Sometimes it simply makes certain clients happy to be "a little more" involved in the marketing and/or website design process. While that is welcomed to a certain degree, when it comes to the job we are hired for - we take our responsibility seriously. That being the case, there are times when things just can't get done with client involvement.
Once upon a time...we had a client who was starting a government contract related business. This company was highly specialized and required a little more research and planning than normal. Once the research was synthesized into a strategy, our team began designing the brand for this company. Everything started out well, in fact, even until the pre-final draft of the logo things were smooth and productive. Although this client required much communication and more than normal revisions, we all agreed upon a custom cartoon character that one of our designers hand drew.
Since this company was in a corporate setting with everything it did, there needed to be a balance between the playfulness and professionalism of the brand identity. Going to extremes did not fit this situation. We received confirmation that the logo was approved and complete.
The next morning arrived and at this point the website we were developing was going into the initial design phase. The day passes without anything eventful happening...until early the next morning when we received a frantic call from our client.
We are told that he had a vision in a dream the night before and wanted to dramatically change the brand to take a very different approach. Unfortunately this client did not want to pay for additional design time needed for more hand drawn art. We were told that the approved logo that took 1 entire month to develop was not going to work. Immediately the website design halted and we had to discuss this new decision with the client.
It was decided that the client wanted the logo exactly as he envisioned, not what was developed based on industry research and careful attention to detail. After all, we were asked to perform these tasks and develop a fitting brand/logo. It was done, approved even. As a last resort, we designed a website mock-up with the approved logo. But his mind was set.
It's important to note that subjectivity can significantly alter a marketing project. Sometimes taking a step back from things before making drastic changes will keep things moving smoothly. His updated logo idea never made it past the first draft because he finally saw what we tried to explain from the start What this client wanted was not necessarily what was needed. Subjectivity was hard at work in this case.
