When personal taste outweighs strategy: how to guide clients who don't know the process
At TWG we know that building a brand goes far beyond a pretty logo or a catchy name. Branding is identity, strategy, method and research. But the people who hire our services don't always share that same level of understanding. Often that complicates the process and also challenges us as a professional team.
Has it ever happened to you that, after weeks of strategic work, a client replies with a simple “I'm not convinced”? Or suggests changes based on what a friend or a relative thought? If you work in branding, it surely has.
So how do we hold on to the method without dismissing what the client feels? How do we balance the subjective and the technical?
1. Understand the difference between not knowing and not valuing
Many clients don't know about branding, but that doesn't mean they don't value their brand. They simply lack the tools to read such a complex process. Part of our work is educational: guiding, explaining, translating. Every project can also be a chance to raise the awareness of the people who hire us.
2. Get ahead of “I like it / I don't like it” with method
When the work starts from insights, benchmarks and clear brand objectives, the design (visual and verbal) comes from a strategic need that goes beyond taste. If the client understands this from the start, it is easier to keep the approval from passing through the emotional filter of their personal circle.
TWG tip: before presenting a proposal, we share the criteria it will be judged by. That lets everyone discuss it within a common framework instead of loose impressions.
3. What's missing is an evaluation framework
Nobody asked the client's family or friends to evaluate a brand. They were asked “do you like it?”, so that is what they answer. The problem arises when the wrong criterion is used to make a business decision.
As an agency, we can include arguments in our presentations that support what we show: “this responds to this insight”, “this delivers the differentiator we defined”, “this aligns with the brand archetype we worked on”.
4. Hold the strategy while listening (without losing focus)
Yes, branding is technical, but it is also emotional. And often, behind an “I don't like it” there is something that can be worked on: fear of change, insecurity, an emotional disconnect from what was designed.
The goal is to build consensus. Listening means using the method to find answers that make sense.
Conclusion: branding is validated by coherence
At TWG we believe a strong brand is born from a clear identity along with a defined positioning and well-founded strategic decisions. Subjectivity is part of the process, but it shouldn't dominate it. That is why our approach always seeks to integrate the technical with the human, strategy with emotion, method with empathy.
Taste is welcome. Judgment is something we build together.
