprising that clients and designers agree on the merit of including services provided, experience, five pieces of work, website URL and contact email as being ‘important’ to ‘very important’. These are the areas that distinguish individuals. Similarly both groups agree (again) that including educational background as unimportant. Client focused case studies are more important to clients (72%) than designers (54%). Clients are interested in the processes used to achieve results which designers may be reluctant to elaborate (for fear of plagiarism?). Client/employer references are also more important to clients than designers (clients 81% versus designers 45%). Including company name is only considered ‘very important’ by 21% of clients (compared to 48% of designers), surprising considering they give so much weight to experience and references.

So where are some differences between designers and their clients?

Let’s start with payment, always a contentious issue. When a designer is being hired by a client, 39% believe price is ‘very important’. However when a client hires a designer, only 27% believe price is ‘very important’. It seems that in today’s highly competitive environment, designers may feel the need for an edge and that price advantage is the best way to secure a job. 33% of designers believe that clients place ethics as ‘very important’, whereas when a client hires a designer, 78% believe ethics to be ‘very important’. This result could be working in tandem with the question of price. There seems to be a great opportunity to educate designers about the merits of ethics compared to simply price competitiveness.

Over 47% of clients believe one or two years post education experience is enough for them to be comfortable using them. Yet over 50% of designers believe 3-4 years experience is necessary to be considered professional (and over 28% believe over five years is required). These results should be considered in tandem with previous questions about the (low) value of schooling and resumes. It seems that clients are impressed by a designer’s portfolio and personality and issues of professionalism are expected as a matter of course. Designers on the other hand feel that professionalism comes with years of experience.

Back to the issue of integrity: 52% of designers say it is ‘very important’ to never work on speculation or future payments/work. Only 25% of clients agree with them. In fact 20% of clients believe it is totally unimportant. This issue, more than any other, separates designers from their clients and is a difficult issue to address. No professional business person should be expected to work for free, yet clients continue to do so by requesting speculative submissions. And there will always be a hungry designer who submits.

Over 96% of designers would consider becoming a member of a group supporting ethical business practices. Only 75% of clients would use them in preference to a non-member. Only 61% of clients would consider joining such an organization. This is perhaps the most puzzling outcome. Being a member of a group supporting professional and ethical business practices can only be beneficial. The preceding survey results show this quite clearly and designers can recognize these benefits. The need to educate clients about these benefits is evident and necessary, with the wellbeing of the graphic design industry at stake.

by Alex Szecsenyi