Everyone who follows the television series, NCIS, knows that the lead character, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, has a set of rules. These rules are invoked by Gibbs or his team members to admonish, to encourage, to discipline and to keep the team unified in purpose and conduct. They’ll remind each other of “Rule Number 38″ or “Rule Number 7″.

Rules are useful tools to keep oneself in check, to maintain boundaries and to avoid issues. Every person has rules. I’ve found that the more experienced you are in life and business, the more rules you have.

I wanted to share a few of my rules. These have kept me from making some bad decisions. Some have been formed on the fly and others have been established as the result of a sad situation.

Rule No. 1. Don’t accept projects that contradict your values. If you’re uncomfortable with the premise of the project or the goals of the client, pass it by. It’s not worth it to take on a design project just “for the money” and end up hating the work. Invariably, no amount of money will make up for compromising your personal standards.

Rule No. 2. Don’t accept a new client if there’s even the hint of  trouble ahead. Trouble comes in many forms and will always sap your joy and creative energy. No relationship is perfectly smooth, but some are downright not worth it. The trouble is usually not about the project itself but about how you and the client interact. When a client wants to be the art director, when they seem to not know what they want, when they are fishing for ideas or spec work from you before committing to the project, when they are secretive about their project… when they think actually hiring instead of contracting you… these are all red flags.

Rule No. 3. The computer is only a tool. I am the designer. No software will provide the sense, knowledge and creative skill required to design. Computers have been around since the mid-1980s. Designers have existed for centuries. That should sum it up.

Rule No. 4. Take a day off every week. Just as you need to pull off the road to re-fuel or re-charge your car, you need to take a break regularly. Most of the designers I know work long hours, including weekends. An annual two-week vacation is not enough to regroup and sustain ongoing productivity. Stopping work to rest and reflect is important for long-term success and satisfaction. Unplug, slow down, and reflect on what you’re doing and why. You’re able to put things in perspective when you step outside the flow of daily creative effort.

Rule No. 5. Design your day before you begin it. The design process includes planning and being purposeful, knowing where you need to end up before you begin. This applies to managing your time in order to be effective in your work. If you plan each day before you begin it, you’ll keep distractions to a minimum and can focus better.

Rule No. 6. Always be looking. Keep your eyes open. Everything is a potential inspiration.

Rule No. 7. Always be listening. Listening is a skill few people take the time to develop. Clients are more likely to trust someone who who listens and then applies what they’ve heard.

Rule No. 8. Don’t edit when brainstorming. The best solutions are known to come from “brain dumps” where you just start listing and/or doodling everything that comes to mind in pursuit of a design solution. Once the list is made, then review it and narrow it down.

Rule No. 9. Do not work for hire or on spec or bid. These all devalue your work and your contribution to the client’s success. They also depreciate the design profession as a whole.

Rule No. 10. Always begin a project with a handshake AND a written contract. The handshake helps establish the relationship with the client and the contract protects the relationship by outlining specific expectations that both parties have agreed to. Most designers I know will concur on this: It’s when you don’t have a written agreement that trouble shows up.

Rule No. 11. The client is not your enemy. The designer-client relationship should be one of mutual respect. The designer is there to serve the client. The client is there to facilitate the designer. It’s a give-give relationship. When a disagreement arises or a mistake is made, own your part in it, fix it, and continue. Don’t blame. I’ve known too many designers (and even have been guilty of it myself in the past) who complain about the client constantly. And I’ve worked with clients who complain about their designers. Both designer and client should be about the business of seeking the other’s highest good.

Rule No. 12. Always be thankful. I’ve established the habit of thanking clients at the end of a project. Send a hand-written note rather than an email or a business letter. Really. It makes an impact. Show your appreciation and you’ll be appreciated.

