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Clients From Hell: A collection of anonymously-contributed client horror stories from designers
A cult phenomenon among those who work in graphic, print and web design — and those lucky enough to have discovered the namesake blog — Clients From Hell has been bringing readers to tears with its unbelievable and always hilarious anecdotes from the twenty and thirty-somethings on the frontlines of design.In print for the first time, this collection brings together the same type of original stories that make the blog a hit and exposes the designer’s trade for what it really new, misunderstood and often unappreciated. Read the quotes, bizarre requests and elaborate communication failures that are all part of the daily life of working with clients.With anonymous submissions from over a thousand creative freelancers, Clients From Hell sheds an insider’s perspective on difficult — and all-too-often irrational and insane — interactions with clients.Anyone who has ever worked with clients may find these tales frighteningly familiar. New designers may think twice about their chosen profession — or at least find relief in the fact that they’re not alone in absurd client interactions. And non-designers? Well, they’ll just feel grateful — while they laugh and discover the new and uncharted territory of miscommunication.
150 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 14, 2010
10 people are currently reading
136 people want to read
About the author
Anonymous
791k books3,374 followersBooks can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons:
* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author
Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.
See also: Anonymous
* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author
Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.
See also: Anonymous
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 27, 2019
My brother is a graphic designer so I already knew that some clients can be really difficult, especially if they think they know everything better than the designer himself. I believe everyone who works with customers understands how frustrating and complicated they can sometimes be.
Clients from Hell is not laugh out loud funny but it's a quick and entertaining read and worth your while.
Here are some of the interesting requests from customers in this book:
Client: “We like the woman in the wheelchair, but we don't want people to think being in a wheelchair makes her less feminine. You need to make her breasts larger.”
Client: “I want it so that whenever someone visits our website, an icon with a picture of a dog is automatically installed on their desktop. The dog should then walk around the screen.”
Client: “We can't put so much red in the logo and on the packaging; my sister's going through menopause right now.”
Client: “We like the design, we like the layout, we like everything except for the photos. The seniors look a little too happy and independent. Can we find photos of seniors that look more depressed please? This needs to be authentic.”
Client: “Most of our photos feature white people, but we need to show more diversity. We don't have the budget for another photo shoot, but I'm sure you can just change them to various races. I mean, that's what a graphic designer does, right?”
Client: “We really don't like the web as a medium. Can you please force visitors to print out a copy of every page? We want our site to be more… tangible.”
And my personal favorite:
Client: “That font right there! It's clean, yet edgy. There's NO WAY I've seen that before; I would remember! What is it?”
Graphic designer: “Arial.”
Clients from Hell is not laugh out loud funny but it's a quick and entertaining read and worth your while.
Here are some of the interesting requests from customers in this book:
Client: “We like the woman in the wheelchair, but we don't want people to think being in a wheelchair makes her less feminine. You need to make her breasts larger.”
Client: “I want it so that whenever someone visits our website, an icon with a picture of a dog is automatically installed on their desktop. The dog should then walk around the screen.”
Client: “We can't put so much red in the logo and on the packaging; my sister's going through menopause right now.”
Client: “We like the design, we like the layout, we like everything except for the photos. The seniors look a little too happy and independent. Can we find photos of seniors that look more depressed please? This needs to be authentic.”
Client: “Most of our photos feature white people, but we need to show more diversity. We don't have the budget for another photo shoot, but I'm sure you can just change them to various races. I mean, that's what a graphic designer does, right?”
Client: “We really don't like the web as a medium. Can you please force visitors to print out a copy of every page? We want our site to be more… tangible.”
And my personal favorite:
Client: “That font right there! It's clean, yet edgy. There's NO WAY I've seen that before; I would remember! What is it?”
Graphic designer: “Arial.”
September 24, 2020
Q: “Please call me if you don’t receive this email.” (c)
Q:
“We were wondering if you could possibly use snowflakes that look a little bit more masculine.” (c)
Q:
Upon presenting a design to a client, he removed his shoes, plopped his stocking’d feet up on the desk and said, “As you can see, you didn’t knock my socks off.” (c)
Q:
Later in the project, he asked if we could reuse pixels to save money. (c)
Q:
Normal people simply don’t have beards. (c)
Q:
It might confuse people who don’t know if they are a woman, a man or a magazine. (c)
Q:
“Instead of edits or comments, I’ve just drawn sad faces in places (c)
Q:
Q:
“We were wondering if you could possibly use snowflakes that look a little bit more masculine.” (c)
Q:
Upon presenting a design to a client, he removed his shoes, plopped his stocking’d feet up on the desk and said, “As you can see, you didn’t knock my socks off.” (c)
Q:
Later in the project, he asked if we could reuse pixels to save money. (c)
Q:
Normal people simply don’t have beards. (c)
Q:
It might confuse people who don’t know if they are a woman, a man or a magazine. (c)
Q:
“Instead of edits or comments, I’ve just drawn sad faces in places (c)
Q:
November 14, 2018
Great, great collection of humorous mentalities. A little sad sometimes.
