The customer is always (sometimes) right.

So, everyone has heard the age old phrase, "The customer is always right." right? Well this may sound completely ludicrous but I disagree with whoever it was that coined that phrase. 

I mean, think about it. No one person is always right. The only reason why the customer is always right is because they have the money and many business owners will do anything to please the customer in order sell business. That is just the way the world works. 

I on the other hand, as a designer, and a business owner want the best for my business and I want to provide the best original designs for any particular project. The best designs=more business. And also, by providing the best of my design knowledge, I will ultimately increase the client's business as well. However, some will argue that by pleasing the customer, this will as well equal more business (but chances are, only from that one client). But, by doing whatever the client tells me to do, I'm not being fair to myself, my business or my education.  

I couldn't very well invite a plumber into my home and then tell him how I want it done. He brings with him an expertise, and so I leave him to do his job. However, with design, some clients have ideas, and they want you to make their ideas happen visually. In some cases this works, but when they have their hands and ideas in every aspect of what I do, it's not really a good thing. I know the software but I also know the elements of design and how to employ them. The client may very well have some bang-on ideas, and I will try those out, but if they don't work, he or she should consider alternative ideas.

Now, I'm not saying that the customer is always wrong—I'm not saying that at all. I'm just saying that sometimes they are right and sometimes they are wrong and the same goes for the business owner. We are all human after all. 

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The phrase “The customer is always right” was originally coined by Harry Gordon Selfridge, the founder of Selfridge’s department store in London in 1909...

From the blog, Chief Happiness Officer

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