The "customer" is always WRONG.

Consumer watchdogs and websites like Hellopeter have created a culture among the public that "the customer is always right", which really cannot be further from the truth when it comes to creative industries like design and advertising.

There seems to be an assumption among clients (and here I mean non-creative clients) that because they commission a design, and because the design agency actually "show" them their initial designs, that the design agency inherently admits something to the effect of "here's our idea, please help us, we don't know how to proceed".

Sometimes, the client will even pull the "the majority of us feel that..."-strategy to try and stress their point on something stupid (that has already been explained as ugly/not true to the concept etc by the agency), thinking that "the majority is always right"-rule applies to aesthetics and design as well.

The client needs to back off and realise that his input is, nine times out of ten, stupid and counter-productive.