The Client is NOT the King.
Not if you speak their language.
I remember my first meeting. It was a horribly fascinating experience.
Horrible, because the client straight up said my designs sucked. He wanted several changes, and asked me to do so.
Fascinating, because I knew he was wrong.
The problem was to convince him.
Talk in their language.
Previously, while browsing the net and reading on how to convince the client, I came across tons of articles where it said that the client was the king, and the easiest way is to do whatever the client says.
I disagreed.
What needed to be done, was to tell him how this would benefit his business, not how great the header looked. To him, a businessman, a header color has no meaning as long as it brings him money.
Talk in their language. Not yours. Talk business, not design.
So the next meeting, I made a few changes to the design and presented it without ever talking about the colors used or what kind of style the website followed.
I said stuff like this:
“On the old website, the position of this button was wrong. I’ve rectified it, so it draws the user’s attention, and this would help you get more customers online”
OR
“The contact form on the old website was complex to fill. The new one is easier and way more shorter—this would mean more people giving you their contact details, which means more conversion.”
The client’s reaction (a bit exaggerated):
I have followed that principle with a 100% success. You can do it even while deciding budgets for the project!
Here’s the bottom line:
You have control.
They want to make money, you want to make a good design. Realise the control is in your hands, and design something that fits the project and the budget. Now convince the client how it would help his/her business make money, not how it made your brain orgasm.
