http://www.ideasonideas.com/2007/10/disarm-10-difficult-requests/ Eric Karjaluoto discusses design, brands and experience Tue, 06 Jul 2010 06:19:59 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.1 hourly 1 http://www.ideasonideas.com/2007/10/disarm-10-difficult-requests/comment-page-4/#comment-76876 Web Design Adelaide Thu, 21 Jan 2010 10:36:11 +0000 http://dev.ideasonideas.com/2007/10/disarm-10-difficult-requests/#comment-76876 Haha! Fantastic piece, I know Ive had to deal with people like this regularly Haha! Fantastic piece, I know Ive had to deal with people like this regularly

]]> http://www.ideasonideas.com/2007/10/disarm-10-difficult-requests/comment-page-3/#comment-75038 Steve Magruder Sat, 28 Nov 2009 06:08:56 +0000 http://dev.ideasonideas.com/2007/10/disarm-10-difficult-requests/#comment-75038 I generally agree with the article and the comments left here, but the "customer is always right" comments are rather infuriating and in my estimation, not reflective of someone who is actually in the trenches doing this kind of work. It is certainly healthy to let the customer control the general direction of what's happening with their site (with some occasional exceptions -- some customers are truly "out there"), but if they want to actually design the site, perhaps they should learn how to do it themselves. After all, do we let the car driver do the engineering on the car? Of course not. They decide the general features they like and how it looks and feels, but they don't decide how it's put together. Ever. An assumption made by the "customer is always right" people is that we freelance webheads _have_ to do anything. No we don't. And we don't have to make all possible money by letting our designs be controlled by clients who don't know the first thing about design. Many of us would rather make less money and keep our sanity, thank you. In the final analysis, it is reputation that sells our work through word-of-mouth. If all we did was continuously bow to the direct control of clients, we would end up with a body of work that un-sells us. Sorry, no way. I generally agree with the article and the comments left here, but the "customer is always right" comments are rather infuriating and in my estimation, not reflective of someone who is actually in the trenches doing this kind of work.

It is certainly healthy to let the customer control the general direction of what's happening with their site (with some occasional exceptions -- some customers are truly "out there"), but if they want to actually design the site, perhaps they should learn how to do it themselves. After all, do we let the car driver do the engineering on the car? Of course not. They decide the general features they like and how it looks and feels, but they don't decide how it's put together. Ever.

An assumption made by the "customer is always right" people is that we freelance webheads _have_ to do anything. No we don't. And we don't have to make all possible money by letting our designs be controlled by clients who don't know the first thing about design. Many of us would rather make less money and keep our sanity, thank you.

In the final analysis, it is reputation that sells our work through word-of-mouth. If all we did was continuously bow to the direct control of clients, we would end up with a body of work that un-sells us. Sorry, no way.

]]> http://www.ideasonideas.com/2007/10/disarm-10-difficult-requests/comment-page-3/#comment-74378 Twitter Trackbacks for ideasonideas - Eric Karjaluoto discusses design, brands and experience ? Blog Archive ? How to disarm 10 [ideasonideas.com] on Topsy.com Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:45:27 +0000 http://dev.ideasonideas.com/2007/10/disarm-10-difficult-requests/#comment-74378 [...] link is being shared on Twitter right now. @randyjensen, an influential author, said thanks to @kstarzer [...] [...] link is being shared on Twitter right now. @randyjensen, an influential author, said thanks to @kstarzer [...]

]]> http://www.ideasonideas.com/2007/10/disarm-10-difficult-requests/comment-page-3/#comment-73852 glog » How to disarm 10 difficult client observations/requests - the greydient weblog Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:28:22 +0000 http://dev.ideasonideas.com/2007/10/disarm-10-difficult-requests/#comment-73852 [...] a read through this brilliant article on how to tackle those sometimes odd [...] [...] a read through this brilliant article on how to tackle those sometimes odd [...]

]]> http://www.ideasonideas.com/2007/10/disarm-10-difficult-requests/comment-page-3/#comment-73851 glog » How to disarm 10 difficult client observations/requests - the greydient weblog Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:23:12 +0000 http://dev.ideasonideas.com/2007/10/disarm-10-difficult-requests/#comment-73851 [...] Brilliant article on how to tackle those sometimes odd requests. [...] [...] Brilliant article on how to tackle those sometimes odd requests. [...]

]]> http://www.ideasonideas.com/2007/10/disarm-10-difficult-requests/comment-page-3/#comment-73826 Sally Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:11:55 +0000 http://dev.ideasonideas.com/2007/10/disarm-10-difficult-requests/#comment-73826 Great article and I agree, educating the client as part of the process goes a long way to helping them understand why the design solution that you are presenting is actually good. Great article and I agree, educating the client as part of the process goes a long way to helping them understand why the design solution that you are presenting is actually good.

]]> http://www.ideasonideas.com/2007/10/disarm-10-difficult-requests/comment-page-3/#comment-73765 Scenario 9: I’m Just Going to Get Some Feedback via Facebook… Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:13:02 +0000 http://dev.ideasonideas.com/2007/10/disarm-10-difficult-requests/#comment-73765 [...] a great article by Eric Karjaluoto called “How to Disarm 10 Difficult Client Observations/requests.” In his article, Eric touches on the point, “My neighbors don’t like it,” [...] [...] a great article by Eric Karjaluoto called “How to Disarm 10 Difficult Client Observations/requests.” In his article, Eric touches on the point, “My neighbors don’t like it,” [...]

]]> http://www.ideasonideas.com/2007/10/disarm-10-difficult-requests/comment-page-3/#comment-73312 BlueGumTech » links for 2009-04-04 Sat, 04 Apr 2009 14:02:25 +0000 http://dev.ideasonideas.com/2007/10/disarm-10-difficult-requests/#comment-73312 [...] ideasonideas - Eric Karjaluoto discusses design, brands and experience » Blog Archive » How to dis... Unveiling a solution is arguably the most harrowing aspect of the creative process. In our last post we talked about how we can work to better service our clients. In this one, I’ll share some of the best responses we have to questions that can often derail an otherwise effective solution. (tags: design business clients freelance communication webdesign management tips) [...] [...] ideasonideas - Eric Karjaluoto discusses design, brands and experience » Blog Archive » How to dis... Unveiling a solution is arguably the most harrowing aspect of the creative process. In our last post we talked about how we can work to better service our clients. In this one, I’ll share some of the best responses we have to questions that can often derail an otherwise effective solution. (tags: design business clients freelance communication webdesign management tips) [...]

]]> http://www.ideasonideas.com/2007/10/disarm-10-difficult-requests/comment-page-3/#comment-60749 glog Wed, 21 Jan 2009 19:42:11 +0000 http://dev.ideasonideas.com/2007/10/disarm-10-difficult-requests/#comment-60749 [...] Brilliant article on how to tackle those sometimes odd requests. [...] [...] Brilliant article on how to tackle those sometimes odd requests. [...]

]]> http://www.ideasonideas.com/2007/10/disarm-10-difficult-requests/comment-page-3/#comment-59992 SoulVisual | Le blog Sun, 11 Jan 2009 06:08:13 +0000 http://dev.ideasonideas.com/2007/10/disarm-10-difficult-requests/#comment-59992 [...] : Petites tapes sur les doigts a moi-meme, j’avais oublier de citer la source (en VO), par ici Non classé | 29 01/08 Tags: Freelance [...] [...] : Petites tapes sur les doigts a moi-meme, j’avais oublier de citer la source (en VO), par ici Non classé | 29 01/08 Tags: Freelance [...]

]]>