3 Reasons Why a Single Point of Contact is Vital for Designers Part 1

It’s no fun working with a committee to design a logo. It almost never works out. This is why it’s so important for designers to never do a project without a single point of contact (SPOC). A SPOC can be either the client, or someone on the client's team, who has authority to handle all change requests and communicates clearly with the designer. They take responsibility for accurate and vital information being passed to the designer and from the designer.

The client is the subject matter expert, while the designer is the visual communication expert. The client needs the designer to solve her visual communication problem. The designer needs the client's understanding of the problem and business situation stated clearly. But, when the client uses several people as the contacts for the designer the clarity and direction suffers for the designer. And, when changes are made from different entities it often gets confusing and lacks coherent goals.

Here are 3 big reasons why having a SPOC can solve this issue.

1. Someone's tracking the changes.

When there is more than one person with the authority to make changes it not only becomes difficult to track, but some changes can be made for the wrong reasons. And sometimes these changes are not always communicated properly to each member of the team. It can’t fall to the designer to make sure all the changes make sense.

The designer shouldn’t be expected to coordinate different subject matter experts and stakeholders. However, the designer is to take the appropriate feedback to solve visual communication problems. And the client remains the expert on what they want visually communicated.

With a SPOC everyone funnels their changes through one person who communicates to the designer. The great thing about this is that the point person acts as a funnel for changes. And being subject matter experts themselves they can determine which changes are appropriate and which need further approvals. In this way the designer is free to do the job of translating abstract ideas into visible form, without having to navigate internal business politics.

Next week, part 2

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