In a recent blog post by Kansas City Art Institute entitled 10 Graphic Design Paradoxes by Adrian Shaughnessy, a list of graphic designer paradoxes presented and explained by Adrian was compiled. The author of “How to be a Graphic Designer without Losing Your Soul,” Adrian puts forth some very eye-opening yet true paradoxes that designers must embrace to be successful, such as “There’s no such thing as bad clients: only bad designers” and “When a client says the words — ‘you have complete creative freedom,’ they never mean complete creative freedom.”

As a freelance writer/blogger, I found these paradoxes to apply to my line of work as well. Recently, I tried to explain the basic concept of SEO to a client to give her an idea of why she needed the work I recommended. She agreed with me and we went over the topics she needed me to focus on. We left the meeting, I wrote one of the articles to show her exactly what was needed, and she came back to me with an okay and a request to substitute some of the budgeted work for another website. Obviously, she took away my “complete creative freedom.”

But maybe it was my fault. Another paradox that Adrian presents is “Ideas usually fall not because they’re bad ideas, but because they’re badly presented.” This statement has encouraged me to look at exactly how I explain my process to clients. Maybe my client just did not see the importance of why I do SEO marketing the way I do it. Or maybe I just made the mistake of not knowing my client, for, as Adrian says, “If we want to educate our clients about design, we must first educate ourselves about our clients.”

Another interesting paradox that I have come across in my experience as a freelancer that Adrian points out is, as he puts it, “The best way to learn how to become a better graphic designer is to become a client.” So far in my career, I have done well to put myself in the client’s shoes as far as excellence goes. I always ask myself, would I be happy with this blog if I’d hired someone to write it for me? But then there are those times, such as my recent experience, when I just don’t seem to be able to find out what the client wants. This is when I have to forget about the fact that my hours spent with this client does not equal the money I will receive. This is when I have to remember that in order to maintain my reputation as a reliable, successful writer, that I must put aside my irritation with a low budget and keep trying until I find exactly what my client wants and needs.

This — the client perspective — is the overall message I gathered from Adrian’s list. No matter your field of work, be it graphic design or copywriting or mechanics, putting the client’s needs and desires before your own professional opinion and experiences while molding their ideas into something that will benefit them is the key to a long and successful career. Maybe I should pin this list onto my office wall…