Quote:
Originally Posted by itto
(Post 19363723)
I used to think the same.. but this month i did an experiment that changed my view on this topic a bit: I had two design clients and they had a clear vision of what they wanted done - really abysmal stuff IMHO (logo design), but i did it.
But i also (which i don't usually do) showed them *my* version and what's probably more important, i EXPLAINED to them, WHY my version would be the better choice. Both clients ended up purchasing my version of the logo.
So, i think it has a lot to with communication skills and how you present your alternatives. No one likes to hear "your vision sucks" - but plenty of clients are open to alternatives, if presented in a friendly way.
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That is typically what we do with clients, especially those in mainstream because for the most art, they really don't have a clue about anything pertaining to running an online business.
A couple of weeks ago we had a client that sent us exact specifications for a simple enough website, even down to providing all of the copy text upfront (which typically never happens) this guy knew exactly what he wanted.
Unfortunately, this is where things started to go wrong, the colors he wanted, just didnt work, they looked like someone had taken a monkey, cut its arms off and forced it to draw something using crayons, the layout he wanted was something akin to a Lycos website circa 1995 and the images he wanted to use on the site certainly 'looked' cool but for an attorney website, simply had no place being there.
After several discussions with the client we finally persuaded him to let us get 'creative' with his site, so we did, needless to say, he loved what we created for him and after asking several of his family members, friends and colleagues, they all basically turned around and told him he was 'an idiot' (his words not ours).
Sometimes you have to educate the client abut why what they are proposing just want do what they think it will because ultimately, as a design company, if we make something that doesn't work, we're the ones going to get the blame and risk a chargeback, going that extra few steps at the start of a project to let the client know which, who, when, how and why something isn't going to work can be the difference between a happy client, and a client that goes around bad mouthing you to their friends, family, peers and colleagues.