Here are some “rules” for the rules: Determine your values and non-negotiables before you engage with clients. Setting your own boundaries mitigates or prevents others from setting them for you. Deciding up front about how you will handle things makes it easier to respond when situations arise. Be consistent in upholding your values, but also be flexible. Sometimes you need to add or modify a rule. Setting and maintaining boundaries will help you avoid relationships and circumstances that are potentially harmful.

Why should people buy your product?

People buy things they love. Our stuff becomes part of us, like a permanent accessory. Objects help us define ourselves and identify with each other. Through them we find mutuality and acceptance.

How do people fall in love with stuff­? How does a product carve its niche in the hearts of consumers to become that “gotta have” item that, if you don’t have it, you just don’t quite measure up? It’s first an issue of seduction, and second of satisfaction.

The things we love help us feel good. When we feel good, we look good — we feel desirable, attractive and valued. Whether it’s designer coffee, that special pair of skinny jeans, or a robust Harley-Davidson, our things reinforce what we believe is good in ourselves; they bring out the best in us; we see them as positive reflections of who we are. We build our culture around the things we love, both personally and corporately.

The things we love are precious. We associate them with good friends, good times, favorite places and activities. They become irreplaceable items, necessary to our daily function, and meaningful because of how they help us connect, engage and get things done.

The things we love are sensual, providing pleasure and contentment through sound, sight, taste, smell, and touch. These are very individual choices. What pleases one person will not please another. We need to first connect personally with the aesthetics (that would be the design) of the thing. After that, further connections are made. The more connections we make, the more we fall in love with the item.

How can you invest your product or service with “lovability”? Here are a few suggestions:

• Love it yourself. If you’re not passionate about it, how can you engender passion in another?
• Know your market. Your market is people, not statistics. Spend time with your market before you offer your product.
• Be patient. Give people time to react and respond to your product.
• Design it well. Design adds value and meaning to your product. Visual communication should be consistent and noble. Don’t rely on your own sense of style; invest in design created by an expert. And finally:
• Follow-up. Find out how your product is really being used. Do folks like it and talk about it? If so, they’re creating a culture around it, making it a necessity for lifestyle maintenance.

To be promoted in our design-driven culture, a product must be packaged in such a way that it becomes meaningful to the person using it, so that they become an evangelist for it. This requires thoughtful planning and execution of a design strategy. Although you cannot ensure a desired customer response to your product  just because you have a plan, investing in good design increases the likelihood of lovability because it increases recognition, differentiates in a visually-cluttered world, communicates reliability, and creates affinity. In short, good design increases overall desire and appeal.

You cannot market anything these days without creating some sort of culture around it. You cannot can’t create culture without design.

Setting up for a critique session in one of my classes at UCLA Extension.

Being a designer is perceived by many as a fun job. Designers get to work with colors, shapes and amazing computer programs and be creative for a living. The design field is a natural choice for creative people.

Students often enter a design program and are surprised by the reality that design is a discipline. Design involves theory and practice. It includes psychology and geometry. There is critical thinking and hand skills that need to be developed. There are tools and materials, drawing and technology. There are objectives, expectations and deadlines.

Design takes aesthetic principles and marries them to function. A designer must be visually literate, able to speak the visual language. This involves being able to think both concretely and creatively. In school, theory taught and projects assigned are meant to develop these skills and ingrain them into the emerging designer so that they become innate. Achieving these things is not easy. It takes hard work, long hours, trial and error, evaluation and lots of coffee. Students complain when a project takes all their time or is too hard for them.

What should determine the degree of difficulty for a given project or course of study: a student’s inexperience and assumption that design is supposed to be fun and easy?

We automatically default to our lowest level of effort. This default position results in mediocrity rather than excellence. Most of us become designers to create meaning, to create change or to achieve significance. In none of these cases will mediocrity meet the call. We must be excellent. Excellence requires effort and training.

