What ways do you use to fend off bad client ideas?

Bootstrap Studio Help
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This post is a belayed response to contributions from Jo and Printninja on how to force autoplay on videos for iOS/Android

Jo said "@Aussie: You have a very closed minded idea of how a web design business works or should be implemented." She argues my trying to discourage clients from wanting to see for their websites particular website characteristics is an example of a "closed mind". She goes on to say "I’ve only had 1 client that was not able to be talked out of something" -- this is a direct contradiction to her saying that one should do what the client says he/she/they want.

So, she acknowledges, clients, and potential clients don't always have "the best (or better) design ideas" -- if you're creating a design for someone, it's been assumed by the client that you are likely to have better design ideas than they're likely to. Furthermore, one could argue that clients want a part of your skill set to include how to dissuade them from trying to see implemented design ideas that don't work in their best interests.

She goes on to make several other "accusations" following this assumption "you've pretty much said...", "(you) come in here requesting and almost demanding features while telling us you don’t use this app" -- yet nowhere in my contribution on this topic did I make any requests for any features! AND I did not say that I don't use BSS -- I have experience in using several different "builders" -- some have features others don't which, for some projects, makes them quicker/easier to use.

If I was Jo I wouldn't want to be associated with her numerous unchecked assumptions, related judgements, and her overall hysterical tirade in this instance. Indeed, contrary to what Jo's saying about my supposedly having a closed mind of how a design business works, I'd like to bring people's attention to a post by Benek Lisefski on UX Collective, here

So, what do YOU use to fend off bad client ideas? It's a crucially important skill if one's to have a successful design business. What's your experience taught you?

Printninja and Jo have had ample opportunity to address this topic, so I don't think contributions from them would be appropriate.

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I have had a good fortune to work at companies for YEARS where none of my supervisors happened to have background in art or design. They had background in communication, business, journalism, general management, or alike. Some of these people were easy to work with, but others were simply a nightmare. They think they have a title and so all their ideas are good. I simply exist as the remote controlled mouse. They tell me which way to move the mouse, where to click, how long to drag out that rectangle, etc. And now they are art directors. I've had so many negative experiences that I no longer like anything that has to do with design, let alone web design.

One of the worst part is finding images. It can be literally a war to pick the right image. I like it. I don't like it. He likes it. But the manger of X doesn't. Manger Y does, but CEO X doesn't. But the president showed it to his wife and she doesn't like it. And this goes around and around and around until you ready to hang yourself, or just quit and get a job at McDonalds.

Usually you have two options. One, you suck it up and you go with it. It's a paycheck. Who cares. I make a living. The problem with this approach is that your portfolio will suffer. You can't constantly blame other people or clients for not having a stellar portfolio. You can't keep sending out cover letters saying that this is my portfolio, but the reason the designs looks bad, or the colors are clashing, etc is because my supervisor, client, spouse, etc told me to do it that way. This simply doesn't work on the long run and you will waste years of your life doing stuff that was managed and directed by marketing directors who don't need Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign or such, because that 240 page brochure is doable in Word and you can do the artwork in Microsoft Paint. The other option is that you realize this is not the right environment, client, etc for you and you leave.

Clients giving you a portrait (vertical) image because they simply don't know the difference between a portrait and a landscape (horizontal) photo and don't see why the portrait photo would not fit into a layout that needs a landscape image. And when you put it in, they have a problem that the person's head is cut off at the base of their nose. I don't even want to get into this any more because I just get angry as I write this, with all the shitty memories coming back.

What's my solution? I don't do design any more. I hate it. I don't want to waste my life on people constantly telling me how long a line should be, or I should use burgundy copy on a blue background just because burgundy is the brand color and my manager's fav color is blue, so just use the two together. Sheesh!

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You must have been very offended by me to have started a brand new thread to address all my shortcomings lol. Enjoy :P

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@Jo. Who are you talking to? I was responding to the OP. I don't know what you two were fighting about.

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This forum is supposed to be for helping users with Bootstrap Studio related issues, not drawn out, "he said, she said" debates over whose business model is the "right" one. I regret commenting on the original post, and if I could, I would delete it.

I'm here to help people, and get help from people, with using BSS. That's it.

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OK, PrintJInja, that would seem OK, we don't seem to have many people contributing anything much, but I thank Elpea for their contribution. That one demonstrates that it's probably not that uncommon a problem, and that its consequences can be very significant for the designer so affected by it. Considering the article of Lisefski's that I linked to is over 10 pages in length, and no doubt, even then it's likely only a partial view, I was probably asking too much for a simple answer, relevant to BSS specifically.

The lack of guidance for the designer using the tool -- BSS, or something else -- is also not uncommon. But I think when people are seeking help with finding solutions it would help if the different consequences might be for the different solutions were outlined, not necessarily as an in-built part of BSS, but at least in the responses in the forum. This might take the form of respondants outlining what might be the consequences in different cases, like where bandwidth is limited, or in an information rather than a marketing type of site, and how the features of BSS can be best used in these different types of site.

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There is a Facebook group for Bootstrap Studio users. You might find that a better place to discuss more generalized issues relating to the use of BSS in a web development workflow.