Tracey Halvorsen is a blogger, painter, author, speaker and Principal and Creative Director at Fastspot, a Baltimore, Maryland-based interactive agency. I had chance to speak with her about many aspects of running a design business, from social networking to determining budgets to the importance of failure.
You’ve told me one of your worst jobs during the dot com boom taught you the most about business. What would you tell others to avoid when running a design business?
I would tell others that at the end of the day it’s about people and their lives. Yes, great design is the goal, and profits, and stability and health benefits and all that good stuff. But NONE of the good stuff matters if people aren’t happy. Being a creative person means you need to be challenged, and you need to feel you are constantly evolving. This is important to fostering the happiness within a creative agency. Seek work and clients that will allow you to do those things, and to remain happy, and the profits and stability and good stuff will follow. So don’t forget about the fact that you are running a business full of people, who create things for other people.
One of the hardest parts of being a designer is dealing with client requests that go against your better judgment. How do you handle this and when, if ever, do you just say “no?”
We always try to be advisors to our clients, and look out for their best interests. We can usually make pretty compelling arguments against bad decisions, and I would advise that you defend your decisions from the get-go so you can avoid them asking for things that won’t work. If they understand why you are doing things from the beginning, they are less likely to try to steer it off the tracks. I always tell our clients we don’t want to know the “how," we want to know the “why.” If something isn’t working, tell us why you think so, not how to fix it. That’s our job. I also find that clients appreciate hearing “no” when you can back it up with good reasons. An important part of a designer’s job is learning to communicate about design to people who aren’t necessarily creative people and who aren’t well versed in typography or navigational structures. It’s our job to tell them why something is a bad idea, and in a convincing way. The last thing you want to do is have to show the client their request to prove to them it was a bad idea. However, that being said, we’ve been there.
You have to remember the client has hired you because you are the expert. They are expecting you to take the reins and lead them to a successful end result. You should be careful not to make them think they are sailing the ship, because that will guarantee a failed project and frustrate everyone involved. While their input and feedback is critical, they have hired YOU to create the deliverables. Sometimes you need to remind a client that they should let you do what they hired you to do; otherwise they are wasting their money. We have let clients go in situations where they were unwilling to listen to our opinions and were unable to let go of the wheel and let us drive the ship.
You discussed the topic of failure at SXSW... how much has failure improved your work? How do you personally react to failure (or speed bumps) and how do you keep your team on track during problems with clients?
Failures are the best building blocks, and ideally you have less of them as you gain experience and learn to avoid them. However, pay close attention to your failures early on - the quicker you can learn from them and adjust your behaviors, the faster you will move past future failures. When we do encounter tough times, everyone knows it. We keep lines of communication very open, and encourage everyone to talk about things that are causing stress.
I feel like if we fail, we need to tackle it head on, and really understand where we messed up. However, sometimes you just have a toxic client and you need to get rid of them for the health and happiness of your team.
What obstacles have you faced as a woman in the web design and technology field, an industry dominated by men, and how has that affected your career?
I really find that I don’t think about it much. Yes, most of the people I interacted with early on were men, but I am seeing that change lately. I can honestly say I don’t think being a woman in the web design world has held me back one bit. In fact, I’ve found the industry is often looking for more vocal or high profile women to step up and make themselves known. I do think it’s a slightly female trait to take a more modest approach to things, and not wave our flags as high or as wildly. My advice to other aspiring women who want to do well in this field is don’t be modest. Get out there, make yourselves, your work and your opinions known far and wide. If you encounter any naysayers, ignore them and move past them.
If you could take on a design project for any company, organization or individual, who and what would it be?
I am dying for the Supreme Court to call us. Their site is not looking so hot these days, and we would love the challenge of organizing that information in a user-friendly manner.
Anything else?
The interactive space is an exciting one to be pursuing a career in, and I hope it continues to attract creative people who see it as a constantly evolving landscape full of explorers and pioneers. It is definitely a place that is changing the way we live our lives in a dramatic fashion, and if you want to be part of that transformation, just dive in and get started. Let creativity lead your charge, and learn what you need to along the way.