Make Design, Not War

There’s lots of books out there that seek to help major agencies deal with Fortune 500 level companies, but what about the lone Joe Freelancer? Every day, the biggest companies in the world hire out countless freelancers (or subcontractors as they call it) to work on their projects. In this little guide I’ll seek to spread some light on the topic for anyone that’s seeking to tackle some big projects, and I’ll share a few tips on how I grabbed my first Fortune 500 gig.

How I started on big projects:

When I was still new to design, the very idea of working on huge corporate projects was actually a turnoff because it felt like a compromise.  I guess I felt that a project for a mega corp could never be as artistically challenging or as fun as a project for a little indy label.  It turns out though, that this couldn’t be further from the truth.  After working on several projects for the likes of DirecTV, IAC, SAP, Westinghouse, and more, I can confidently say that projects for major label brands can exciting, challenging, and easily as much fun as any other project.

A few years into my freelance career, I got a call from a friend of a friend who knew a guy who owned a big studio in Santa Monica that needed an extra designer.  It was one of those random opportunities that really wasn’t that random at all when you consider the amount of people-to-people networking I was doing at the time.  Long story short, within 30 minutes I was at my computer designing some cell phone artwork for Def Jam Mobile.  A week after that, I had been assigned to a project for DirecTV.

About two years after landing the first “big” gig, I now count these major projects as about 75% of my studio’s monthly income.  Because of legal reasons I can’t talk about any of the projects in detail, but I can say that they range in everything from product design reviews to web and brand redesigns to full scale software prototyping.

So enough with my story, here’s a few tips that I found to be of good use when tackling projects for large companies:

1. They’re Human

It sounds obvious, but the first step for a freelancer who hasn’t ever taken on a project from a big public company is to demystify the experience.  Pretty much everything that you utilize to deal with smaller clients will work with big clients.  This means that good communication and people skills still rank as the easiest way to both land a gig and see it succeed.

Generally, you’ll have 1 or 2 project managers that you’re in constant communication with, and you’ll never see a hint of the rest of the company (if you’re lucky, you might get an art director, but don’t hold your breathe).  In many ways, these project managers can be viewed as small clients themselves. The same rules apply: treat them well, deliver great work, and you’ll probably be invited back.

2. Get a Team

As a freelancer, you’re just one guy/gal and there’s only so many people that you know.  Generally, Fortune 500 companies that are subcontracting out projects still use the oldest communication channel available: who they know.  Project managers and art directors are in constant communication with friends and colleagues and this is usually how they find new freelancers.  Be it at a party, a conference, a blog or a friend-of-a-friend, your chances of getting hired go up exponentially when you have a network of like-minded professionals all seeking out the same type of work.

The benefits of having a ‘team’ of contractors is twofold. 1) More people on the ground means a better chance of finding a project.  2) When you finally land a project, you’ve got a team of people to assist with it.  In this way, you’re getting the benefit of a studio without actually having to quit being freelance.

3. Know Your Role

This one’s simple, but profound.  Large companies usually have in-house design teams or established ad agencies.  When they subcontract out, they are looking to break a pattern and get fresh ideas.  For instance, there’s a very low chance that you’ll actually be hired to redesign a full website; Instead, you’ll be hired to design a series of new ideas and iterations that allow the project manager to see a completely different take than what his/her own in-house team is doing.  In all likelyhood, your design will never see the light of day, but it provides a different kind of value to the company; Your value as a freelancer is that you are outside the immediate sphere of influence of the company politics.  Remember this and allow it to inform how you approach each project.

This is probably the biggest difference between small clients and big ones.  Big clients can afford to hire out subcontractor teams to explore new territory for a brand and bring in fresh ideas. Small clients usually hire simply to get a project done.  There’s even been a few cases where actual agencies will hire teams that I work with to bring in new ideas; so don’t underestimate the power of creative thinking and your ability to break out of the box.

4. Know The Battlefield, Define a Win

Corporate politics can be as messy, brutal and confusing as the Iraq war.  Before you actually begin work on a project, take some time to ask your project manager some direct questions that he might not bring up in the creative brief:

There’s probably a thousand other ways to phrase this line of thinking, but the root is this: understanding what the company or project manager is actually seeking to do with a project is perhaps the most crucial piece of information you can ever get from a client.  Sadly, this often isn’t a piece of information that’s included in a project brief, but taking the time to dig it out will ensure that you at least know what your client is looking for.

5. Communicate Early and Often

This is one of those rules that works for pretty much every client, but is especially important with the likes of Fortune 500 clients.  Early in every project, I (or the team that I’m working with), establish a high frequency of check-in meetings.  This ranges from a 2 meetings a week to several in a single day.  The main reason is this: big clients usually have stricter time deadlines than small clients because there are so many other moving pieces to a project. Ie: If you’re being hired for a web design, and the company already has a team working on development, and the CEO is expecting a certain launch date, it’s imperative that your work is done on time for them to meet their internal goals. Being able to constantly adjust direction will keep you from spending a week on the wrong path, and will save everyone time, money, and stress.

6. You Ideas Will Be Watered Down

This was the hardest pill to swallow for myself, but one that I’ve encountered in every project for big label clients: no matter how great a designer you are, the likelihood of you being given full creative reign over the final implementation of any project is 1 in a billion.  The simple fact is that there are far too many people who will need to review, edit, and approve your project before it sees the light of day.  This includes a) your project manager, b) his boss, c) the marketing team, d) the legal team, e) the executive team, etcetera. You get the picture, right?

It doesn’t mean that your work isn’t extraordinarily great – it’s just a fact of life that any time 50 people look at a project, a few of them will make changes to it based on their own agendas.  Griping over this is common fodder for Friday night beer sessions between designers, but it’s not something any of us are going to change. Learn to live with it and celebrate when one of your great ideas actually makes it to the public eye.

Conclusion

I’ll say this: the process of working with big clients is something that I enjoy, but it’s something that I’m still very much learning as I go. There’s a lot more that can be said about tackling large clients (feel free to share them below), but these are the core principles that I use whenever I’m working with some of my bigger clients.

For many freelance designers out there, the notion of working on a Fortune 500 company project is as intimidating as it is exciting. The fact is that these projects need not be intimidating as you long as you bring the skills and enthusiasm that landed you the project in the first place.

Links:

Here’s a few other places you can go for more information on this topic:
Blog.ShaneandPeter.com – A blog for one of the teams I work with – lots of great info about freelancing here.
Freelance Switch – A great posting of articles to help freelancers succeed. Here’s just one.