No matter what field you are in, be it graphic design, you must know how to tackle difficult clients. But there is a vast difference in handling a male client and a female client. Now don’t get me wrong here, I do not intend to lay down a gender prejudice here. What I intend to establish is which clients are more difficult to satisfy…male or female?

You might remember my earlier post invigorating the battle of genders with male female logos. But this time around the focus is to differentiate between male and female clients. What are the traits that distinguish the male clients from female clients? Is their concern more on quality or money? Which are harder to convince? Both the genders have their own share of annoying little traits that make them difficult for designers to please. For graphic designers, it is imperative that they understand the attitude and traits of their clients beforehand, so they can handle them accordingly. Let us examine the selective traits of male and female clients.

• Annoying characteristics of female clients:

1. Too finicky or confused?

The first thing about women clients is they are choosy. And by choosy I mean really fussy. They will keep on making multiple revisions of the design and won’t be able to decide on which is perfect. In other words women clients are not easily satisfied.

2. “My heart is on the left but it’s always right”

The longest that I have ever worked on a design project was for a female client. When it comes to making decisions, women clients take much longer than men. This is because they combine emotional factors with their rational decisions. Although their head tells them it is right, their heart keeps telling them there is something missing. God knows what the missing thing is anyway.

3. “Pink suits my complexion”

Although the song goes like “boys will be boys” but I believe “girls will also be girls” no matter how old they get. They will always prefer gaudy and decorative designs over the simpler and sophisticated ones. Just because they have a wardrobe full of pink or it matches their complexion, they’ll insist on having a shocking pink design for their corporate identity. Regardless of how much you persuade them, they will stick to their choice even if it doesn’t look professional enough.

4. Heads I win, tails you lose:

I once played this trick with my nephew, “heads I win, tails you lose”. It took him a week to figure out that he was never going to win this way . The same is the case with female clients…If it’s good, “I did it” – If it’s bad, “You did it”! If they don’t reply, they are really busy. But if you are late in submitting the design, you are irresponsible!

5. “It’s my right to fight for every penny”

Another trait that is found more in women is that they tend to bargain a lot. When you work with women clients, you can be sure of defying inexhaustible bargaining, because they will fight for every penny. The difficulty for designers is to make female clients understand the value of design project and make them realize the costs attributed in it.

6. “No big deal if you did it”

There is one thing that graphic designers should remember while dealing with women …don’t expect acknowledgment since you may never get it! Women can be really rigid when it comes to appreciating someone’s work. This can also be frustrating for designers who desire some recognition and praise for his/her efforts.

7. Questions galore:

When you are working with women clients, you can be sure of one thing…questions galore! Although it is a natural habit for women to ask too many questions, but it becomes a real headache for graphic designers to attend too many questions, some of which are illogical and meaningless.

8. “I am right, you are wrong”

Another pesky trait that I have experienced working with female clients is that no matter how incorrect they are or how illogical they might sound, they are always right. For them it is you who is wrong. Imagine how annoying it is for graphic designers to be assumed incorrect in their area of expertise by a laywoman.

9. “Let me ask my hubby, granny, Mary……”

“I think I’ll have to consult my husband for this”…this is one of the common statements that women clients say to graphic designers. The difficulty is that women like to involve family or friends in their choices. They want to consult their close ones for finalization of the designs. This becomes really difficult for designers who have to refute each and every foolish advice that the client is given by her relatives or friends.

• Annoying characteristics of male clients:

1. Always in a hurry

With men it’s like everything is a piece of cake for them. Male clients often want their designs to be prepared in the least time possible. The problem here is that a professional design requires time to make, which the male clients fail to understand.

2.Poking their nose

One thing about many male clients is that they “view” or “observe” your work and designs on the pretext of a demo and later get it made from someone else at a cheaper cost or free of charge (probably from their kids). This infuriates the designer, since they do all the hard work and someone else reaps the benefits.

3.The “know-it-all” attitude

Another thing about being masculine is the pride of “knowing everything”. So male clients sometimes pretend they know a lot about graphic design, but actually don’t. One can imagine how frustrating it is for designers when their clients try to “teach” them about graphic design.

4. No commitment for payment

Although this problem can arrive with any gender of clients, but as far as I have experienced, male clients tend to make delay in payments. You will get a lot of excuses like “hey, there seems to be some problem with my account, I’ll pay you later.”

5. Busiest creatures on Earth

There is another problem that is persistently found in male clients. They seem to be too busy when called for revisions. They would prefer to discuss over the phone rather than coming to check the designs. This can be really hard for designers to understand on the phone.

6. Evident lack of courtesy

The amount of courtesy is one thing you will find less in male clients that in female clients. I don’t wish to imply that all men are discourteous, but a majority of them deal with the designers with a rude attitude. Come to think of it, there are more chances of getting into a verbal clash with male clients than with female clients.

7.“Do as I say”

There is one thing that you will notice in most male clients and not in their counterparts. Men seem to be bossy while handing out the project to the designers. One day they’l want something done, the other day they’l ask you to stop that and do the other part.

8.“You should know what i want silly"

For male clients most designs are “old” or “dull” They want something “different” something “never seen before”. But the problem is that when asked what exactly they want…the answer is “I don’t know”.

9. “So what if I forgot?”

A very shrewd thing that many male clients do, is keep on making additions to the project without increasing budget. They settle the budget for a simple website design, and then want an upgraded version of the template, then ask for flash in their website and the list goes on in this fashion. This is one thing designers should keep watch of when dealing with male clients.