Freelancers should grow some balls

Yeah, because there's nothing better than working with someone who thinks they know your business better than you do after being there for 5 minutes.

I'm not sure many people who aren't already as famous as Paul Rand could deliver that Paul Rand ultimatum and still get business, though.

I'm not a freelancer (anymore), but this applies to agencies as well. Unfortunately it's not my call at this point, but there have been several instances where we should have put our foot down and told the client that we're the experts and we're giving them something that will produce results. This can be hard though for some people to grasp. In several industries the customer is always right, but in ones like this, the professionals are generally always right.

On the other side of the table, giving in to that kind of swagger is dangerous. Especially with something as subjective as design, that dynamic clouds your judgement. Once you've accepted that the designer knows all, your internal need for consistency will drive you to accept whatever they come up with and defend it against valuable outside feedback.

I loved that little story about Steve Jobs and Paul Rand in the middle. If you take control of your projects you'll likely be happier for it in the end because you'll feel that what you've created is the best each and every time you start a new project.

I totally disagree with this article.

I always think of a web designer's site like the clothes seen on the catwalk of fashion, they show the trends but no-one in their right mind would wear them.

The clothes for the normal people copy the patterns and embellishments but are still functional clothes.

Client websites actually have an obvious menu system, clear messages of what their business actually does and sells, instead of a pretty bird flying around the screen that takes you 20 seconds to figure out it's actually the menu (exaggeration, but you know what I mean).

And that explains the difference, not that the designers have no balls.