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Clients from hell

clientsfromhell.net

I’m a 26-year-old male designer. I was

making some new branding for a new

client – who, for the record, was a 45-year-old

man. The work was all fairly straightforward –

things like business cards, comp slips and a

letterhead – but the client insisted we meet for

coffee before I started. He seemed polite and

his request was reasonable so I agreed to meet.

After we talked for 15 minutes about the

work, he started asking about my personal life:

Client: How long have you lived in the city?

Any wife or kids?

Me: I’ve lived here for three years. I used to

live around the countryside but there is not a lot

of work outside of cities. I don’t have a wife or

kids, but I do live with my boyfriend and we have

a dog and two cats.

Client: Exciting! Well if your partner is as

attractive as you then you’re both lucky men.

Me: That’s very kind of you to say. Thank you.

I tried to divert the conversation back to work

but he kept on bringing up gay topics and asking

about my personal life. After being there for 45

minutes, we finally got to the end of our meeting

and parted ways. I received an email from him

before I even got to my car.

Client: It was VERY nice meeting you, and I

really felt a good chemistry between us. If

you’re ever in the city again, I’d happily invite

you into my private room. I believe I could make

you feel things you’ve never felt before.

I did not reply to his email. I completed the

work and sent it to him in a timely manner, along

with an invoice. He paid promptly, adding a 50%

bonus but including a note:

Client: I can make you happier.

UNWANTED ADVANCES

CLIENTS FROM HELL

Exclusively for net: The latest in a series of anonymous

accounts of nightmare clients

We asked @netmag’s Twitter

followers for their tips on dealing

with feedback from non-designers.

@_csilverman offers the following

useful pointers.

FIND THE PROBLEM

The core, underlying question to be

asking isn’t “What details are they

asking me to change?” but “What

problem are they asking me to

fix?” My last boss – after years of

extensive back-and-forths with

clients – gave clients an exercise:

come up with a list of words

that represented what they

wanted. Then we’d work with them

until consistencies began to

emerge. We got really good results

from this.

GET TO THE HEART OF IT

Benefit of the doubt is huge:

overlook awkward language or

impractical suggestions and try to

decipher what they’re really

responding to. “Can we make the

entire header an animated GIF?” is

probably not a good idea – maybe

what they really want is a more

engaging design in general.

MIND YOUR EGO

I’m also working on ego control:

remembering that my work

reflects the client on a personal/

professional level. Push back on

damagingly bad ideas – stuff

that’s legitimately ugly, broken or

confusing – but remember that

what you think they should want

isn’t always true to what they

actually need.

HANDLE

FEEDBACK FROM

NON-DESIGNERS

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