The design practice isn’t for everyone. Design is not easy. Design is not decoration. It is a discipline. It is naturally difficult. Those who are gifted with visual acumen must still develop the character required to make those creative gifts useful and the skills needed to provide a platform. Those with less talent are not necessarily out of the game, but they must understand that what makes design valuable is not that it’s fun or pretty but that it is the result of a compendium of thought, evaluation, ideas, skill, theory and practice. Competition for design jobs is crowded with talented people exercising various levels of discipline and character development.

When students realize the challenges ahead of them they generally respond in one of two ways: either they say it’s too hard and give up or, or they take up the challenge, press in, work through and allow themselves to be molded into visually literate people with the ability to create the right solution to a stated problem.

The degree of difficulty is determined by the level of competition and the expectations of excellence imposed by the sophisticated, visually-aware marketplace.

Businesses have a choice when seeking creative services: They can go the cheap route and buy a logo through a crowdsource/contest site where they’ll select the lowest bidder, or they can commission a designer for a custom, targeted design. This creates a dilemma for legitimate freelancers. Competition for freelance design work is not only increasing, it’s being degraded as design thinking becomes under-valued and relegated to the level of banal doodles seeking a home. If businesses get used to paying pennies for a bad design offered by the lowest bidder or for an off-the-rack piece of badly drawn clip art, the profession itself will be compromised.

Many freelancers are turning to these crowdsourcing sites, thinking that getting something – anything – is better than nothing. And if they can win bids enough times they may be able to eek out a living. However, that approach leaves everything to chance and speculation – not a great way to make a living. It’s a gamble.

Leaving your income up to chance is neither wise nor proactive. Giving others control over your livelihood while spending time creating work that may or may not be purchased is neither useful to you nor helpful for achieving your long term goals.

The best way to get new work is through relationship. As people begin to know you they trust you. Trust is one of the best compensations anyone can earn. Relationships and trust however, take time to build.

You build relationship by becoming involved with people. Joining chambers of commerce or service clubs like Rotary, Kiwanis and the Lions, or serving as a volunteer with cause-based organizations will help spread your reputation and create opportunities for conversation and trust.

Target people and businesses you want to work with. There’s the temptation to take just any project that comes along, but it’s better to be judicious in selecting work and clients that are a good fit. Not every project is the right one. Not every client is worth working with. So be selective. Being selective requires, of course, a foreknowledge of the kind of client you want to work with. Foreknowledge requires planning and evaluation.

Use your LinkedIn and Facebook connections. Don’t just link up with other designers but also with business owners, marketing pros and corporate executive who might be strategic for your professional growth—people who will refer you or would give you a project directly.

Ask for referrals from current and past clients. Don’t have a client yet? Ask for referrals from friends and family. Don’t be afraid to let people know you’re looking for work. Always follow up on the referral and be sure to thank the referrer, even if their referral doesn’t pan out. Expressing gratitude is golden.

Whatever you do, do it with the long-term in mind. It’s tempting to focus on short-term revenue or getting the next project. Yet whatever you do, first determine where you want to go as a design practitioner. Where do you want to end up at the end of your time in the profession? What contributions do you want to make? Then break ground and build that foundation now. Be willing to give up some short-term fixes for the sake of your long-term goals. What strategic relationships do you want to establish now that will benefit you down the road?

If you have a well-designed strategy for building the right relationships, you will have a better chance for sustained success than if you focus on just getting the next project.

I am currently working with a playwright to develop graphics to promote his inaugural work. We have had several discussions about the origins of the work – how he came to write it and its importance to him and and to the audiences that see it. We’ve discussed the message it communications and the manner in which it communicates. Through all of our conversations his vision has emerged – what he wants to see happen and how I, as a designer, can help him accomplish it. It’s all about his vision. That’s the significant thing… he has a vision that’s bigger than writing, directing and promoting the play. The play is not the vision. The play is a means to the vision.

Every designer needs a vision – something greater than his current project queue. There should be a bigger reason for doing what you do than simply making a client happy or being creative. It has got to be greater than making a living or else designing becomes just a job and design no more important than decorating.

