Clients from HELL
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- breadlegz
Anyone read the clients from hell book?
- breadlegz0
"A collection of anonymously-contributed client horror stories from designers"
- "A collection of made up or exaggerated bullshit"animatedgif
- moldero0
the only thing good about clients is they pay.
- Projectile0
"...As far as the logo goes, I’m just looking for the name in a circle with some fire shit around it."
oooh I could have SO much fun with that!!!!!
- VikingKingEleven0
I hear the white space thing daily. Even why I try to educate them about eye movement - they still don't care
- If you talk to the client about your design knowledge, you lose. Change the conversation.randommail
- Mr_Mxyzptlk0
What kills me constantly about the white space complaint is there is no rhyme or reason to it, or if there is it's subject to the "i'll know it when i see it" mentality of design requests. The cunts that complain about one design being too cluttered, and ask for more white space are the very same cunts who complain that there is too much white space in another design.
Most days I just grind my teeth and shake my head, but some days it takes every last ounce of will I can muster to not jam sharp objects into their retinas, repeatedly.
- LOTRMr_Mxyzptlk
- I had a client that said "if we see paper, we dont think we're getting our money's worth". By that they meant white space.Josev
- I didnt need a design education. All I do is try my best to fit everything on the page now.Josev
- ouch@Josevepigraph
- Ramanisky20
wretched soulless clients ,, I've worked with a few in my lifetime
they make me appreciate the good ones that much more
- d_rek0
- Think it's more about clients making comments to justify their position in their own organisation.animatedgif
- not making comments because they genuinely understand an issue with the work.animatedgif
- doesnotexist0
it's more fun and rewarding to learn how to deal with problem clients and get something valuable from them (besides $) than whining about or firing them.
- fun for who ?
:Pmikotondria3 - should be fun for both sides, otherwise YOU'RE DOING IT WRONGdoesnotexist
- fun for who ?
- vaxorcist0
find new clients....
and the hard part... which I once was very,very guilty of....
Don't let your dealings with your bad clients make you a mess when you're talking to your good clients.. get the bad clients out of your head first!.
Note also that most bad clients have no clue they're wrecking your life till it's too late, the less you know about something the easier you think it is.... and this may apply to our own understanding of our clients situations....
- yesdoesnotexist
- mid-stream in the project offer a number to a friends agency and . . .timeless
- let them know they might be able to help them with their project . . .timeless
- either they ask what they can do better as a client, or they never speak to you again (win-win)timeless
- MrNibs0
I've had some ridiculous clients that include everything from: "just type out some helvetica or something for the logo and call it a day" to the very perscriptive "can you please scale this element up 15.33%"
I will say though, some of the most rewarding projects I've worked on ,were ones where the clients were tough (bordering on real dicks) and I still pulled off nice portfolio quality work and had happy clients at the end of it.
- "15.53%" try move that by "2 cm"... on a fucking website.animatedgif
- Totally agree about the borderline-dicks clients who push you; very satisfying to get them happy. Worth it in the end.mikotondria3
- randommail0
I used to have clients from hell; trying to have conversations about 'white space', legibility, hierarchy, etc.
But now with 10 years of experience under my belt, I think I've become pretty good at the art of the presentation and client management. And I guess I've been fortunate enough for my portfolio to really grow and attract good clients. It's been a long time since I've had a true "client from hell."
- monospaced0
Had a client recently who gave me little-to-no input/content/background after asking me to develop a small print advertisement for their company. I did my research and presented multiple directions for the ad, complete with headline and body copy I wrote from what I had gathered on their site. After viewing these, the client told me I had the wrong angle and then proceeded to write their own copy inspired by my work. No biggie. They then tell me to change out my image choices for something lame they wanted to do (within my design, and inspired by my concepts). Long story short, the ad they received was exactly what they asked for.
Here's the kicker. They argued that I should not be paid because in the end the ad was their copy, their headlines, their image; they argued that since my original 15 options weren't used that they didn't have to compensate me. I could not believe I had to explain that they hired me to work on their ad for two days and that, despite their art direction, I still designed for over 20 hours. That was hell.
- no contract?VikingKingEleven
- did they assume that there was no need to pay you at least as a production artist?randommail
- Every was settled and I was paid after a conversation and a look at the contract. They just didn't "get it" at first.monospaced
- I was "production" for their ad, after a solid 20 hours of design that lead up to it. It is still me designing it.monospaced
- 15 OPTIONS?!!!ninitaz
- You should ask them if they would do the same thing to anyone in another profession.Jaline
- Like if they would do that to a baker who made a cake (with their direction) for a wedding...Jaline
- I did, Jaline, and it backfired. They saw it as a rude comparison, but in the end we worked it out.monospaced
- 15 options: various headlines I used, various color options. They were revisions on far fewer directions.monospaced
- a dime a dozenSeriousFreelancing
- pressplay0
I found the real clients from hell are the friends of friends who ask you to do a small job ("just do it in between your other work, you know, it‘s just one or two hours, when you have the time blahblah") for little or no money. And then they come back to you with endless idiotic changes, havn‘t prepared their material, you are the one proof reading their copy etc.
- that job up there was a friend of a friend for little pay, so yeah, that's where I was taken advantage ofmonospaced
- exactly how you explained it...quick two hour job took the entire weekend, and it was THEM art directing...pshhh!monospaced
- monospaced0
After developing an ad for another client—going through the usual presentation of a few directions, narrowing them down and then some revisions—they tried to later use the unused directions/revisions for a campaign. I caught wind and put an end to that. If they wanted to pay me for a campaign, that's one thing, but they only contracted me for one ad. They thought they owned everything I sent them, start to finish, even though it was clearly stated in the contract that they own only the finished product. Ugh.
- Josev0
I think someone posted this video before, of Michael Beirut talking about clients:
I thought it was a good talk but I disagree with him when he says clients don't need to be educated.
- georgesIII0
Qbn has def too much white space
- breadlegz0
timeless - there's some truth to that. If we do it right and we position ourselves right, they should trust us and our judgment.
- Josev0
When I say that clients need to be educated, I mean in how to work with a designer. In what they need to provide, the process, what our individual roles are in the project.