It may have been said a thousand times before but yes it’s true. The client is always right, that is until they see that they are wrong.
It can be the most infuriating of all situations where the client loves your design but would really like to use ugly font 1 or the sickly colour2 when that’s done it will be signed off for production.
No matter how much you protest (not a good thing to do) or how much best practice documentation, user research and industry experience you provided the client is always right.
In the initial stages of a project or to win a piece of work you may need to say yes to a few ill conceived ideas to win over the potential client and to give yourself room to suggest better solutions in the future.
It’s not advisable to say no to all the client’s ideas and concepts, you’ll not gain their trust or confidence that you understand their needs. By all means talk through the possible short comings and unsuitable choices but deliver what they want.
Once visualized let the client take in the results of their choices for a few days and try to avoid taking any initial feedback – make sure they consider what has been developed to provide a solutions to their problems.
Now comes the I told you so part, but of course it not you who will say this it’s the client who has to make these choices. Over time, it may take many weeks of pain and iterations but eventually the client will usually concede no matter how forthright and definite they are on their choices at the outset. It’s a great moment when the client almost quotes your original objection to a certain feature as to why you need to reconsider the design and a great relief to your sanity too! Enjoy the warmth that wells inside when you know you’ve won the battle! Now move on to the next unsightly piece of content you’ve had to design.
But remember the client is always right until they see they are wrong.
This is my online portfolio, showcasing work created in the seven years I've been a graphic and web designer.
I also use the site as a development area where ideas and techniques are explored and commented upon.
Comments upon
Building a Site
Coding
Design
DOM
JavaScript
SEO
User Experience
XHTML
Articles
Using CSS frameworks
The client is always right.
This was bound to happen...
Nevil Brody's a busy boy
Making sIFR scale with font size
Ongoing development
Using sIFR in an elastic template.
Fixing a few bugs
Elastic template example
Elastic design continued…