When a client is spoiling a beautiful design

You know what's worse than a client spoiling a beautiful design? One that has a little bit of HTML/CSS/Photoshop knowledge and decides to give a go at it themselves and offer THE DESIGNER suggestions.

I haven't has my own business for as long as Berry (a few months out now, actually), but I've been in the business world as a professional designer for some Fortune 100 and 500 companies and I can tell you...if you don't put your foot down to the customer about some things, they will ride ripshod over your design. I had a snip with a client recently to illustrate this.

This person wanted a custom Wordpress theme for their business, but didn't know what sort of direction to go towards. The color schemes they chose were tacky and dated and directly from a competitor. I offered my suggestion, wrote up a detailed creative brief and we went over mockups for several days before getting to his desired look. I went to design it, code it, and then after showing him a few live previews, he accepted it and I installed it. The next day, the client e-mails me and says "I tried to change the header to a different color because I designed something in Photoshop that I like much better than you did." He sent me the Photoshop file, which was basically 36pt. bold Avant Garde green font with a left-leaning shadow, and underneath it, 18pt. cyan Ravie (f*cking Ravie!). I was gobsmacked. I told him I couldn't offer any help on his own design without us drafting up a consulting contract, and that I could only provide support on the design which I created and had approved from him.

His response? "Well I've been learning a little and just thought I could help out. By the way, could you put the name of your business on my site so everyone can know who designed it?"

My response? "I don't do that, but I will have a screenshot to my design and won't link it to your site. Per my contract, if you alter the design after full payment has been received, I don't do free changes." Of course he was mad, but why pay a designer to do the work if you're only going to play around with it to test your own skills?
 
I know this thread is old now, but I dug it out to re-read because I too am now going with the 'no crappy changes' approach. Just emailed a client with the words "At the risk of sounding like Sarah Beeny on Property Ladder..." and then pointed out exactly why their changes weren't going to benefit them. And it worked!!! Hey, the more of us that do this the better for all of us. Builders wouldn't stand for it...
 
lula said:
"At the risk of sounding like Sarah Beeny on Property Ladder..." and then pointed out exactly why their changes weren't going to benefit them
Click to expand...

I like that approach!! Aslong as they have watched Property Ladder and have a bit of common sense they should know that Sarah Beeny is always right :cool:
 
I would remind the client that they hired me for my expertise and that I wouldn't dream of telling them how to do their job. I would also remind them if they kept pushing, that whilst I don't mind constructive feedback that they are indeed telling me how to do my job. And that if they kept doing that, they're in breach of contract. Simply because I'll have in my contract a clause saying something to the effect of, "Do not tell me how to do my job, blah blah blah."
 
Berry, It's not always possible to impose what we want on your clients. i guess, feedback is important as far as customer satisfaction is concerned. At least listening to what they think about a particular design is essential, as they are availing the service from us. Put your point of view across as clearly as you can. Explain to them the pros and cons. Is they still don't seem satisfied enough, do and show them what they want. If it actually looks unpleasant, they would themselves stick to your decision. However, make sure this does not happen repeatedly, as you certainly don't want yourself to be taken for granted. Isn't it?
 
I have to agree with the comments from Berry, I have had problems with designs where people want fonts etc changing if you lay it down in a contract first then stick with it. If clients are dictating the design they might aswell sit with you and tell you how to design it themselves.
 
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