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Design 101

...as compliant customers tend to accept the framer's opinion, and realize later that "it just doesn't look right in my dining room." That sort of latent regret is an insidious form of buyer's remorse.

Yes, but a lot of times that's because they are trying to "match" the colors of their dining room where's there is no (or barely a hint) of those colors in the artwork...:mmph:

I had a customer who brought in a sofa cushion and dresser drawer to match a print they wanted me to frame. The print had none of the colors of the sofa in it... Hmmmm. I ended up selling them a different print to go in the room they were redecorating, as well as framing the first print for a different room. Lucked out on that one...
 
Or ,"You're the expert, what do you recommend?" We framers get that a lot, don't we?

To that I often quip, "Yes, I'm the world's foremost expert on my own opinion. I can tell you what would look perfect in my home... but not yours". And then I explain that there are two aspects to framing design: appearance features and technical features.

Technical features are my domain and I will share what I know, dominating the discussion when it comes to features and benefits other than visual. All of us should control that aspect of the framing design conversation, since we darn well should know more about these matters than customers do.

But customers also assume that we know more about their visual preferences than they do, and that makes me nervous. For some frame designers that would be a well-earned compliment, but I see it as a challenge to guess what they like. So, rather than inflicting my visual opinion, I want to help them determine and express their own visual opinions. Appearance features are matters of personal opinion and I say with encouragement, "my visual opinion is not the one that matters here".

The conversation continues, "Yes, I design a lot of framing, and will help avoid obvious visual mistakes, but what matters most is for you to take home a frame that will please your eyes for a long time." And with that, we talk about what they like.

I envy framers who have absolute confidence in their ability to select exactly the right appearance choices in framing design, but that confidence can become a curse, as compliant customers tend to accept the framer's opinion, and realize later that "it just doesn't look right in my dining room." That sort of latent regret is an insidious form of buyer's remorse.

Perhaps the most honest expression of the consumer's opinion is "I don't know art, but I know what like".

Well put JIm.
 
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But customers also assume that we know more about their visual preferences than they do, ...

I think we should know more about the visual than they do. (Maybe not their "preferences," that's why we ask questions.) It is a reasonable expectation that we are design experts. We should understand the science of color. complements, contrast, shape, style elements, cool tones are used for distance, warm for closeness, foreground, background, focal point, golden mean, ... The list goes on.

These are things taught to artists and we are artists. It is our job to be experts in the technical AND the visual.

Yes, we need to ask questions about their style and decor. Yes, we frame for the art, but we have to understand the surroundings the art will be displayed in. The art and the surroundings are part of the visual experience and it is our job to make that all work cohesively.

We can and should understand WHY different choices work and others don't, so we can point it out to them. In the end, they are the ones who decide, but we need to educate them on BOTH the technical and the visual, so they make an informed decision. That's our job.
 
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