How to do you influence some one with no design experience and lead them down the path of good soild design?

Question

I am a web designer working under a marketing manager and I am use to being told what graphics to put up and how graphics should look, but there are times that a marketing manager just does not get color schemes and how they work together and what weight line should be used. How to do you influence some one with no design experience and lead them down the path of good solid design?

Answer 1

Buy a few books and break them out when necessary. Usually conversations come down to "I say A, you say B." If you can provide a well-reasoned "why" for A, then the other person will usually back down. Good theory books have reasons why principles are the way they are, and the authors have found effective ways to explain these reasons. These will probably be helpful for you:

Designer's Color Manual: The Complete Guide to Color Theory and Application
http://www.amazon.com/Designers-Color-Manual-Complete-Application/dp/081184210X/sr=8-3/qid=1172159394/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3/105-0984288-7766013?ie=UTF8&s=books

The Design of Sites: Patterns, Principles, and Processes
http://www.amazon.com/Design-Sites-Principles-Customer-Centered-Experience/dp/020172149X/sr=1-2/qid=1172159518/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/105-0984288-7766013?ie=UTF8&s=books

Designing Visual Interfaces: Communication Oriented Techniques
http://www.amazon.com/Designing-Visual-Interfaces-Communication-Techniques/dp/0133033899/sr=1-1/qid=1172159574/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-0984288-7766013?ie=UTF8&s=books

Answer 2

Use the Force!!! Haha

Best thing to do is find examples on the web itself. Literally show them a "good" website and a "bad" website. Maybe when they see the two compared they will get a better understanding of what you're talking about.

Answer 3

Sounds like seagull management - they fly in, squawk loudly, s**t on your work, and fly off.

Point out that you worked your tail off to get a degree, you've done good work in the past, the customer likes what you've developed, and you're working from the specs and ideas that the customer gave you.