Mark McAulay

From time to time every web designer gets asked by their client to do something that they just don't want to do, whether it's giving them free tech support(we've all had this right?) or whether it's to blatantly rip off someone else's website design, these are things you could do but whether or not you actually want to is quite another thing. Obviously I'm talking about the second example here.

Recently I was asked to provide web design, nothing unusual there and everything went along as normal, we had meetings, discussed requirements and technologies, defined what I'd need from them in terms of content. This was just like any other job until the final scope of work came back from them with the line "We would like our website to be a direct copy of this." referring to a website they'd come across....uhh oh....perhaps I'd not done such a good job so far after all. The decision in my head was still as clear as it should be, there's no way I will morally, professionally or even legally agree to do this, but how to put that across to the client without them pulling the plug and heading down the road to "unscrupulous web design ltd"? Having already put in time and effort to get to this stage, the business decision, and it is at this point a business decision, is to say no. The problem with saying no in many situations is that it can make you appear negative and confrontational. It also has a certain element of finality about it which can mean that you don't get the work or the cheque at the end of it which may not be what you want at all. There are however a few ways to say no with very different outcomes:

So how exactly do you do keep everyone happy? In this instance it was a case of further educating the client without being patronizing, aggressive or dismissive (being helpful and friendly is the key) that website design copyright infringement is no less serious than any other medium, that we'd all be in trouble if I'd agreed to do something like this. Not to mention that it was potentially damaging to the reputation of all involved. I started by explaining how I understood that they liked the particular look of something but by using multiple sources of inspiration and my own design recommendations for their particular market, I'd deliver something a little more unique and targeted that would serve them better. I provided a visual outlining the proposed new direction and that was that.

The secret is to say "no" in a "yes" kind of way.

Of course there are times when we should say no outright and run screaming into the distance, but that's a post for another day I think.

What do you think? How do you deal with these sort of difficult scenarios?