Do you really listen?

Written by Lotte de Jong  -  reading time 3 minutes

Recently, I was in a Teams meeting, you know, the only way to have meetings these days. At one point, we heard a child’s voice coming from one of the participants: “DAD! I need to poop!” You can guess what happened next: meeting over, serious atmosphere gone, and we couldn’t stop laughing.

Listening between the lines is something I always do when I sit down with a client, whether in person or digitally. Often, the question a client asks me is different from the need they actually have. This is where my ability to listen carefully comes in handy. What does the client really want, and how does this work in practice? I try to get to the bottom of this in order to arrive at a design that truly fits their needs.

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Two years ago, for example, I was approached by the National Education Museum in Dordrecht. They were looking for someone to help them create an exhibition. They wanted to tell the story of how the war began in Germany. How could it have come to this? Together with the museum, I created an exhibition about Nazi propaganda aimed at young people: a travelling exhibition that toured the Netherlands and Germany.This meant that several different audiences would visit the exhibition. On the one hand, there was the interested Dutch visitor who wanted to learn more about this part of the story of the war. On the other hand, there was the more reserved German visitor, for whom the war remains a painful subject.

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These two audiences have very different interpretations of the subject. For the exhibition to be successful, it was important to understand both groups properly. This is exactly why the museum approached me. Before founding &lotte, I lived and worked in Germany for three years. As a result, I know the culture better than the average Dutch person. I was able to anticipate how both the interested Dutch visitor and the more reserved German visitor might experience the exhibition. From there, I started designing intuitively. To make sure I was heading in the right direction, I consulted with the museum extensively throughout the process. This led to a concept in which I did not want to create an opinion, but simply evoke a feeling. The exhibition is therefore informative, but also has a darker edge. Curious about the exhibition? You can find it on my website.

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I was only able to develop this concept because I listened carefully to both the target audiences and the client. I’m curious: do you always listen carefully to the other person? Do you listen between the lines? Do you really understand what is being said or asked of you? This is not always something that comes naturally. But I can imagine that training yourself to listen better could be useful! This app was developed for people who are blind or visually impaired. Because everything works through sound, they can still play games by listening very carefully.Give it a try, better listening might come in handy during your next Teams meeting ;)!

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Lotte de Jong