I think “the client didn’t get it” is one of the most…
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I think “the client didn’t get it” is one of the most dangerous stories designers tell themselves.
Whenever something gets rejected, it's easy to say they didn't understand it, or that they have poor taste, or that they don’t grasp the process.
I recently read something by a designer that challenged this perspective a bit.
The idea was that strong negative reactions from clients aren't always just noise; they're often signals. They come from contexts we don’t fully see: internal politics, past failures, customer realities, things that never make it into a brief.
If the first instinct is to defend the work, you completely miss that.
One line that stuck with me was that attachment to the work isn't proof of quality; it just shows the time invested.
It also made me think about how many projects "fail" before the presentation happens. Misalignment, assumptions, and things that aren't clarified early enough. By the time feedback comes in, the gap is already too wide.
This doesn’t mean clients are always right. But it did make me question how often the problem is actually the process, not the person.
I'm curious how others here think about this.
#art
Whenever something gets rejected, it's easy to say they didn't understand it, or that they have poor taste, or that they don’t grasp the process.
I recently read something by a designer that challenged this perspective a bit.
The idea was that strong negative reactions from clients aren't always just noise; they're often signals. They come from contexts we don’t fully see: internal politics, past failures, customer realities, things that never make it into a brief.
If the first instinct is to defend the work, you completely miss that.
One line that stuck with me was that attachment to the work isn't proof of quality; it just shows the time invested.
It also made me think about how many projects "fail" before the presentation happens. Misalignment, assumptions, and things that aren't clarified early enough. By the time feedback comes in, the gap is already too wide.
This doesn’t mean clients are always right. But it did make me question how often the problem is actually the process, not the person.
I'm curious how others here think about this.
#art
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