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Thread title: How do you deal with clients with bad taste? |
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04-04-2012, 01:06 AM
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#1
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Status: Member
Join date: Mar 2012
Location: Brooklyn, United States
Expertise: Programming
Software: Notepad++
Posts: 102
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How do you deal with clients with bad taste?
This hasn't occurred to me yet, but I am just wondering.
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04-04-2012, 02:03 AM
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#2
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Status: Geek
Join date: Apr 2006
Location: Denver, CO
Expertise: Software
Software: Chrome, Notepad++
Posts: 6,894
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They are paying you, do what they say. If the design turns out to be crap just don't put it on your portfolio.
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04-07-2012, 12:57 AM
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#3
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Status: I love this place
Join date: Jun 2007
Location: Minneapolis
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Originally Posted by Village Genius
They are paying you, do what they say. If the design turns out to be crap just don't put it on your portfolio.
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Unfortunately I had to do this to one of my BIGGEST clients. I did the original site design, which was super sexy. Then little by little he kept wanting changes. I couldn't say no. I even tried twisting what he said so it would come out looking good. Now I just say f*** it I'm getting paid to do what he wants and it's exactly as he describes so he's happy.
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04-22-2012, 12:32 AM
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#4
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Status: I'm new around here
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Location: US
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Software: Chrome
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Originally Posted by jasonm56
Unfortunately I had to do this to one of my BIGGEST clients. I did the original site design, which was super sexy. Then little by little he kept wanting changes. I couldn't say no. I even tried twisting what he said so it would come out looking good. Now I just say f*** it I'm getting paid to do what he wants and it's exactly as he describes so he's happy.
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Yeah, no reason to turn down projects either. If someone is paying you for something, it should be what and how they like it. Maybe to them it isn't crap, and maybe they are looking for a certain style that isn't exactly your own.
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02-07-2013, 05:00 AM
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#5
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Status: I'm new around here
Join date: Feb 2013
Location: Tampa FL
Expertise: Graphic Design, Web Design
Software: Photoshop, Illustrator, Sublim
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That's terrible advice.
There are plenty of ways to respectfully offer alternatives to a clients "professional design idea".
Those of you that think a client is always right and shouldn't be corrected are lacking professionalism. Any professional in any professional environment, should and must educate clients on their expertise.
If a client has a bad taste for color, design, and layout, then offer them and educated or professional suggestion. Lets say you know nothing about building rockets, would you take advice from someone that has done it before, or perhaps builds them for a living? Understand that your client has hired you to provide a professional service. If you are not willing to educate and respectfully disagree with some aspects of their lack in design skills then you should't be designing.
Only after trying to educate and offer experience related alternatives should you lay down and do it exactly as your client wants it. This may sound terrible, but how many of your clients that want graphic or web design are professional designers or developers? None of mine are.
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04-05-2012, 12:41 PM
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#6
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Status: design rockstar
Join date: Jan 2005
Location: guelph, ontario
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Posts: 2,246
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depends on what their bad taste is about.
if they have a flat-up tacky idea, i'll probably just turn the project down. i know i won't want to do it, i'll push off working on it whenever i have something else to do, and eventually i'll fall behind and drop it anyways, might as well keep a good rep.
if they want some tacky/dated art direction that i personally disagree with, i'll do what i can to talk them out of it. if it'll look dated, i'll explain why, if i just don't like the style i'll explain why - usually it'll be because i get a disconnect from the stylistic attributes and the brand's actual message. in this case, i'm with village genius: do it, compromise on the design enough to get the job done, then file it under "paid the bills".
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04-13-2013, 02:05 PM
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#7
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Status: design rockstar
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Location: guelph, ontario
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Originally Posted by derek lapp
depends on what their bad taste is about.
if they have a flat-up tacky idea, i'll probably just turn the project down. i know i won't want to do it, i'll push off working on it whenever i have something else to do, and eventually i'll fall behind and drop it anyways, might as well keep a good rep.
if they want some tacky/dated art direction that i personally disagree with, i'll do what i can to talk them out of it. if it'll look dated, i'll explain why, if i just don't like the style i'll explain why - usually it'll be because i get a disconnect from the stylistic attributes and the brand's actual message. in this case, i'm with village genius: do it, compromise on the design enough to get the job done, then file it under "paid the bills".
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as an art director who deals with a ridiculously fickle client with awful, awful taste, on a daily basis - pretty much a month after i first posted this - i can't stand by this advice enough. i'm even going to extend it with my response when a developer asked me why i so easily let the client make the design even worse after a meeting:
unless you're going to use this project specifically to get a job, it isn't worth the headaches.
it's tough if you're trying to assemble a portfolio for the first time, but you really only need 2-3 good work examples to impress someone, so unless it's a dream project the CEO is just flushing down the toilet, try once and if it doesn't work, kill-it, bill-it, go by something with your check that makes you happy and forget about how stupid your client is.
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04-06-2012, 06:23 PM
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#8
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Status: design rockstar
Join date: Jan 2005
Location: guelph, ontario
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to elaborate on my point above: the key to being a good designer is being able to disconnect yourself from the project. by that i mean, put your personality aside, and begin thinking like the brand you're working with.
example: at work we were building a blackberry event microsite. i was working on some initial concepts for interior pages, and the "design lead" caught a glimpse and decided to tell me how to design it. i was working with a photo from the same series to make it look similar to this treatment: http://ca.blackberry.com/business/in...ca:bb:Business
now, she personally doesn't like "gradients" and "fading" as she called it. she's got a boring personality, so she likes boring, stale design and insisted we simply crop the picture and give it no treatment whatsoever. we ended up with http://www.blackberryinnovation.com/ca/details.php, which just looks and feels lazy.
personally, i don't really like the colourized/realistic combo happening on rim's page - not when it's that obvious - but that's what the master brand has established as it's look, so i was attempting to follow it. because our lead creative couldn't separate her own personal preferences from the brand, we ended up with a shotty product.
so if you have to compromise, do it to get the job done, but put up a fight and at least explain your reasons for doing what you did - and also, do your best to separate your own preferences from the job. most times that will eliminate a sense of "bad taste".
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04-26-2012, 08:41 AM
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#9
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Status: I'm new around here
Join date: Feb 2012
Location: Houston, TX
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Dealing with clients with a relatively bad taste is quite a challenge for you as a designer. As a designer, all you want for your client in exchange to your pay is to give him or her quality work. So, professionally and nicely, explain what a good design is to him or her. The cliche that goes, "The customer is always right," does not always apply. However, if your client insists, try to appear to follow your client but just meet him or her somewhere in the middle. That is real service.
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06-13-2012, 02:06 AM
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#10
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Status: I'm new around here
Join date: Jun 2012
Location: Indonesia
Expertise: Design
Software: Photoshop
Posts: 6
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Dealing with client with bad taste, In my experience I always suggest my client about my feel in design but if they don't like it and make design looks bad, I just try follow them and make it finish
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