Dealing with Clients... Advice...

My company is going through a period of growth.

Unfortunately, most of the websites I've built over the last few months look terrible.

Why?

Because I've been giving the client exactly what they've asked for... letting them pick the colors, the fonts and the stock photos ...pea-soup, comic sans, animated gifs. In the end, they're happy, and I'm stuck with a site I don't want my name on (hence an empty portfolio). It also hurts my reputation as a designer as most people assume I did it all.

So I came up with the New Year's resolution that I would put my foot down. That I would put their needs (a well designed website) ahead of their wants (something resembling their prized 1972 Ford Maverick).

When I explained this to my counterparts, I wasn't met with enthusiasm. I must say, I see where they are coming from. "It's their money"... or ..."How are we going to stay in business if we are telling clients no"... or ..."How am I going to sell them on something they don't want?"

So, before I do anything too drastic, what are your thoughts?
Give them what they want, or give them a site I can be proud of?

This is like asking an architect to design a house. Depending on the architect and the needs of the people who would be living in such a house project would be different.

If i am a poor architect and i need money and the client just needs a house to stick their heads under a roof by all mean anything is ok as long as their needs are served.

If i am a rich architect and such clients such as above approaches me depending on other projects and time availability
1. if i have time available i would just get on with it and add my touch/signature to the project.
2. if i don't have time i would direct them to another designer or reject the project.

It is true it is their money however you are the designer, you are the master of this field and not them. You are talking about a single client with few people who have their own tastes when it comes to colors. As a designer you should understand their needs and features needed in the project which is important, creating a color scheme which represents their website or their products and services is more important then clients own choice of colors.

I do usually listen to my clients and create my own color scheme which they like at the end, in worst case scenario if they don't approve my/your choice of colors then by all means you should go along with their choice of colors. You are here as a designer to earn money, if you have no problems with money then by all means than create yourself a diamond sparkling portfolio by rejecting such customers, otherwise convince them why their choice is wrong by showing examples, if they still don't approve do the project and count it as a side job/ pocket money what ever you want to call it.

Also in your portfolio you should showcase your best/most creative products rather then every single client.

Obviously not every designer is same, these are just my thoughts.

See you around...

Man I build a lot of sites, maybe 10 to 15 on a average month and I've trained 2 family members to take the sites I wouldn't take with a 10 foot poll. they do about 3-5 per month @ $500-$1500 a pop. But all I want from the customer is what color they want and what it's going to be used for.. THAT's IT!!.

I get 1/2 up front and in 2 days I surpass their wildest dreams.. they at times want a new logo because it doesn't match the site.. I refuse to do their content.. all they get is example stuff I used to fill the site out. If they want to pay extra I get my lady to add the content at a premium.. The portfolio picture is taken before they even touch it.

So...
1. Get what they need.. and build that, but you have to read between the lines because most customers have no idea what they want.. they just know what they don't want.

2. Content will slow you down.. don't do it.

3. Try to show only pictures of your templates.. not the demo sites, for multiple reasons. Hell next week your customer will have a Gavick account.

4. If you've done your best, they won't want to change anything, charge them for any extra changes or addons.. Refer to the list of things they said they wanted the site to do.. anything outside of that.. charge them or simply refuse to do it if it takes too much time. and I mean 10 minutes or more.

5. Follow these rules and the money will flow.

@NormanUK ...Money isn't great, but I mean these people want some truly awful stuff. I feel like I need to save them from themselves. I learn their products, their audience, and ultimately understand their needs before I even install the CMS. I find it disturbing that I can do so much research on these subjects, only to have it be ignored because someone's favorite color is red.

But all I want from the customer is what color they want and what it's going to be used for.. THAT's IT!!.

I refuse to do their content.. all they get is example stuff I used to fill the site out. If they want to pay extra I get my lady to add the content at a premium...

2. Content will slow you down.. don't do it.

I'm amazed by this. Maybe I should be asking you advice on where to get clients.

Let me give you some additional background.

Most of my clients are small businesses that want to look big online. So I first select a template. I do this mainly with the templates features and structure in mind, knowing that everything else will eventually be changed. Let's face it, I'm not doing a website for the Washington Post or IGN.

Next I do an install, configure all the components, and use the templates framework configs to match fonts and what not.

I turn on override.css and customize the CSS Override to match what I think the client needs based on what they tell me and what I learn about their market.

After that, I add in the content. Usually, they don't have hardly enough to justify website, let alone a brilliant CMS. I always try to tell them what I need from them (About us, FAQ, Contacts, Services, etc), and input this content as I get it, which can sometimes be weeks. I input up to 10 pages at no additional charge.

Once I'm done, I demo the site.

What happens next? Pretty much this:
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell

I've learned how to charge extra for changes, but some people are willing to pay and pay even though I'm not willing to change and change. I don't like ruining something I know is perfect, and I hate getting stuck working on projects I don't like.

I recently explained it like this:
"Most projects start with a great design, and smooth implementation. But the fabric of the original build can stretch with each change, causing the original concept to lose all shape."

When the client is finally satisfied, I spend two hours teaching them Joomla!

My success in this regard has been unexpectedly marginal, and increasingly so. I've noticed age is a major factor. Older people struggle just to turn on a computer, so when it comes to using a sophisticated CMS, forget about it. Most of the time though, people feel confident that they understand it, but because they don't use it every day they quickly forget how to use it.

I wrote the guys at Joomla University to see if they could create special accounts/playlists that would allow me to limit a user's viewing to just those tutorials that helped them to manage content. I don't want people learning everything there is to know about Joomla. They weren't interested.

We're about to roll out service plans which offer full content management as a service. This will help with monthly revenue streams, but also it will address quality control.

Still, these designs turn out sooo bad.

You can ask them for sample websites. E.g if their business is about an auction then they can search auction websites themselves and write down urls and also next to it they can write down on which websites what they like so you can get a rough idea of their dream website, then you can decide whether to take the project or leave it.

I wrote the guys at Joomla University to see if they could create special accounts/playlists that would allow me to limit a user's viewing to just those tutorials that helped them to manage content. I don't want people learning everything there is to know about Joomla. They weren't interested.

Interesting, I wrote the guys at Joomla University with the exact same request. I told them it would be a great idea to have a limited course that focused only on content so that wed designers could use it to educate their clients. I even suggested that they make it available "white label" so that it could be embedded in a designers site. As you said, they weren't interested.