The next respondent to my question asked, “Did you forget to take your
meds today?” Another chimed in, “I don’t want to give you any stories
because I don’t want to cry!”
One creative director added these: “Why isn’t my logo bigger?”, “Why can’t
we use all of this empty space over here?” and “It’s too promotional”. He
adds: “Anything from anyone who’s ever said, ‘I’m not creative, but...’ or ‘It
needs more... something.’ And anything from anyone who ‘knows what they
don’t want but has to actually see what they do want because they can’t
describe/direct/vocalize it’.”
Plenty of responses advised us to let go and just take the fee and do
whatever the client or committee wants. This is a “service industry” after all.
One graphic designer wrote:
One thing I try to do is understand why certain decisions have been made,
and I do this by questioning the person doing the direction (this could be a
colleague, sales person, client, etc.). If that person has legitimate reasons for
asking for specific things, and they can back up that it will work, I’d like to
know.
Another voice added, “He who pays calls the tune, even if they’re wrong,
and even if they have poor taste. That is important to keep in mind.”
As much as I agree, there is still that voice inside me that screams bloody
murder at the idiocracy of group decisions. Feeling the same way, an art
director in Texas wrote, “The client may pay for the work, but who takes the
blame when the client campaign fails miserably because the client did not
listen to the advice of the designer?”