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I’m assuming a mood board is similar to Joe Duffy’s methodology of showing clients various collage boards of consistent imagery clippings?

D&P do that so the client feels involved in the look and feel before the design team puts any real work into a given direction.

Is that what a mood board is?

Ryan: “I’m learning to say no and to do what I say I’ll do.”

This is a great concept. I am in this boat for sure.

@ Greg: Much like Gillette, I’ve discovered that FIVE is really the best!

A request for multiple comps sometimes means the client isn’t sure what they want, or they believe they’ll know it when they see it.

“Bring me a rock… no, not that rock.”

I find I can sometimes better serve a client on the front end by exploring concepts like ‘mood’ or ‘feeling’, providing one concept, then discussing how that concept achieves (or doesn’t achieve) our goal. Multiple comps too quickly becomes about what a client likes personally (designwise, typographically, compsotionally), and not how a concept solves (or doesn’t solve) a problem.

I’d love to hear some more about moodboards vs. comps. I’m too familiar with the “create 3 comps, have them choose the one you like least” and while I’ve gotten better at selling the direction I feel best solves a problem, I’d really like to hear how others work.

One thing in specific. How do you sell a client on an “alternative process” like moodboards and one iterative design direction. Especially when 3 comps is something they expect. For me that’s been the hardest part.

mood boards always remind me of the episode of “blow out” when the packaging designer for the jonathan product shower filters tried to show johnathan a bowl full of rocks to set direction. jonathan almost had a meltdown which totally could have been avoided by cutting strait to the box (which is awesome btw).

Mood boards sound like a high school collage project; oh god, how awful. “I cut out this cool red car because I like the color red, and I like cars. And I found this picture of Brad Pitt… he’s really hot and I like hot guys so I put him on there. Then I cutout this sunset on the beach… I love the beach, and the red car is driving toward the sunset because I like red cars and sunsets.”

Sweet.

Echo to everything Keith said. We constantly fall into the 3 comps trap and usually end up eating the budget trying to piece elements from each design together into one incoherent whole. i’d love to hear success stories about selling alternative methods (to both the client and to internal management on 3 comp default).

Whoa, mood boards. We had to do those in secondary school as the first step in both Textiles and Graphic Design. They always sucked, but then, most of the things I did in those classes did.

K8—

I know this sounds like a simplistic response but, in the end, it boils down to communication, trust, and confidence when interacting with the client(s). Once you score those you can break away from the traditional 3 comps here, 3 rounds of this BS.

Communication—I am not sure where a lot of our clients were coming from but the first thing we hear when we get a new client (who did not have a good experience with their last freelancer or web/design shop) is how impressed they are with our efforts to keep them in the loop… That seems like a no-brainer to me but a lot of clients are coming from a situation feeling like they were left out to dry.

The big part here is to really listen to their needs so you can truly solve the client’s needs. This will allow you to gain trust and give you the confidence to show why your professional opinion should be taken seriously.

Trust—Through the open communication you build trust. Sure you will butt heads and clients will feel like their way is right at the beginning. Soon enough they will see the light as you prove to them why you were hired for your expertise. If they do not appreciate what you bring to the table then cut them loose. They will eventually come back and listen.

Confidence—You were hired for a reason. There is a fine line between catering to the client’s needs and giving into their every demand. Present your solutions with confidence and clients will slowly, but surely, listen to you and stop playing the tug-of-war they have been used to playing with others.

Getting the client to tear down that wall of distrust they seem to have opens up a world of possibilities. If you can do that then work with clients becomes amazingly fulfilling.

Thanks, Paulo. All excellent points.

Wow. You guys really nailed the dilemma of feeling like you must present 3 (or more) comps to a client. I used to do this quite often. Now that I trust my own skills/judgement a bit more, I usually show clients a single design early on in the process- before i’m even attached to it -and then use it to get some great feedback. A few iterations, some polishing, and the design process usually moves a lot quicker for both of us.

I like these chats, quite a bit. Thanks guys.

K8, no problem at all.

Per Matt’s comment, I agree with him. These chats are awesome!

Also, after being a Basecamp user for over a year or so our studio is finally seeing the value with the integrated CampFire chat functionality… why in the hell did it take us so long?