User Experience (UX) designers are the primary advocates for users within any company. We aim to provide intuitive and simple experiences across any medium, be that a web-based software, marketing-focused website, or interactive conference. So when working in an agency with a variety of clients, account managers, and everyone in between, who’s the real user? Whose pain points are designers solving for? And how can we ensure we’re designing for the user and not the client’s assumptions of their users?
1. The Account Manager
Beginning within the agency, the first person a designer interacts with when starting any new project is the client or account manager. This person liaises between both the client and the creative team(s), so a new project usually begins with a kickoff meeting to set expectations and priorities.
Because the account manager is intimately familiar with their client, he or she can provide a ton of helpful context and recommendations, as well as answer any immediate questions to keep the project moving. The account manager is the first stakeholder to approve a design until the client can provide more specific feedback.
However, account managers are just as susceptible to falling into the same trap as clients: making assumptions about the user or considering the client the primary user. In this case, the role of the UX designer is to challenge assumptions and defer to the client’s judgement to ensure the design is adequately solving the client’s problem. This is a decision all teammates should be aligned on to ensure the client provides feedback specific to their users.
2. The Client
Once the account manager approves a design, it’s sent to the client for review. In an agency setting, the client is sometimes considered the primary user; they’re the ones who pay the bills, after all. That’s why all projects include a creative brief that explains the goal for any given project: what is the client trying to achieve with this piece? Which pain points can we help to solve?
It’s up to the designer to interpret the creative brief and come up with possible solutions. The client needs to be happy, but they don’t always remember to view designs through the lens of their customers--especially in agencies, clients can be more focused on their specific preferences and opinions (“Can the logo to be more hip?”). The key is to communicate design decisions to the account manager early on so that all team members can speak to the why behind the design.
When presenting, UX designers will frame their solutions around the benefit to the user. When a client is truly invested in satisfying their customers, they’ll appreciate the agency’s focus and dedication to user-centered design even when it differs from their personal preferences.
3. The Client’s Customer
Our clients’ customers or product-adopters are the true users that we’re designing for in an agency. Yes, we need sign-off from account managers and client representatives, but at the end of the day, the customers are the people interacting with our experiences. And when we’re on the hook for key metric increases--whether that be a number of users, conversion rate, or fewer bounced sessions--those customers are the ones who will make or break our relationship with a client.
However, these customers can often seem so distant. Unless the agency offers user research services, UX designers within an agency don’t often get to meet with our clients’ customers. Clients might provide personas or insights of their own, but we have no way of knowing how the information was gathered. When we can’t get ahold of users, the next best solution is to solicit feedback from coworkers--from any department!--or friends and family. This way, if a client questions a particular design, the designer can back up their decisions with the impromptu user interviews. This might even compel the client to consider reaching out to their customers for interviews or usability testing--score!
Like with any company producing a product, UX designers within an agency are still ultimately designing for customers...with just a few extra degrees of separation. While it can sometimes feel like we’re designing for our clients (“Can you make it pop more?”), it’s important to remember the client will only be happy if their customers are happy. In fact, dissatisfied customers can be the catalysts driving clients to our agency in the first place, which is why we always keep the user’s needs at the front of our minds.