rejecting clients input

artisites · Apr 6th, 2008, 22:58

working on a project at the moment, the client has "made it easier or me" by assigning his company graphic designer to assist with my web build.

the graphic design work is not up to scratch, and im having to now change it for my own.

im just taking on clients of my own so put this one down to a lesson learned, and nip these issues inthe bud at the start.

if i'd said early on it wasn't up to scratch i wouldn't be in this situation.

however, doesn anyone have any advice or experience to get me out of this situation whilst not being an ass about it?

has anyone been in this situation before?

spinal007 · Apr 7th, 2008, 12:22

I' assuming you're in charge of coding...

I tend to stay away from design issues, specially when I can sense the client is very "specific" about what they want. You need to work out, right at the start, what kind of client you have in your hands.

a) customer-driven: accepts your input even when it goes against his own beliefs because he understands this is your field and you know what his visitors want/need.
These are easy to work with. You shouldn't have much trouble knocking heads together and coming up with something that works.

b) know-it-all: wants things the way he sees regardless of your experienced opinion and disregards what other might think.
These are a nightmare and you should lay down the ground rules right from the start. In your case, (which is also what I do), restrict your work to coding only and do not get involved in design issues. What I mean is, if your client has a designer, then (nicely) tell your client this:
- Work out what you want with your designer
- Give me everything I need to build the website
- I build it.
- End of.
Sounds harsh, but otherwise you end up getting yourself in a loop and an endless list of changes and never-ending tweaks, which...
1. diminishes the quality of your final product (all patched up)
2. increases time-scale
3. clients is unhappy because of the delay
4. increases costs
5. client is unhappy because it costs more
6. puts you in a "catch 22" situation: either bend-over backwards to deliver what the client needs or the client will (unfairly) blame you and be unhappy with your service

I think I might have gone slighty off-topic there, so let me go back to your question. I think you should make the issue known to your client and let him decide what to do. "Little bits" of extra work always arise when building a new website, but you shouldn't have to tackle the short-comings of the designer's work.

Hope that helps...