Updated June 14, 2026
I have been in this business long enough to have worked with some amazing clients — visionary people who are smart, savvy, decisive, and good communicators. These people understand that hiring a creative is a collaboration, and they make the whole process a pleasure. But if you’ve never worked with a designer before, you may not know how it works — or what makes the difference between a project that goes smoothly and one that goes sideways.
In my experience, there are three client types that tend to make a creative project harder than it needs to be. You may recognize yourself in one of them.
“I’m too busy — you do it”
Many of the small business owners I work with have built their success by doing everything themselves. That’s genuinely admirable. But as a business grows, so does the to-do list, and at some point there simply aren’t enough hours. That’s usually when they call a designer.
The problem is that the same habits that made them successful — self-reliance, strong opinions, moving fast — can work against them in a creative collaboration. They rush through the briefing process. They assume the designer already knows things about their business or industry that they haven’t actually communicated. And then, because they’re used to being in control, they second-guess the designer’s ideas rather than trusting the expertise they just hired.
I start every new project with a thorough fact-finding process — a questionnaire or a discovery session that asks all the relevant questions upfront. Even with that in place, it’s remarkable how often crucial details don’t come out until we’re already deep into the work. A project can only be as good as the information behind it. If you want great results, you have to make time for the process.
Best case: They trust the process, answer the questionnaire thoroughly even if it takes a few days, and then largely get out of the way. The project moves efficiently and the results are strong because the brief was solid.
Worst case: The briefing is rushed and thin, key information surfaces mid-project and requires backtracking, and every round of revisions turns into a negotiation because they’re not sure what they want but they know it’s not this. The project drags, the budget gets eaten up in extra rounds, and everyone is frustrated.
“I don’t know — what do you think?”
This client thinks they’re being easy to work with. And in some ways they are — no strong opinions, no pushback, lots of flexibility. The problem is that “whatever you think is fine” is not actually helpful direction.
A good designer will absolutely advise you on the best approach for your goals. But those goals have to come from you. No one knows your business better than you do — your audience, your values, your competitors, what you love and what makes you cringe. The designer needs that information to do their best work. And they need your honest feedback at each stage to refine the work into something that truly reflects your company.
If you hold back your thoughts and opinions, the final product will reflect the designer — not you. And the designer is not the owner of your business.
Best case: They trust the designer’s direction, engage genuinely at each review stage, and the project comes together cleanly because there’s no friction.
Worst case: They say “looks great” at every stage — and mean it, in the moment. But they’ve been quietly accumulating reservations they haven’t voiced, either because they don’t want to seem difficult or because they haven’t figured out how to articulate what’s bothering them. Then, at the very end of the process, when everything is finalized and the invoice is due, it all comes out at once. Suddenly nothing is right and the designer has no idea where it went wrong — because every checkpoint said otherwise. The other version of this ending: they pay, say thank you, and then never use the work. It sits in a folder somewhere because it never quite felt like them — and they knew it all along but didn’t say so.
The antidote is honest feedback early and often. A good designer would rather hear “I’m not sure about this” in round two than “I don’t love any of it” in round five.
“Let’s get everyone’s input”
This is the trickiest one. The design by committee client arrives at every review with a cast of stakeholders — each with a different opinion, each with what feels like equal veto power, and none of them entirely in agreement with the others. The logo is too bold for one person and not bold enough for another. The color that marketing loves is the one the CEO hates. And somewhere in the middle, the designer is trying to synthesize contradictory feedback into a coherent design solution.
It doesn’t work. Good design requires a clear point of view and a single decision maker — or at minimum, a hierarchy of decision makers with an agreed-upon tiebreaker. Before a project begins, identify who has final say. Everyone else can offer input, but one person needs to own the outcome.
This dynamic is particularly common with nonprofits, and I say that with genuine affection for the nonprofit clients I work with — because I work with a lot of them. The challenge is that nonprofit boards and committees are often made up of dedicated volunteers who care deeply about the organization but may have little background in marketing, branding, or design. They’re giving their time and energy, and understandably they want to have a say. That’s completely human. But it can create a situation where the designer is walking into a room full of well-meaning people with wildly divergent opinions and no clear authority structure — and nobody has told the designer that’s what they’re walking into.
I’ve been there. I’ve sat in small town meeting rooms doing impromptu presentations on what makes a good logo to a room full of volunteers who had just rejected three rounds of work for reasons that had nothing to do with design. It’s not the designer’s job to figure out who has clout. It’s the organization’s job to figure that out before the project starts — and to communicate it clearly upfront.
Best case: The stakeholders are aligned on the big things and their differences are minor enough to resolve without drama. The designer gets consolidated, coherent feedback and the project moves forward.
Worst case: Every review cycle produces a new set of contradictory notes from people who weren’t in the last meeting and didn’t see the previous rounds. The design gets pulled in multiple directions simultaneously, the original concept gets lost in the compromises, and the final product is something nobody actually chose — it’s just what nobody objected to loudly enough. Design by attrition is not a strategy.
Creative collaboration is a two-way street
The best client relationships I’ve had are the ones where both sides show up fully. The client brings deep knowledge of their business, their goals, and their audience. I bring design expertise, marketing instincts, and an outside perspective. Neither of us can do the other’s job — and the best work happens when we each do ours.
If you’re about to start a creative project, come prepared. Share everything that feels relevant about your company, your industry, your competitors, and your taste. Give thoughtful feedback at each stage. Trust the expertise you hired — and know that your input is what makes that expertise useful.
