We're in Vancouver at the GDC AGM for 2010.  This year's AGM has a fairly familiar structure compared to last year's event in Winnipeg - so if you were there, you know the kind of things we are talking about. This year, Sunday's hot topics include Sustainability, Sponsorship, Branding, and Membership as well as associated Membership Processes.  See some more photos of the meeting on the GDC AGM 2010 flickr pool.

All too often we designers can get caught up in a battle of egos with our clients. Raise your hand if you've ever said the following, "but the client hired US because WE'RE the experts! They should listen to us!" Yeah, me too.

But here's something we can stand to be reminded of: our clients are the experts in THEIR field, and part of our job should be using that to our mutual advantage. They know their audience better than we do, and while we shouldn't allow ourselves to be made into pixel-pushers, we often have to learn how to better collaborate.

Paul Boag, of Boagworld and Headscape, presented a fantastic session at SxSWi this year that I was fortunate enough to attend (you can listen to the whole talk if you've got a spare 40 minutes). While Paul's examples are website-based, I feel that any designer (or anyone that deals with clients, actually) can benefit from Boag's principles of collaboration.

• Ensure the client understands their role in the process. Their job is to find problems, and yours as the designer, is to find solutions.

When a client tries to give you a solution (for example, the infamous "make the logo bigger"), you must ask "Why?" to get to the root of the problem and reinforce the outlined roles. Once you know the "why", it's that much easier to react and provide a solution that accommodates their need and your design goals.

• Make sure they have ownership in the project by involving them in the process often and early.

• Educate them about the decisions you've made. Yep, give 'em Design 101. Explain the miracle of white space, explain what makes your font choices appropriate for the project, etc etc.

• Ask for specific types of feedback. Instead of leading with "What do you think?" (which can be fairly intimidating if a client doesn't know what they should be saying in order to be helpful), try asking how their audience will react or if it meets their project objectives.

• Avoid saying no. Instead of responding negatively when met with an unreasonable request, show them the consequences of their choice (the time required to implement such a choice, the impression it might leave their audience with, etc.). Let them be the one to say "no" instead.

If we can focus on working with the client instead of against them (because really, in the end don't we all want something that everyone can be happy with?) we can expect the following results: happy, confident clients (about the project, its process and about you as a designer), less frustration and by extension, less battles.

How do you deal with frustrating projects? What are your methods of coping with a client that just "doesn't get it."?

Say what you will about the value of design, but one thing is clear: no two people think exactly alike when it comes to defining the value of design itself. And if the question of defining the value of design sounds like a simple one, let me assure you - you're dead wrong. It's not just about dollars and cents. 

Design Currency 2010 discussion has been going on at designweekvancouver.ca - there is information on the events, workshops, dinners, breakfasts, speakers, and information on where to stay and eat. 

Interviews with speakers are being added every day in the Design Currency 2010 Interviews category.

Also I would be in some sort of trouble if I didn't mention that I had a go at the topic myself on the Design Currency 2010 blog. Really, it is a continuation of the conversation that I had started on the GDC blog - defining the value of design - but it's much more direct in its relation to the topic of the conference.

Finally, you really ought to treat yourself and have a look at the beautiful Design Currency 2010 video - it is below...