Dealing only with smart people is a concept that I have always known but just realized its importance.

Companies usually treat their customers as if they do not know, or as if they were idiots, and sometimes people even refer to a customer that way.

That should not be the case, our customers should be the smartest people alive, or at least we should think that way, why? because they chose to work with you. You customers should be able to tell apart crappy and tacky products from the real quality ones. This distinction MUST EXIST.

Be aware of red flags. When a customer starts giving you signals that he or she is not smart, that is it! You should immediately plan an exit strategy, why? why lose time caught up with people that will not let you move forward in the pieces you create and your career as an overall. I know the economy is tight and bla bla bla the same story we hear everyday, which to be honest I think that this same story is something that people are creating to condition themselves, I do not have enough work because of the economy, I do not have enough money because of the economy, I am not happy because of the economy, and that has to stop! Yes, the economy is bad, and this is the time to plan what you are going to do about that, you might consider trying other markets, other economies, creating a product, etc. However, this is not a reason why you should put up with not smart clients.

Choose your projects wisely. Always choose the projects you will be working with, this is time you will be putting into something to develop, and it should be something exciting. Also you need to look up to your clients, know that you can learn a lot from them too, it might be in a different industry, but still learn new things.

Smart, smart and more smartness. Not only your clients should be smart people, off course your team should be smart too, the people you surround yourself with, should all be very smart people.

Have any experiences dealing with smart or not smart enough clients? Have any exit strategies to share?

Recently we lunched a video from the results of one of our usability test. It was designed to see the click density in a page. After uploading to Vimeo I started wondering if we are the only shop doing usability testing in Miami?.

Usability Testing by bakedweb.net from ivan acosta-rubio on Vimeo.

A great designer is the one that has all the necessary tools, and what a better tool than having an online pattern creator?

This site rocks! not only the idea is great, but their usability is well thought and very easy to follow. You basically create your pattern by chosing colors, images, scaling, opacity, rotation, and once you are done you just download your graphic. Doesn’t get any easier!

This is a formal invitation to visit their site http://bgpatterns.com