Aug 17 2008
I'm a firm believer in trusting the experts, whether they're design experts, food experts, math experts, toy experts or what have you. Generally speaking, they're probably experts for a reason. But I also believe in trusting your instincts and questioning things when appropriate.
Robert Johans over at Cira Creative, *seems* to think that if you've hired (and thus are paying) an expert, then you should also be trusting them blindly. The thing is though, I don't fully agree. As a designer / developer, this is a weird position to articulate since I will often need to make the argument for a particular choice in a project detail.
You see, it's very true - if you've hired a pro to do something for you, then yes, there should be a certain amount of trust there that will allow him or her to the job right for you. After all, you've hired him/her for *some* reason right? Blind trust, however, is rarely a good thing. If something doesn't sit well with you, should you just shrug it off and let the designer take care of it?
On the flip side of that, a designer should be able to give you a solid reason (or three) for why they chose that particular thing that isn't sitting right with you. If the answer doesn't make you, the client, feel better then you may be heading for some trouble if you don't speak up.
For me, the bottom line isn't as clear cut as trusting the experts, though I will admit that trust is extremely important and that's where it all should start. But at the same time, there are times when the experts, despite being experts, are wrong. And in those cases, we professionals need to be professional enough to know when to back down, compromise or simply admit when we're off-base.