How to Make Your Client's Logo Bigger Without Making Their Logo Bigger
There is one surefire way to make your client's logo bigger without
actually making their logo bigger, but it is reserved for only the most
desperate situations. You must have exhausted all other possibilities.
Moreover, you must have run out of any patience, respect for your
client, and scruples. Here's how it works.
actually making their logo bigger, but it is reserved for only the most
desperate situations. You must have exhausted all other possibilities.
Moreover, you must have run out of any patience, respect for your
client, and scruples. Here's how it works.
You present the work with the too-small logo, and the client
explains that its size must be increased. Don't argue. Instead, listen
very carefully, nodding, drawing out detail and nuance. Make it clear
that this is a matter of importance and complexity, and the client is
right to focus on it. Finally, announce, as if it's just then occurring
to you, that there is only one way to get this exactly right, to make
sure that the client is absolutely pleased. You will prepare not one,
but five options, changing the size of the logo on each one just ever
so slightly. In this way, and in this way alone, can a reliable
decision be made. Take my word for it: no client will turn down this
offer, since the one thing these kind of people like more than arguing
about logo sizes is looking at lots of options. Take the work away and
promise to return to the next meeting with this exercise ready for
review.
explains that its size must be increased. Don't argue. Instead, listen
very carefully, nodding, drawing out detail and nuance. Make it clear
that this is a matter of importance and complexity, and the client is
right to focus on it. Finally, announce, as if it's just then occurring
to you, that there is only one way to get this exactly right, to make
sure that the client is absolutely pleased. You will prepare not one,
but five options, changing the size of the logo on each one just ever
so slightly. In this way, and in this way alone, can a reliable
decision be made. Take my word for it: no client will turn down this
offer, since the one thing these kind of people like more than arguing
about logo sizes is looking at lots of options. Take the work away and
promise to return to the next meeting with this exercise ready for
review.
Prepare a new presentation with five different logo sizes: big,
slightly bigger, slightly bigger again, slightly bigger still again,
and biggest. Ideally, the difference between in the sizes should be
maddeningly imperceptible. At the next meeting, and with a bit of
ceremony, lay them out before the client left to right, smallest to
biggest. To enable a robust discussion, the options should be labeled 1
through 5. As you spread them out, say, "We started with the original
and changed the size in increments of [insert some small unit of
measurement here] so we could get a really good choice." Let the client
examine this array. This is a period of intense deliberation, partly
because the difference in the sizes is so hard to distinguish. Into the
silence that inevitably ensues, with some hesitancy, offer your point
of view. "After looking at them all together for a while, we decided
that number 5 was really a bit too big, and we were torn between 3 and
4." If the client is polite, they will pretend to care about your
opinion for a moment. If not, they won't waste time. Either way,
they'll announce that number 5 is the best and that's the one that
should be used. Just for the hell of it, at this point you might want
to try to make a (no doubt futile) case for number 4. But it doesn't
matter: you won.
slightly bigger, slightly bigger again, slightly bigger still again,
and biggest. Ideally, the difference between in the sizes should be
maddeningly imperceptible. At the next meeting, and with a bit of
ceremony, lay them out before the client left to right, smallest to
biggest. To enable a robust discussion, the options should be labeled 1
through 5. As you spread them out, say, "We started with the original
and changed the size in increments of [insert some small unit of
measurement here] so we could get a really good choice." Let the client
examine this array. This is a period of intense deliberation, partly
because the difference in the sizes is so hard to distinguish. Into the
silence that inevitably ensues, with some hesitancy, offer your point
of view. "After looking at them all together for a while, we decided
that number 5 was really a bit too big, and we were torn between 3 and
4." If the client is polite, they will pretend to care about your
opinion for a moment. If not, they won't waste time. Either way,
they'll announce that number 5 is the best and that's the one that
should be used. Just for the hell of it, at this point you might want
to try to make a (no doubt futile) case for number 4. But it doesn't
matter: you won.
You may have already guessed how this works.
When you put
together the presentation, the logo from the previous meeting—the size
you originally showed—is number 5, not number 1, and the options are
all incrementally smaller, not incrementally bigger. But notice that
you never claim otherwise. You say only that you've "changed the size
ever so slightly"—true. You say, as you lay them out, "Here's number
one...two's a little bigger...a little bigger again..." etc.—true
again! Even your (admittedly cruel and perverse) advocacy for option 4
is based on an unspoken but nonetheless legitimate realization that the
logo was actually too big in the first place, not too small. If you are
very careful, you never have to lie at all.
together the presentation, the logo from the previous meeting—the size
you originally showed—is number 5, not number 1, and the options are
all incrementally smaller, not incrementally bigger. But notice that
you never claim otherwise. You say only that you've "changed the size
ever so slightly"—true. You say, as you lay them out, "Here's number
one...two's a little bigger...a little bigger again..." etc.—true
again! Even your (admittedly cruel and perverse) advocacy for option 4
is based on an unspoken but nonetheless legitimate realization that the
logo was actually too big in the first place, not too small. If you are
very careful, you never have to lie at all.
Like all con games, this one is based on the illusion that the
sucker has the advantage. In this case, it's the conviction that this
kind of client always has that it's your job to do as they say. Little
do they realize that your final allegiance is not to them, but to the
quality of the work, something that you cannot in good conscience
permit them to jeopardize with their lack of taste.
sucker has the advantage. In this case, it's the conviction that this
kind of client always has that it's your job to do as they say. Little
do they realize that your final allegiance is not to them, but to the
quality of the work, something that you cannot in good conscience
permit them to jeopardize with their lack of taste.
Two last things. The key thing is to make sure that no copies of the
original presentation are left behind, lest they be produced for
comparison's sake at the second presentation. You can usually secure
the original by explaining that you need them to create the painstaking
variations, and moreover that you can't bear the idea of flawed design
work remaining in circulation. Finally, if the worst happens and you
actually get caught, just blame the whole thing on a misunderstanding
by an intern the client has never met that you will fire as soon as you
return to your office.
original presentation are left behind, lest they be produced for
comparison's sake at the second presentation. You can usually secure
the original by explaining that you need them to create the painstaking
variations, and moreover that you can't bear the idea of flawed design
work remaining in circulation. Finally, if the worst happens and you
actually get caught, just blame the whole thing on a misunderstanding
by an intern the client has never met that you will fire as soon as you
return to your office.
For the record, I have never actually done this...good luck!
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