Client comments that drive every designer insane

Every designer has a love hate relationship with clients. While some clients are an absolute pleasure to work with, others can be incredibly challenging. Here are some all too common client requests and comments that drive designers up the wall.

Who needs clear, precise feedback when you can have vague buzzwords! Everyone likes classics such as “make it pop”, “take it to the next level” and “make it more impressive”. Goodness knows what that’s supposed to mean though. Especially since such things are subjective.

Why start a project with a tangible direction? There’s nothing more thrilling than being told “I want something very corporate and familiar yet incredibly ground-breaking and insanely creative.” Yes…there’s no contradiction there.

This is a classic. The bigger the logo the better. It doesn’t matter if the logo ends up being so dominant that it detracts attention from the design or concept or lessens the impact of the visual communication. Viva the ego! Err, logo!

Demands such as “I need this yesterday” and “I need this entire project delivered in three hours” are sadly rather standard. Good design isn’t the result of hard work, precision and hours of brainstorming. It just miraculously happens.

“I want this to be exactly like this (shows photo or web link).” Who needs respect for copyright and intellectual property? And who needs creativity and originality? No real designer dreams of feeling like a drone creating clones.

“We just want you to change X, Y and Z. These quick changes shouldn’t take long.” Yeah right. Sometimes a seemingly simple change involves hours of work.

Every designer has been approached with ‘ speculative ’ work or has been asked to do work for free. The approach is always along these lines: “Do this project for us and if we like it, then we’ll pay you or give you paid work later.” Or even like this: “We’ve been working with you for a while, so why don’t you do this particular project for us for free?” Such demands are naturally normal. Let’s face it, such things always happen at restaurants and other businesses. In another dimension maybe.

"Can your design match my sofa or this wall?" But of course. Design has no true artistic value after all nor should it stand alone. It simply must match furniture and other items to have any worth.

Which client comments and requests drive you insane?