photo:flickr member rebecca wilson
A constant howling refrain I see on designers’ sites is “clients don’t want creative solutions,” which I have always held as a direct result of designers being almost totally unskilled in selling much of anything. It turns out I’m just a judgmental dick.
That truth is actually a true truth according to this fairly alarming article, (which says that most people like the notion of creativity but really do not jive on having to actually deal with a creative idea). Why? It makes businesspeople think for themselves, which is exactly what business is never about.
However! This is easily gotten around. Tweak your ideas and your presentation so that you emphasize the social aspects of the work. Show your clientele what they’ll look like in the context of their peers. Ta da: buy-in magic. It’s not so much that you’re adding a social component (which is, of course, buzzwordy as all hell in business circles right now with very little definition), you’re pointing out the already-existing social aspects of what you’re doing.