Comments on: Why you should never present more than one mockup to a client

By: Troy

Troy — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:33:50 +0000

I totally get it, I’m doing two mockups right now for a client and everything your saying is the truth. After I’m done with this client, I’m only doing one mockup for now on. Thanks bro, this was a good read!

By: Ben

Ben — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 10:19:32 +0000

Nice lively debate going on here. For me, this says it all : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb8idEf-Iak&t=3m10s

By: Drew

Drew — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 17:16:45 +0000

There are some great comments here. As designers of anything we have to learn not to be apologetic for our talents. I’ve been designing buildings for 30 years and I have never won a project with the three option stratagy. It detracts from your expertise and confuses the client. I’ve also found that you never send a “preview”. It’s imperitive to stay in control and explain the story at the presentation. In my humble opinion – great design is not a democratic process – it’s a benevolent dictatorship.

By: Chris Whiteley

Chris Whiteley — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 05:21:37 +0000

A short quick read that convinces me to stop doing two mockups!

Previously I had always done 2 mockups and the client would always choose the wrong one. I made up for the “time lost” from doing the second mockup by turning it into a free WordPress Theme to give away to promote myself, however I really think I will start giving the client 1 option. I am the expert right?

By: 51 Website Design

51 Website Design — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 17:57:49 +0000

Good point here. I was actually considering the idea of producing more than 1 mockup. I can’t remember what post I read, but it suggested that I create more than one mockup.

By: Xplore Studio

Xplore Studio — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 07:37:41 +0000

Some great points raised, and I must agree in some cases the one concept design will work – but in many other cases I can see a project heading in two possible directions.

Thanks for the great post…

By: rod rodriguez

rod rodriguez — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 06:32:11 +0000

Great job Lee, this topic is very interesting and you have made some good points. I love coming here for this kind of stuff.

By: jiewmeng

jiewmeng — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 13:46:20 +0000

i don’t agree that we should not design more because of more work tho. i think it can act as part of the process and is good practice afterall. maybe a few unique choices for the client is good tho. i don’t believe that i am always right. a few choices will act as good practice and allows the client to choose which will be best. i think getting the reason as to why they choose the design over the rest will be good

By: Syd Salmon

Syd Salmon — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 16:11:20 +0000

@Dan You’re right that the example may not be perfect.

However, in both cases the needs of the client/consumer are aggregated. I think it’s fair to suggest that most clients have multiple people with disparate needs contributing to the overall vision of a given project.

Good organizations have often made their compromises before presenting their RFP, whether formal or not. Upon new information being offered by the design team, rather than a single unified vision, multiple ideas emerge from clients—sometimes competing or ambiguous. It is their responsibility to make the compromises necessary to result in a harmonious mosaic. More than one interpretation gets them to see the big picture faster.

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 19:34:50 +0000

Syd, Apple’s product range is not an excellent example – it’s a wrong example. Apple only offer choice because they have more than one client.

This is analogous to a designer creating a different design for each client, which is, of course, correct.

However, if Apple only had one customer, they’d only build one version of the iPod; the version that best suited the requirements of that one client.