March 20, 2020
The stories in this book are hilarious, relatable and eye opening for every designers out there
June 19, 2023
This book is the best I have ever read.
September 1, 2011
Finding myself in need of a jolly good belly laugh, I stumbled upon the Clients from Hell website. As a designer by trade, it resonated well with me.
Yes, we’d all like to think that the client is always right, but if they were always right they wouldn’t need help and advice, would they? In some cases they can be naïve (will my website be at the top of Google for all searches?), in others says mind-bending things (can you move this half a pixel to the left?) and in some rare cases be rude, hurtful or aggressive.
This book features all of the above – and more. It’s a collection of real stories from designers around the world. Yes, it helps to be a designer to appreciate these but it’s not essential. In all works of life we meet people who range from the naïve to the aggressive. I was in stiches from beginning to end – apart from where I was breathless at the inappropriate behaviour of some of the clients. This isn’t a large book and it’s one I was unable to put down once I’d started reading.
Thankfully, my own clients are very nice people who typically only want the impossible by tomorrow. Heaven help me if I ever come across some of the people documented in this book.
Yes, we’d all like to think that the client is always right, but if they were always right they wouldn’t need help and advice, would they? In some cases they can be naïve (will my website be at the top of Google for all searches?), in others says mind-bending things (can you move this half a pixel to the left?) and in some rare cases be rude, hurtful or aggressive.
This book features all of the above – and more. It’s a collection of real stories from designers around the world. Yes, it helps to be a designer to appreciate these but it’s not essential. In all works of life we meet people who range from the naïve to the aggressive. I was in stiches from beginning to end – apart from where I was breathless at the inappropriate behaviour of some of the clients. This isn’t a large book and it’s one I was unable to put down once I’d started reading.
Thankfully, my own clients are very nice people who typically only want the impossible by tomorrow. Heaven help me if I ever come across some of the people documented in this book.
October 30, 2016
3.5
I am an avid reader and superfan of the page Clients from Hell, so I was really excited to read this book. To be honest, it seems like this concept works for me better when I go on the page day by day to read the newest horror stories from stupid clients. The issue I had with this collection was that I did not find the structure to be that good (putting a several-page long dialogueless story into a bunch o f one-liners, the categories not feeling that well-chosen etc.) plus I saw a few stories and posts that I have actually read on the site.
I am an avid reader and superfan of the page Clients from Hell, so I was really excited to read this book. To be honest, it seems like this concept works for me better when I go on the page day by day to read the newest horror stories from stupid clients. The issue I had with this collection was that I did not find the structure to be that good (putting a several-page long dialogueless story into a bunch o f one-liners, the categories not feeling that well-chosen etc.) plus I saw a few stories and posts that I have actually read on the site.
March 3, 2011
My husband gifted this book to me. A difficult week with a client and this was just the book I needed. So nice to know you're not the only one out there. The book was relatively short and read it in a night. I could have just gobbled it up. A must for any graphic or web designer. It will provided them hours of outright laughter!
August 20, 2011
If you follow Clients From Hell on Twitter, then you know what this book is about. It's essentially just a collection of Tumblr posts in book form. Personally, I think it has more effect as a post instead of a book. Only recommended if you are a huge fan of CFH and absolutely have to have it in book form.
October 2, 2012
As a newbie to freelance I'm glad I found this book. Funny and horrible all at the same time this book was really helpful especially since dealing with some difficult clients you sometimes worry that it's you! I recommend this to anyone in any creative field.
April 21, 2015
A few good chuckles in here but better to borrow from a library than to buy. It gives a great insight into the insane demands people in creative fields have to put up with --"make the unicorns more realistic!!" The organization along Dante's 9 Circles of Hell was inspired.
July 28, 2011
Love the book, even if sometimes I felt that maybe some stories are probably made up or exaggerated. But I may be wrong. I know what it is to work with clients. But was an easy and enjoyable read.
November 18, 2011
Best Book Ever!!
December 15, 2015
Makes you feel either lucky or scared depending on your last customer.
Want to read
June 20, 2012This is based on a really funny website. http://clientsfromhell.net
April 15, 2015
hilarious. good for anyone working in a client-centric industry (basically, everyone)
July 15, 2016
Very entertaining - especially when you know that the things these clients say are real!
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews