Here’s an interesting post featuring designs that clients didn’t choose. I love hearing the reactions of other designers to their clients’ decisions. Because ultimately, the final outcome is the client’s decision. The most complicated thing about being a designer is educating your clients and coming up with solutions that work for everybody (most especially the users!). I’ve personally noticed several types of design mentalities:

1. The “client is always right” mentality
   The client pays, the designer does what they say…end of story. After all, give the people what they want, right? In a sense, yes. But designers should be more concerned about truly serving their clients — not just doing what they say. Often the thing that the client wants is not what they THINK they want.
2. The “designer is always right” mentality
   They’re the designer after all…they know what they’re talking about. They are highly educated in their field, it’s true. But the client has experience in their own field that the designer does not have. Their perspective is highly valuable if the end result is going to be effective for the market that they are trying to serve.
3. The “we’re a team” mentality
   Rah rah sis boom bah…designer plus client equals successful completion of goals. (I suggested that we use that cheer as our studio motto, but for some reason it wasn’t adopted. I’m hurt.) In an ideal scenario, the designer does what they do best (design) and the client does what they do best (make sure that their market is being served.) Everybody’s happy.

So the real trick is setting up those expectations in the beginning. Still figuring that one out, but I have noticed that it’s much easier to do in person than over the phone. When we can shake our clients’ hands and they can look into our eyes, it’s much easier for us to develop the trust needed to work well together.