Vision is that thing that keeps you going, the big thing “out there” that you’re reaching for that you’re desperate to achieve. It’s the “why” behind what you do every day – the solution to a problem that you are compelled to solve or fix. It is not something you simply stumble upon, but without it, you will stumble. Vision stems from the things that you’re really passionate about and unifies everything you do.

Vision is the the ability to plan the future with imagination and wisdom. It’s a mental image of what the future will or could be like. It begins with a “burden”- that thing that is the most important among all the other things that are important. It is picturing a reality that does not yet exist but that can and should.

I believe that designers need vision for themselves because it anchors them. It will keep them going through tough projects, demanding clients and fast-paced schedules. If the only reason a person practices design is for the money or the fame, burn out is right around the corner. What keeps him going is the bigger pictures he is striving to paint.

Vision needs to be simple and memorable. It needs to be easily stated and repeatable. The more people you want to communicate your vision to, the simpler it needs to be. Try reducing it to one word. If you cannot do that, it’s not simple enough.

Vision needs to be foundational. Communicate it first to yourself so that it becomes your focal point and your raison d’etre. The more you repeat it to yourself the more it becomes part of you. It’s your stand-out point of difference from all the other designers who do what you do.

Vision needs to be transferrable. Cast your vision so that others will catch it. Why? Because you need help. Your vision is what makes you unique and valuable among your fellow design practitioners, but it’s not something you can achieve by yourself. Others need to support you in it and can’t unless they know what you’re trying to achieve. These others will include family, friends, colleagues, sub-contractors and suppliers. If they’re not supporting you in your efforts you won’t get anywhere.

An effective way to cast your vision is story-telling. Stories are the most powerful way to communicate values and vision. They bring an emotional element which empowers people. Where people won’t remember facts and figures they will remember a good story.

Vision needs to be re-cast. Once you achieve your vision, you need a new one. If you don’t keep vision out in front of you you’ll be living on past laurels with no reason to continue forward. Anticipation and hope die and you end up with nothing to look forward to.

Being without vision is problematic. Why? Without vision you will:

• Take on any project.
• Stay very busy but accomplish nothing.
• Live on your last design award or your most recent success story.
• Be outrun by the culture. The marketplace is always shifting and your clients are always changing.
• Fail to adapt your processes to a changing market. You’ll become inflexible.
• Drown in your process rather than structure your life for creative success.
• Fail to identify and pursue what’s essential.

But with a vision you will:

• Choose your projects and select your clients.
• Be less likely to settle for less.
• Order your schedule rather than it ordering you.
• Adapt to cultural and technological changes without feeling threatened by them.
• Pursue the essential things and let go of what’s not important even if those things seem urgent.
• Remain forward- focused, moving toward the goal rather than on the other runners in the race.

How do you determine your vision? Begin by answering these questions:

• What are you passionate about?
• If you weren’t here, what would not get accomplished?
• What is your ideal project or client and why?
• What would you like your future to look like in 5 or ten years? How about 25 years from now?
• What legacy do you want to pass on?

The strength of a designer lies as much in his process as in the outcome. The process – the totality of time, effort and attempt at solving the given design problem – demonstrates the care he is willing to take and the depth he is willing to go on behalf of the client.

Behind the solution to any design problem are the hours and ideas that were birthed in search of a solution. The one who does not push through several concepts is not really engaging in solving the problem but is more concerned with getting the job over with. The client might as well have picked a ready-made icon or template from one of the myriad web sites that sell them, as if design is an off-the-rack product.

People tend to default to their least level of effort in most situations. It’s tempting to land on the first idea, declaring it the best solution. The development of more than one idea demonstrates that:

• There is more than one possible solution or direction to a problem;
• The designer has taken a thoughtful approach to the client’s problem;
• That the designer has explored a variety of approaches and understands the clients needs;
• The client has a choice in the matter, along with a sense of participation and empowerment.

