As a web designer you’ve probably been in a situation where a client has an idea about his or her website but you, as a web designer, know this idea will end up in a train wreck. Some examples:

• “Our brochure has the logo on the bottom so it has to be the same on our website!”
• “Our corporate colours are green, brown, yellow, purple and red. Could you please put them in as a background?”
• “We want a 15 minute long flash animation in front of our website. No need for a skip button, people will love this animation!”

But don’t blame the client just because he or she is lacking the experience! You are the web designer so you have to warn your client. If you don’t mention it, because you think client is always king, you will end up with a dissatisfied client. The project turns out to be a disaster and nobody warned him or her. And guess who gets the blame.

Here are 5 things you can do when you happen to be in this situation:

1. Tell your client that you’ve designed hundreds of websites and that his idea is rather unusual and that your advice as a designer is to drop it.
2. Show your client studies which show that the idea he or she is having is not working in the world wide web. (I know he is an internet dinosaur but Jakob Nielsen has done some great studies which help convincing your client)
3. Go along and tell the client that the idea is unusual but would make for a great experiment. Make amends and tell them to test it at home with his or her friends and family to see if it works.
4. Be blunt and tell the client it’s a bad idea. You understand that the client is king but making these changes and putting it all back when it doesn’t work will cost them a lot of extra money.
5. If you are really against the idea you can always refuse to make the changes. Tell the client you don’t want to make the changes because in the end it will make your client and you unhappy. You give the client all the project files so he or she can go to another web designer and you keep the good relationship with the client.

Have you been in this situation and have another tip? Please share!