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You heard it all.

"You charge by the hour? That's too much!"

"Hey my nine year old kid can do that logo."

"I want my website done in three days."

I'm pretty sure there's more. Looking forward to some good advise on how to deal with them or perhaps what you did when you encountered one.

Tags: clients, demanding, design, experiences, graphic

Views: 56

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Manage expectations. This is the advice you should live by.

I've been freelancing and supporting a family for several years successfully. When I first started, I took any and every client that came my way. I produced logos and print designs at bargain-basement pricing; I coded websites with dozens of pages for a fraction of the competition. I took orders from every client, made every requested revision, and attempted to keep each and every individual or business that I crossed paths with as happy as a pig in *****.

In retrospect, I made a lot of poor decisions and, had I been able to manage their expectations with the same cognizance I possess now, I would've saved myself a lot of trouble, paid a lot more bills on time, and enjoyed a lot more personal freedom.

When a client comes to you and makes unreasonable demands, explain to them why the demands are unreasonable. Do it tactfully and professionally, but be honest and up front. You don't need to go into a philosophical diatribe about the importance of maintaining design unity, about why good typography is just as vital to a design as other visual elements.

Remember that, although they are paying you a fee, they require your services. Too many times in this industry designers take on a submissive role and allow clients to rule their artistic roost. The fact is, this is YOUR area of expertise. Be confident in knowing that, communicate that to your client, as gracefully as possible, and, again, manage their expectations.

If a client is completely unreasonable, then refuse their work. I know that sounds crazy, but it is a very necessary step you'll need to learn to take if you're going to design full time as a freelancer. Wasting three months dealing with a client who teaches you first hand what the phrase "scope creep" is all about is not worth the entry fee; in that same amount of time, had you refused that client, you could've finished three sites, two print designs and created another branch from which referrals and new work would grow. Don't make the mistake of choosing the fee over the sanity. Trust me, it isn't worth it.

And if you ever get a client that keeps sending back revisions, essentially turning your design into their own, remind them that they're now wasting their own money, since they're now doing the job they hired you for. You won't believe how many times I ran into that one.

Good luck!
One good point there, learn to refuse. It's true that we have a tendency to accept every client that comes in, specially if we're just starting. It does require a certain amount of pride on your expertise. Very helpful insight Joey, thanks!
Thank you very much for insight. I am new to this and as you said I am doing every job I can get my hands on even for free. That leave me not to much free time for myself. I am doing as well other job to pay my bills. I would like to focus on design and do it full time as it make my happy but competition is really strong. 
That is very true. It's really tough when you're just starting and if you plan to make this as a career, it does require a plan, strategy and money i guess?
My pleasure. Good luck to you both :)

Yeah it is very tough to deal with this type of client.

I agree with your point i have also been working as a logo designer and have designed a lot of customized logo templates lately and i still face a lot of these comments which never stops. Actually this is the habit of the client as he wants hi work to be done as soon as possible so that he could carry on with the other stuff apart from this. So, never mind what they say and continue and impress them with your work so that they feel sorry for what they said.

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