How do you deal with rejection?

[Canadian]

How do you deal with rejection when someone doesn't like a graphic that you have made for them? Whether it's a logo, a theme for a forum, etc. Some people can take rejection well while other's it can be crushing for them.

In what ways do you deal with rejection?

 

[Page]

I made some work over the years and it hasn't been an big deal rejecting. Mostly they say what they don't like or what they want then you go ahead. It's more harder on the client side I find, like sometimes i want something to be made and I have no idea on what front I want

 

[Corzhens]

I'd say that you need to have a sackful of patience when you are a website designer. It is like the work of an architect where you draw the draft and present it to your client. Expect revisions otherwise you will just be disappointed. With webpage design, it's the same thing. I have seen the development of our office website and it took the designer more than a month to come up with just the homepage. And if the work was rejected, you will surely feel disappointment or maybe frustration but being prepared for the worst, the impact will not be that very damaging to your ego.

 

[Jason76]

Some of the stuff they're attacking is highly subjective, but other stuff isn't.

 

[Svoboda]

If they're paying you, it doesn't matter. Business is business and you've got to leave your ego and feelings at the door.

That said, this is why logo design firms offer X number of concepts to choose from and then X number of revisions. If you don't, you can get into tedious nitpicking and suddenly your job ends up costing you due to the opportunity cost of lost time.

 

[Jason76]

If they're paying you, it doesn't matter. Business is business and you've got to leave your ego and feelings at the door.

That said, this is why logo design firms offer X number of concepts to choose from and then X number of revisions. If you don't, you can get into tedious nitpicking and suddenly your job ends up costing you due to the opportunity cost of lost time.

A paid job isn't really personal, but your own work is different.

 

[Svoboda]

If they're paying you, it doesn't matter. Business is business and you've got to leave your ego and feelings at the door.

That said, this is why logo design firms offer X number of concepts to choose from and then X number of revisions. If you don't, you can get into tedious nitpicking and suddenly your job ends up costing you due to the opportunity cost of lost time.

A paid job isn't really personal, but your own work is different.

Shouldn't be but I've done tons of work with various folks over the years and they get feeling some kind of way if you don't like their suggestion or work.

 

[Jason76]

If they're paying you, it doesn't matter. Business is business and you've got to leave your ego and feelings at the door.

That said, this is why logo design firms offer X number of concepts to choose from and then X number of revisions. If you don't, you can get into tedious nitpicking and suddenly your job ends up costing you due to the opportunity cost of lost time.

A paid job isn't really personal, but your own work is different.

Shouldn't be but I've done tons of work with various folks over the years and they get feeling some kind of way if you don't like their suggestion or work.

Pride is an issue, but really, it's sort of like a mop-job. The boss tells you to sweep the floor and you do it, no questions asked. In fact, the only real fight might come about over pay.

 

[Shannon Apple]

Design is subjective. In the professional world, I've found all sorts of people. The extremely difficult people are rare, but they are there. Those are usually the ones that turn the designer into a pixel pusher. By that I mean that they don't actually want a designer. They want to design it themselves, but they order the designer around anyway. It's like they pay you because they want some sort of validation for their ugly designs. When I was working for a company, I didn't care as much because the bosses just told me to give the idiots what they want, but while I was freelancing, I actually "fired" a client or two for this. Why? Because my name would be attached to it and when you're working for yourself, you have to be careful of your reputation. Clients like this are rare though.

As for outright rejection, you have to take it on the chin, try to advise the client and hope that they will take some of your advice on board. If they are the type that are going to reject every one of your suggestions, you just have to take it as part of the job. You also have to decide where the line is and how often you're going to make changes before you start charging them for your time. 9 times out of 10, clients will work with you to come up with a solution that works. Involving them in the process is a good idea.

I rarely have work outright rejected though because I usually send them over 3 proofs when sending initial ideas to them. A mock up of what they imagined, a mock up of what I imagined, and a mockup that is a combination of the two. They usually go for the one that incorporates both of our ideas because they know you actually valued their input. You send the 3 to them though so that they can see your thought process. I would advise other designers to do this too. 🙂