How To Get Good at Being A Client

There are clients I like and there are clients I love, and then there are clients that I’m choosing not to label here.

Personalities vary greatly from client to client, designer to designer, but a few traits stand out as core requirements for a successful design solution. Public presence, bank balance, and the scale of previous projects don’t weigh in.

This isn’t a lecture on how to behave. Instead, I want to highlight traits I’ve seen that lead to great projects.

Being a Willing Participant

Successful design requires free-flowing communication between client and design team. Designer and client are on the same team. They should challenge each other—respectfully—but always work toward the same goal: a successful project.

It Starts with a Good Design Brief

It’s the designer’s responsibility to extract information from the client, and the client’s responsibility to provide it freely and in as much detail as possible.

I’ve delivered great projects with minimal input, but the best results happen when clients actively participate.

If you have ideas, spit them out—don’t be afraid of rejection. It happens to us daily, and by jingoes, it thickens one’s skin quickly.

Review the Design Concepts in Detail

Where possible, I deliver conceptual drawings, renderings, and preliminary selections in person with all stakeholders present.

Getting owners, head chefs, head bartenders, and floor managers in a room together isn’t always easy, but it’s far more efficient than multiple review cycles. It takes time to review drawings—especially for larger projects—but it will save time in the long run.

You don’t want to be in a position where your project has been delivered, as per design, only to realise a critical feature was omitted or something you hate was included.

It’s all there in the documents.

That you signed off on.

At three stages of design.

Understanding Constraints

Constraints aren’t just problems—they can fuel creative solutions. A good designer works with lead times, budget, awkward spaces, and functionality to craft a successful outcome. The sooner everyone understands these constraints, the sooner your designer can start juggling the Tetris blocks while standing on a skateboard, tearing down a hill toward the project deadline.

A balance must be struck, and your designer should illustrate this once a design brief is compiled.

For example: a tight budget for a large project can be managed with a longer lead time, allowing for selective sourcing or a competitive tender process. A small space with specific functional needs is achievable, but will require more design work and possibly custom-made products—driving up cost.

Where you don’t want to be: small budget, tight lead time, atypical functional requirements in a small, oddly shaped tenancy. The chances of a great design solution? Slim at best.

Every design decision will impact budget, space, time, or functionality. Clients who acknowledge project constraints will better understand the designer’s decisions.

Designing for the Market

Here’s a line I often hit my commercial clients with during the design brief stage:

“I’m not designing to my taste, and I’m not designing to my client’s taste. I’m designing to my client’s clients’ taste.”

It might sound a little arrogant, but if you’re in business, your client is king. If your clients love booth seats, give them booth seats. If you don’t like booth seats, don’t put them in your house.

This doesn’t mean following trends blindly—but it does mean assessing the tastes and needs of the people who will be paying the bills once the project is complete.

Being Open to New Ideas

You’re engaging a professional to pour hours of thought into your project—this doesn’t come cheap. Let the designer design.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have input. Communicate your requirements and let the designer work. There’ll be time for amendments, but rushing a designer to issue half-finished concepts and then wondering why the design isn’t hitting the brief? That’s a waste of time.

Designers who are given the freedom to design, design best.

Letting the Process Evolve

Product supply issues, overlooked details, mistakes on site, weird surprises in existing buildings… All these things are annoying, but all these things can happen.

When they do, accept them and give the designer space to come up with a solution. Some of my best ideas—ones that have added real value—have come from unforeseen issues or supply constraints.

When lead times are tight, deadlines are looming, and trades are working over the top of each other, problems arise. Deep breaths. Call your designer. Work through the problem. I’ve never seen an issue that couldn’t be solved with some clever, clear thinking.

Clients who don’t stress over hiccups? Lower blood pressure. Allegedly.

Allowing the Designer to Be the Conduit

All information between the client and the builder flows through the designer.

This is important. If something looks off on site, don’t ask the builder to change it. There could be fifty reasons for that decision. But don’t keep it to yourself, either—call your designer. They’ll either explain the reasoning or adjust it if needed.

If your builder wants to make changes, hear them out—then check with your designer. Builders and trades often have great ideas that can simplify construction or improve performance. But sometimes, a builder might push for a cheaper product or process to boost their margin. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. Get a second opinion.

We follow countless construction codes, standards, local regulations, and manufacturer specifications. We spend a considerable portion of your design budget making sure these constraints are observed. Moving a door 50mm could have a knock-on effect that means the building code isn’t met, or the custom-fabricated cocktail station no longer fits. Bummer.

Designers don’t know everything—we can’t possibly hold all the knowledge of every trade and consultant. But we are in the business of information transfer—collating client requirements, regulatory constraints, and a little shake of style into construction plans and, ultimately, a high-performing design solution.

Be a Part of the Journey

If you have the time, meet your designer on site and see the process unfold.

It might put trades on edge at first, but taking the time to say g’day and have a look around almost guarantees better work. You’ll learn a shitload of things you’ve probably never thought about, and you’ll feel more connected to the project.

I write this with a little reluctance—I know designers often inflate their importance, and I’m probably no exception.

But a designer who respects the project and their client isn’t getting paid to be coy about what they’re good at.

A good designer knows their strengths and weaknesses—and has no problem acknowledging either.

A good client does the same.

Blammo.

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