One of the thrills of being a creative is seeing your ideas come to fruition. All that hard work would finally pay off when you present your ideas to your clients they’ll fall in love with the project, and put you on a retainer. The creative genius in you is super proud .
So you’re almost giddy with the satisfaction you’d receive from your client, although you keep your cool. You send your work in, awaiting compliments like a child about their first candy.
But instead of praise for delivering such top-notch work, you receive a series of noes and a list of complaints and things to change. It can be deflating.
However, we learn to move on from it so we can give the story of how it happened. We met 5 such creatives on this week’s Creative Gist to ask, “What happened the last time a client denied the height of your creative genius?”
I was working on a business case for a startup idea a client had to help pitch to investors a couple of months ago.
After working on it for a few days and delivering a document that was 'nearly perfect' to me, he didn't approve. Hours and hours of research wasted.
My first reaction was disappointment because I never deliver briefs that are below par. I took my L (loss) and worked on his feedback, but it kind of affected my confidence. It took me to submit a third brief to get it right, but I did eventually.
Feedback may hurt, but it would help you to get better.
I don't think I have gotten to that point. But I have had circumstances where things I felt were unnecessary. On the other hand, my clients wanted to have it there, and they modified my design.
I had an architectural design project for a virtual reality game store. The concept around it was to have a futuristic and techy look. An essential future was using 3D white panels with an abstract geometric form and neon lights on top of it to give it a glow in the ambience.
But I found out recently that they painted graffiti drawings on all the white panels. It was quite painful. I think that's the closest I have had.
Well, I've never really thought anything is the height of my creative genius, to be quite honest. I'm well aware that I'm just getting started, and I still have a lot to learn and improve upon, so I take feedback very seriously and in good faith.
If my client says they don't like something, I listen to how they believe we can improve it and try to incorporate that into redoing it. It often comes out way better than before, and I get to learn something new, something that works, so win-win.
But does it sometimes hurt to put my efforts into something and realize that it wasn't enough? Of course, all the time. But I see it as an avenue for learning and getting better at my craft, so that softens the blow a little bit. I get back to work, and when the new results come with a glowing review, then I'm reassured that it was worth it after all.
It hasn't really happened, though, but when I didn't get the "wow" I expected, I knew that it had been channelled to the right audience. It made me realize that there's always room for improvement.
Well, when you've been in a line of work for a while, you'd get used to your client not liking what you think is a classic masterpiece. This is probably because they don't have the same mindset as you have, or they need help understanding what you have created. So that's why you've got to enlighten them or make something in line with what your client wants.
Conclusion
Creatives are a resilient bunch. Every creative showcased here did not once say that they gave up due to the feedback or were afraid of any negativity.
It’s fact, none of our creatives showcased on Creative Gist have done that so far.
Our creatives have shared their thoughts. Now we ask you: What happened the last time a client denied the height of your creative genius?
PS. If you would like to contribute as a respondent in the future episodes of the Creative Gist, send us an email to [email protected] or reach us via WhatsApp +2348088809311
