When you are working with a client and they make requests sure you try your best to accomidate them but what about when they are requesthing things that aren't in their best interests?

Example 1:
Client wants his website's color scheme to match his logo and not in the most of ways. He wants neon green text on a black background or a similar combination. It looks gaudy and is kinda hard on the yes to read.

Example 2:
Client wants his website to be hip and cool. He requests an audio player that auto-plays loud music (he probably doesn't have the rights to) upon loading of homepage. It increases load times and is quite painful on the ears if not expecting it.


Is the customer always right?

As a professional what are you supposed to do in these kinds of situations?

The customer isn't always right but they do also pay the bills. In cases like this you can give the client the opinion but at the end of the day it is their website. Theres a cartoon that covers this let me find it

When you're working for somebody the client is always right - even if you disagree completely. They're paying you, so you should do what they want in order to make them happy and get paid.

The customer isn't always right. They pay you for your expertise, your opinion, your experience. So if you just do whatever they want you to do, it's not good for both of you and your customer. Because sometimes they don't know what they want. A lot of client wants too much bells and whistles for their website but you can always tell them that it's not good from their visitor pov and keep remind them that the website is not for them but it's for their visitor. :)

Example 1:
Just to be honest with him, and tell him that it looks gaudy and it's kinda hard to read. You can always create two or more mock ups for better options.

Example 2:
Tell him, music is a personal thing. You should not force people to listen to the music except if they want to. Read: http://www.evisionworldwide.com/blog/2009/11/02/5-reasons-put-music-website/

Here's the cartoon http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell

Jeez, I can really empathise but as the esteemed poster above points out - the customer is paying you.

All you can do is send them links to appropriate reading on the net, make them a few mock ups etc.

If they stic to their guns, just dont put it on your portfolio if you arent happy with it.

As Michael Caine said, "One for the money and one for me".

Good luck bud.

The customer is 'always right'
after you've spoon fed them the 'correct information'.

Here's the cartoon http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell

Oh wow that cartoon is almost exactly what happened to my most recent project.

His old site was a conviluted mess with this lime green text on black backgrounds and auto playing music that blasted in an embed as soon as you load the page. It had iframes and looked like something a highschool kid put together in Frontpage while in the computer lab.

I made him a really slick new one. It had a CMS, dynamically driven, clean easy to read layout, some of those popular web 2.0 conventions without going overboard.

Then he decided he wanted his lime green text and black background again. Then he decided he wanted his music again. Then he decided he wanted his music not to re-load when the user moved between pages so then he had his iframes back again.

Next thing I know after all these revisions my client kept having me make his site looked almost exactly the same as it did before.. just driven by Wordpress though you could never tell underneat the iframes and bad music.

He was very insistant that that is what he wanted. If he had told me that he wanted the exact same page but wordpress driven so he could update it himself then it could have saved me a lot of trouble.

In the end I really did resign myself to doing what nostyle suggested. Get the job done and behind me and not add it to my portfolio.

The entire thing just left a bad taste in my mouth.

I am happy I at least drew the line somewhere... I didn't add the animated gif as a background as he wanted. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Looking back on it though it is pretty inconsequential as I am pretty sure sometime down the road he will have his "web designer friend" he mentioned do it for him.

I have designed more ugly sites for clients than I would care to share with anyone.

OP, you said "I am happy I at least drew the line somewhere... I didn't add the animated gif as a background as he wanted. I just couldn't bring myself to do it."

I always, always, always, design a site the way the client wants it-- ugly or not. I just give them my personal opinions and then move on.

I think design, in general, is a very subjective thing, and some things that look hideous to some, look great to others.

I also believe that it is arrogant beyond belief to design a website for a client and refuse to do it the way they want.

Probably 90% of my website design business comes from referrals-- it's hard for a client to refer you to someone else if you refuse to give them what they want.

Clients want what they want, you just have to give it to them even if it's the most horrid terrifying design you've ever made in your life. If I were to contact a designer, I would only want what I have hired him to create although I would accept his opinions on changes that he feels should be made as he is a professional and I am not.

In most cases, there is a way to give them what they want AND make it look good.