20 Lies Designers Tell Their Clients

I LOLed so hard =)) this was perfect! 11 years ago

It's "Canada" not "Canda". Did you throw these together at 3am after a Breaking Bad marathon? ;p 11 years ago

Nicely done. 11 years ago

So true! I will make t-shirt with it! 11 years ago

Should be called "20 Lies Wannabe Designers Tell Their Clients" A true professional doesn't lie to their clientele. They are honest and 100% transparent. That's how you build a long-lasting business relationship, not by lying! 11 years ago

Derek Stevenson above stated it best. This should be titled "20 Lies Wannabe Designers Tell Their Clients." Many of these play to the stereotype of the "lazy designer." As a community, I do not think we need to make fun of some of these. It's hard enough as it is serving clients in a SOHO environment without them second guessing our practice. Okay, except the underwear one. That's like 100% true. 11 years ago

haha.. not sure what's funnier.. this post or all the designers with sticks up their butts crying about the post in these comments like their clients subscribe to this stuff. if you struggle to show your value and this post hurts your business.. maybe you're not as good as you think. hahaha.. it think it's funny.. and i'll show it to my clients cause they value me as a person and the service I provide. lighten up. Just my opinion though. 11 years ago

Hi all, good discussion all around. I definitely agree with the sentiment that, ideally, you just wouldn't go around lying to people, especially the people that pay your bills. Designers have serious jobs and should have serious client relationships... but it's good to lighten up and crack some jokes (maybe even at our own expense) every now and then. The idea here is that we've all been in the situation where we were late on a deadline or tried to sell work that we knew wasn't our best, and it's ok to laugh about it and MAYBE even admit to a tiny fib you told once. If you're looking for posts with serious advice for designers, there are a million of them on every design blog (including this one), just don't forget to laugh at yourself occasionally :) 11 years ago

@Josh Johnson - I'm with @Paul Sirmon & @cleverdesigner, there's a difference between poking gentle fun at ourselves (ie highlighting that no one has a fax machine and funny things we say to clients to gently steer things when our true thoughts are much harsher...) and talking about pay and laziness disparagingly. I'm 50/50 on this post - on the whole I think it's in poor taste for a site that serves so many designers. 11 years ago

Thank you Josh Johnson, its true we should be as professional as possible, but if you cannot laugh at yourself and have fun creating you may need to rethink your career. BTW, yes I have bit my lip while watching a great creative fall apart thanks to client "advice". I would think that has happened to everyone! 11 years ago

@Josh Johnson @Paul Sirmon @cleverdesigner @Stamen Yanev I agree, and often preach it, that we need to be able to laugh at ourselves but there is something about the way these are presented and written that is extremely off-putting to me. Some of these are genuinely funny and appropriate – others, not at all. The issue is that many of the "problems" highlighted in these quotes are the result of designers shelving professionalism and respect for their clients in favor of selfishness and procrastination OR clients themselves lacking respect for the profession and the individuals charged with doing the work. If you have told lies to clients like the ones above you should not be laughing about it - you should be calling them on the phone or meeting in person to apologize for your lack of professionalism and working hard to mend that relationship in the wake of the damage you have done. By telling a client that the design "looks better this way" when you are tired of working on it or don't want to end up in conflict really only excuses yourself from the real work of educating yourself and your client on what will actually be best for their business and their goals. You hurt yourself, you hurt me, and you hurt the client and all your future clients because you were to lazy to do the right thing and strive for excellence and integrity in your work. If my clients read this it would give me a heart attack as it has the potential to reverse much of the incorrect thinking that I've worked for a decade to correct. I think if you don't respect yourself or your clients you are perpetuating these ideas that in turn waste time, energy, and money, frustrate clients, discredit professionals, and miss an opportunity to make the web and the world a better place to live. 11 years ago

Whoa, some folks are taking this list far too seriously... I dont think it was meant to be taken seriously. But I know Ive been in many similar situations and wanted to say some of these thing. I think thats the way people should be looking at it. Perhaps if the title were "20 Lies Designers Would Love to Tell Their Clients" maybe then some folks would feel better about things. 11 years ago

@Mike Girard You are right in some respects - the title of the post and the premise that these would be posters hanging on a wall somewhere definitely contributes to the disconcerting nature of some of these. In the end, they were presented that way by the author; @Paul Sirmon, myself, and other's response is justified in my opinion. edit: grammar 11 years ago

Ok ok... I am not pro designer... I am a Civil Engineer and just hobbies ... that's truth :P 11 years ago

Not always like those, anyway.. some of them are untrue otherwise another designers do it. But it keeps me giggling, nice post! 11 years ago

Haha! 11 years ago

Задумка интересная, исполнение говно, я про тексты. Из пальца высосанная муйня, попытка опустить дизайнеров-фрилансеров. Потому что так думать лучше не работать. 11 years ago

Thanks! Great! 11 years ago

I also find this post tasteless and cannot see the point of it. I am with @Paul Sirmon and others on this. Did not make me smile. 11 years ago

Love these! 11 years ago

@Camel I want one t-shirts too! 11 years ago

) some makes laugh, some reminds old starting days :)) Thank you Josh! Good stuff ! :) 11 years ago

The "work I did for a college project" poster is all too true, haha! 11 years ago

I adore the irony of the discussion in this thread that is silently, yet ruthlessly generating great traffic for the awesome folks at Creative Market! :D (And I for one laughed til it hurt!) ;-) 11 years ago