How to deal with clients

[thejadedmonkey]

I've got a problem. I'm making a website for so and so, and all of a sudden I get an email saying I'll be working with so and so's daughter, because she has a good eye. So and so's daughter is a bit of a designer herself, so I don't mind... except she has no concept of designing for the web. You can't have a menu bar a mile long because not everyone uses a 1600 x 1200 screen resolution. And yet, if I design a website that works on a 1024x786 resolution, she gripes about all of the free space on the sides.

I'm not sure what to do... has anyone ever dealt with this sort of situation before, who could offer some advice- basically, a polite way to tell someone to let me do my job, and to $tfu?

 

[X1Lightning]

i have had to deal with this many times....

all you can do is explain your side, and if they just don't see it, and you want to keep working for them, you need to just do what they ask.

I have walked away from jobs because what they wanted was so insane that i didn't want my name attached to it.
But must of the time i just bite my tung and do the work as they demand so i can collect my paycheck.

 

[nomade]

This is everyday life for Web designer. To be a salesman mean also to be a teacher. Very often, you have to explain why this font wont work on the web, why you have to constrain your design within 1000px, etc etc.

Pesonnaly I keep an old pc with explorer 5 and a screen with 1024X768 resolution to better explain Web standard to some of my customer.

The good side, is that when they come back for version 2.0 of their web site, everything is smoother and easier to deal with.

Keep smiling

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Thanks for the encouragement, I guess I just gotta roll with the punches!

 

[Ezlivin]

Point them to this site

http://browsersize.googlelabs.com/

Once there, you can enter the URL of your site and see how it "fits" in the window. With the helpful explanatory graphics you should be able to convince the daughter that you know what you're doing!

 

[ezekielrage_99]

I've had this issue many times before (specifically with marketing department putting their bits in where it's clearly not wanted) the BEST way to shoot this idea down from the start is to ask the boss “Why do you think I’m incapable of doing the job you are paying me for?”

This WILL stop people, because simply it wont be answered and it is the generally comeback will relate their skills to your skill (and hopefully you will trump it because you will note your commercial and educational accomplishments, a SWOT diagram is awesome for this). Importantly you will establish specific expertise you have for the project, a direct line of command and skills boundaries.

Also I tend to "isolate" people like this out, make them not seem like team players and put a cost on it. Generally speaking wife or not, family member or not if it's going to cost a company and extra $10K to fix the issue caused by the ideas generated by this person then they will be out of the team.

With situation like this, go with your gut feeling it will guide you to the best solution. And remember "Kill your creative so you can have a bigger logo"