The client is always right?
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- fredddddd
Is the client always right in the end?
If you design something with carefully chosen colors and the client doesn't like it and wants an ugly pastel combo instead, do you just agree?
If they want to don't like the typeface selected and suggest another freeware one they use sometimes, and you send examples of both, and they still choose theirs, do you just comply?
- JackRyan0
At the end of they day, we work in a service industry...and yes it sucks some times. But, they hold the check and we push the mouse. Get paid, let it go, and get ready for the next one.
- d_rek0
The sooner you learn to compromise the happier you'll be.
I jest - maybe.
But really, no. In service industries the client is rarely right. That's why they come to you. Just because design can be a highly subjective service does not mean the client is always right. You should fight for ideas and craft that you're passionate about. But that doesn't mean it's all worth fighting about. Pick your battles.
- vaxorcist0
Client's design ideas are rarely really about design,... they're often a way of expressing that they're not being listened to in general... so the better you are at listening and taking the client seriously, the fewer random "make this red and make that bigger" moments you get....
- This is a great way of looking at it.CyBrainX
- nice to know the adults talk on here sometimescannonball1978
- monospaced0
Sounds like you need to explain your design better. Anyway, what the guys said above is right.
- vaxorcist0
Also, beware that you have to establish things early on in the project, such as Target Market/Audience(s), example people in that group of people, business objectives, who decides what, and desired results, timeframes,etc....
The most important thing is to establish that the client may not have the same tastes and hot buttons as the target market.. i.e. he's 50 and needs bifocals, the target market is teenagers who love big photos and don't read more than 2 paragraphs... etc...
- Maaku0
I don't agree, my boss does....anyways, like they said above, it pays the bills.
- identity0
Getting good work through is all about setup.
It's a process and one that should that include the client along the way. Ultimately, you're trying to make them feel like all these good ideas and visual treatments are their idea.
Developing and image and personal brand is important; it will separate you from being a servicer of design to an authority of it.
This will also weed out the clients who want to pay as little as they can because - ultimately - they don't understand design's value.As for shitty typefaces - it's just a problem for you to solve.
I find the more restrictions I have, the smarter the work is.
If you've established that you know what you're doing and this is less about the subjectivity of typeface choice and more about an objective decision that will build value for their company (brand) they will invariably pay the few hundred extra bucks for the typeface. If they won't - it may be time to consider how much you really need their money. (or at the very least, get it done and move on - not putting it in your portfolio).- there's no better feeling than firing an unappreciative or hard-headed client.identity
- < THIS! Sounds like they don't respect freddd as a designer, and treat him like their tool.monospaced
- And in this instance, if the client wanted a specific font and color, they should have fucking said so in the beginning.monospaced
- agreed.
At this point, it depends how badly you really need him/her as a client. You've set the behavioral pattern - it's hard to change that once it's in place.identity - behavioral pattern - it's hard to change that once it's in place.identity
- bmacneill0
Tell the client that you'd be happy to make their change as long as they promise that they don't tell anybody you did the work.
- pepe0
the client just wants to be listened to like girlfriends and want to collaborate. As soon as they sense you give a shit about what they say they usually back off.
- pango0
hell no! it is your job to tell them why they are not right and how to do it right. that's why they hire you. at least thats how i see it.
- formed0
You are a salesman, of sorts. It is your job to 'sell' your design, not just assume they'll like it at first glance (sometimes they do, sometimes they don't).
You can push, but in the end they are writing the check. You've been hired to provide a service and a solution, do your best and move on.
What I tell myself when a client butchers something and is adamant about following through against all my advice - "don't care about it, do what they want, don't think twice, get paid faster with less effort. Move on."
Generally the projects that a client sabotages are less effort - you don't have to fret about details, just do what they want and forget it, it'll never be seen (by you) again.
- cannonball19780
This is a service industry. There is no right or wrong, only the correct rendering of service for payment.
- trooperbill0
the client is rarely right but can be persuaded if you pitch correctly
- omg0
it depends on your goal, and who exactly you are designing for.
- CanHasQBN0
I once found a jar of monkey nipples in my grandfather's medicine cabinet.
- doesnotexist0
though this is a service industry i would think you're being hired for your particular point of view and if you don't communicate it even though they want hot pink, sounds more like your failure and not the industry's.
- nocomply0
The way I approach those problems totally depends on the project and the client.
When I have clients who I know are receptive to my advice and put trust in my experience, then I'll enter a dialog with them as to why their ideas aren't so hot. The goal being to reach some sort of compromise in which the design isn't totally sabotaged and both parties are satisfied with the final product.
When I have clients who don't put that kind of trust and respect in me (a situation I try to avoid but sometimes it's inventible) then I turn into a bit more of a yes-man.
Also, when there's not budget in the project to go back and forth over design nuances, then I just buckle-down with what the client wants and get it done.
I pick and choose my battles.
- Miesfan0
i´ve read the client is always high...meh!
Go to work.
