Should designers make creative compromises for clients?

As a designer, dealing with clients is an everyday occurrence, but sometimes your creative vision doesn't always align with theirs. The fact is, you can have the freshest ideas and the best graphic design software, but some clients are just too stubborn for their own good. Figuring out the balance between creating standout design and managing the expectations of clients is no mean feat, often leading to compromises – so how do you effectively maintain creative control while keeping clients sweet?

Creatives on Reddit have recently been discussing the topic of 'caving in' to clients, proving that it's a universal issue in the design sphere; however, all hope is not lost. For some professional insight, I spoke to branding experts to discuss their experience managing client expectations, discovering their top tips on how to break the cycle of caving in.

I caved. from r/graphic_design

Taking to the r/graphic_design subreddit, one user confessed, "I caved to a client’s terrible idea." The idea in question? "I added flames to a line chart," they confessed. While the tale tickled fellow Redditors, it also sparked important discussion over the nature of client-based work. "They know better than you, in their mind. So you just gotta give them what they want and get them out of your hair to move onto more meaningful projects and clients," one user responded. "We have all been there. You can't win them all, and we cannot always be too precious with our work - we are commercial artists after all," another added.

Across the thread, creatives shared the same sentiment – despite how they feel, the customer is (typically) always right. Yet some designers are keen to challenge this perception. Mike Perry, founder and chief creative officer at Tavern, told Creative Bloq: "We need to move away from simply giving clients what they want and instead provide the right answer, even if it challenges their initial perspective. The customer is sometimes very, very wrong. You need to build something meant to last that can endure, something that doesn't require constant updating or tweaking, or that's made for the sake of a press release and flash-in-the-pan media attention."

When it comes to attracting clients, Julian Kynaston, founder of brand consultancy Propaganda, has an unconventional method. Outright banning his team from pitching, Julian claims it's "a completely flawed (and often corrupt) process that exists only to boost the ego of some lightweight client marketing bod working at the company."

"Now when we’re approached by new business, we do what we call 'Brand Discovery' which is a three month deep dive into that company and their sector. We’re proud of this process and we rightly charge for our time. After this we know that the ideas we’re presenting the business with come from a deep understanding of their industry and their position in it," he adds.

For more creative career advice, check out our Day in the Life series for leading industry insight. If you're after more graphic design news, take a look at the essential skills to help designers get ahead in 2025, according to the pros.