How do you deal with clients with bad taste?

depends on what their bad taste is about.

if they have a flat-up tacky idea, i'll probably just turn the project down. i know i won't want to do it, i'll push off working on it whenever i have something else to do, and eventually i'll fall behind and drop it anyways, might as well keep a good rep.

if they want some tacky/dated art direction that i personally disagree with, i'll do what i can to talk them out of it. if it'll look dated, i'll explain why, if i just don't like the style i'll explain why - usually it'll be because i get a disconnect from the stylistic attributes and the brand's actual message. in this case, i'm with village genius: do it, compromise on the design enough to get the job done, then file it under "paid the bills".

Originally Posted by derek lapp depends on what their bad taste is about. if they have a flat-up tacky idea, i'll probably just turn the project down. i know i won't want to do it, i'll push off working on it whenever i have something else to do, and eventually i'll fall behind and drop it anyways, might as well keep a good rep. if they want some tacky/dated art direction that i personally disagree with, i'll do what i can to talk them out of it. if it'll look dated, i'll explain why, if i just don't like the style i'll explain why - usually it'll be because i get a disconnect from the stylistic attributes and the brand's actual message. in this case, i'm with village genius: do it, compromise on the design enough to get the job done, then file it under "paid the bills".

as an art director who deals with a ridiculously fickle client with awful, awful taste, on a daily basis - pretty much a month after i first posted this - i can't stand by this advice enough. i'm even going to extend it with my response when a developer asked me why i so easily let the client make the design even worse after a meeting:

unless you're going to use this project specifically to get a job, it isn't worth the headaches.

it's tough if you're trying to assemble a portfolio for the first time, but you really only need 2-3 good work examples to impress someone, so unless it's a dream project the CEO is just flushing down the toilet, try once and if it doesn't work, kill-it, bill-it, go by something with your check that makes you happy and forget about how stupid your client is.