The analogy to the plumber only works if he's remodeling your entire bathroom, choosing your fixtures, the color of your tile and where the toilet goes. Generally, plumbers don't do that... but interior designers do. Likely if a web and interior designer had coffee, they'd have lots of war stories to swap. It seems like an industry hazard for anyone whose job title has the word "Design[er]" in it.
Now you've made me wonder if game designers are constantly being told to insert quicktime events and horrible inventory systems into games that were would have been fun as-is.
Spore?
Re:Stop Reading "Clients from Hell"
by henrikschroder on Sunday March 07, 2010 @06:57PM
(#1174300)
I'll pay you $50 for fixing my sink because you seem like a nice plumber, but remember that I have an adjustable spanner in my toolbox and I would use that to fix my sink for free if I only knew how.
Plumbers and designers aren't working with even remotely the same constraints. The fact is, Papyrus and Copperplate move bingo card software, kobe burgers, and designer handbags just fine. Many normal people even find those designs attractive.
Do I use Papyrus or Copperplate? I seriously do not know and highly doubt any of my customers do either. In 3.5 years the only time I have heard a reference to typography was "Do you have a font with an a that looks less like a typewritten a, more like a circle with a stick on the right side? Some of my kids can't recognize typewritten 'a' yet."
Sorry, I didn't check before I wrote that. Nope. No Papyrus for you.
Exactly. It all reminds me of the bit where the designer tells American Airlines or Zappos they're idiots, and the company tries to explain that their design is made to move shoes or airline tickets, not win design awards.
Re:Stop Reading "Clients from Hell"
by thechangelog on Sunday March 07, 2010 @11:41PM
(#1174668)
FWIW, the guy who criticized Zappos is the same person who put up Clients From Hell.
That's true, but it misses the real pain behind the stories. That is, that most Web designers don't get the respect or autonomy they deserve (or, perhaps, they don't command it.) If I get a plumber round to fix something, I'm not going to tell them what parts to use, what brand of pipes I like, or insist on them using outdated concepts. I trust them to do the work. Most people are that way.
With Web designers (and designers in general, really), people think that since they can see the surface of the finished product, they have as much insight into what works visually as the designer does. This is not true and this ignorance is very hard to work around. There are some good clients out there, but the "bad" ones are just worth ditching IMHO.