Brains and hands

All designers, design studios, bureaus and agencies in their approach to work are divided for two types: brains and hands.

Hands are the most boring species, ignoring natural selection. Hands do not have what brains have: brains. Hands are born to do. The meaning of the existence of hands is reduced to blind service and the fulfillment of all the requirements of the client. Hands, in rare case, are allowed to offer some more or less nice idea, but in no case can it be defended, and do something without permission. For the hands, client's opinion is the law, and client is always right.

Brains are not like that. Brains have brains. The brains are born to think first, and then to do. The meaning of the existence of the brain is the search for new solutions, initiative, the revision of the usual things, the removal of unnecessary tasks and simplification of the client's life. Brains will not do anything simply because they are said so.

Most conflicts between the client and the designer arise from a lack of understanding of both their own place in the workflow.

You can not come to the hands and assign the task of creating a completely new product or super-creative site. Hands just do not understand such tasks. Instead, they will ask the client: how to do it? what do you want to see? what is better, this or that? As a result, the client will do half of the work himself, spend a lot of time, all terms will be disrupted, and the output will either get an average quality, or the client will have to look for other contractor.

Similarly, one can not come to the Brains and say: I pay money, do as I want. Brains, if only they do not have a loan debt of one million, will never work with such clients. Brains have a lot of experience, they understand the nature of things, they know how to do things, and how they can not be done. There is no reason why the brains should blindly do anything the client asks. And there is no reason why a client should tell the brains how to do their work. To brains, on the contrary, the client should address for the answer to this question.

There is no conflict when the client comes to the hands for the fulfillment of his fantasies, and to the brains for the professional solution of his task.