Criticism is always right, advice is always wrong
My motto when working on anything creative. If someone tells you that something you've done doesn't work for them, that is a fact you have to accept and choose whether you want to change anything. But if they tell you what you should do to fix the problem, they're pretty much always talking crap.

I came up with this about fifteen years ago and it's never let me down yet.
( flatfrog Staring vacantly into space, Thu 20 May 2010, 15:26, 4 replies)

I love....
When someone gives you a brief which is 'I'm not sure on exactly what I'm looking for' and you probe to get what it is they want....and they're 'Oh, you're the artist and know best - I'll trust you to do something awesome'

and then you submit what you've done and are met with 'Oh, this is wrong, this I don't like, can't we have something more like X....etc etc'

Why. didn't. you. fucking. put. that. in. your. original. brief. fucko.
(Pat_Gash, Thu 20 May 2010, 15:29, closed)

That's why when dealing with people like that
you should never put too much effort into the first attempt. They only need to see it to know what they don't like and give them something concrete to focus on. It's a bit like the Douglas Adams approach to decision-making: flip a coin, then when it comes out wrong, you know what it was you really wanted to do.
( flatfrog Staring vacantly into space, Thu 20 May 2010, 15:33, closed)

Reminds me of the Dilbert strip
where the sales guy says "Why don't you just show me a list of everything you can design, and I'll tell you which one I want?", whereupon Dilbert says "Work is rewarding; you should try it sometime."
( .Yeti., Thu 20 May 2010, 15:43, closed)

elegantly summarised
and very apt.
( sanityclause is waiting until, Thu 20 May 2010, 15:36, closed)