Additionally, developing more ideas creates confidence in the designer, knowing he has done the work and now has a rationale for his thinking that he can articulate.

I’ve heard many decry the development of multiple solutions to a single problem by saying that their first idea is always the best one so why bother with more? How do they know that? It’s my experience that I don’t know which idea is my best unless I generate at least more than one. Often the first idea is indeed the best solution, but I will never know that until I have developed many options, scrutinized all the possibilities and then determined the best of the bunch.

Why is process important? Design, if it’s going to hit the target, cannot be off-the-rack but instead needs to be custom made and one-of-a kind. Ready-mades and quick solutions have little value to the client and certainly don’t increase the value of the designer in the client’s eyes. Process shows what the designer is willing to expend in search of the solution. The designer who labors builds strength in a wealth of ideas and the skill to select the one that serves the purpose best.

Given the multitude of talented people in the design pool, the problem-solving process is a huge deal. The ability to think, evaluate and determine the best idea will set a designer apart from the pool and add value to both the working relationship with the client and the end result.

No one likes to be critiqued, but everyone is a critic.

As a design practitioner and teacher of design, I am involved continually in the analysis and evaluation of design. I critique my students’ work in the classroom and I critique my own work in the studio. My clients critique my work. I critique the work of other designers. Judges critique our work when we submit it to design contests. Our clients’ customers critique our clients based on our designs.

Critique is a normal and necessary part of the design process, yet I find that people don’t like to formally critique a work and they don’t like to have their work critiqued. How can we improve upon anything unless we critique? How can we innovate without evaluation and appraisal? How do we establish value in something unless we assess it?

Critique is simply an assessment, appraisal or evaluation of something. When we critique something we are analyzing it. We do this all the time in the normal course of a day: We critique each other’s driving, style, attitude, favorite movie, political position, religion, job performance, home run average and habits. We each have an opinion about what is good, better, best, bad and ugly.

I think that students and practicing designers don’t enjoy being critiqued because they understand criticism to be destructive or mean-spirited. Or they take it personally, as if it’s them, not the work, being evaluated. Or they don’t want to be wrong. Most critique tends toward negativity.

Criticism is often disguised as critique. They are not they same thing. Criticism involves disapproval of a work based on perceived or obvious faults and shortcomings. There’s a thin line between the two ideas that’s easily crossed. Critique should be objective, honest and useful. Criticism is most often subjective and destructive. Its intent is to tear something down. On the other hand, critique tests for weaknesses for the purpose of improvement and excellence. Criticism accuses; critique edifies.

In reality, critique should be neutral. It should not be feared as much as it is. It should be performed in order to asses what is right with a work and where it can be strengthened.

For critique to be neutral it should be based on established objective guidelines. For a design work, this is fairly simple. We look at the work and its outcome on the basis of the intended goals for the work, since all design has a purpose to it. Are the aesthetic principles supporting the function of the design? Are color, balance, rhythm, harmony, spatial relationships and value all working together to enable the design to accomplish its intended outcome?

If design is not whimsical but purposeful, critique of design should also be purposeful and not based on personal opinion. The kind of response that is, “I think it’s a good design because it reminds me of…” is not an objective criteria. Values, purpose, specifications, etc. are a much more just basis for evaluation. If critique is based on objective criteria it cannot be dismissed with the excuse that it’s just one person’s opinion and therefore invalid.

When all is said and done, honest feedback is better than warm fuzzy feedback. Critique should be honest, just, and balanced between strengths and weaknesses. It should serve to build up the designer (or student) and empower them forward into creative maturity and greater success.

Over on Zale Tabakman’s blog, Success Through Balance, my response to one of his questions asked on LinkedIn is featured. The question and responses describe how an intangible element – faith – figures in to one’s success in business and life.  Read his post here.

Thank you, Zale!