CREATIVE DIFFERENCES: Where’s the line?
March 8, 2010
It happens in the creative fields all the time: you have a vision or a standard of some kind, but your client has a totally different idea. As a designer myself, I find it so agonizing to address this issue, especially because when you’re trying to build your portfolio, you want everything to be flawless. How do you handle it? Do you say nothing, and go with the flow? Or do you press the issue? When you show the work to future clients, do you tell them that it wasn’t how you would have done it?
Advertisement
6 Comments
leave one →
Great topic. I can totally relate to this. I think most people understand when you tell them that it’s what a client requested. Even though we often try as hard as we can to sway our clients to go in the direction of what good design is, there is often a resistance we get from them we sometimes can take a stand and win and get the great design but sometimes we have to give them the “ugly design” or that big star burst they want in the center of the page. I guess as professionals we have to pick our battles and some times move on. I am interested to see how everyone else responds to this post. Happy Monday all!
Amanda
Hey Amanda! I agree. I think the hardest thing is that I am so emotionally attached to everything I create, but when you have a client, it’s hard to share the control
Interesting topic. As a writer, I find that if I can’t adjust my writing to what an editor suggest, I often respond with “Thanks for your feedback. I think I may have misunderstood what you were looking for. All the best.” This way the door isn’t closed for future article submission and at the same time, I have been true to myself.
I have run in to this a few times. Only once have I had to tell someone that I was not going to be able to make their dress. I had tried at least 4 different versions and finally decided to just cut my losses. It was pretty clear to me that for some reason I was NEVER going to make this client happy. I guess you can’t please them all!
Unless the client is particularly difficult I usually give my opinion and try to sway them in the right direction, sometimes you can make a compromise. In the the end it is their money and their choice. When they choose differently than I would have I try to remember that not every thing I design or make is going to be a portfolio piece.
Thanks to everyone for commenting on this topic. I really appreciate your involvement with ItsKizmit and I can’t wait to hear more from you
Feel free to suggest a discussion topic anytime too — sarah@itskizmit.com.