>Put some text there on a 45 degree slant and make it a big,

I don't really have a choice. I'm an in house graphic designer and my bosses and art director just tell me to give them what they want and get through projects as quick as possible.

I use it as motivation to go home and work on my own portfolio.

Some people just want their idea and that's it. It doesn;t' matter how shitty it looks, just do what they ask. Nothing you make will be better than their idea.so it's a waste of time trying. They are the bad clients. The ones that make design a job, when you gotta do things you don't want to do.

After a while you'll get better at identifying those clients before hand.

Sometimes you can convince them otherwise though. If you explain why you did what you did and how it will make them more money.

Then on the other hand, sometimes it's not such a bad thing to make shitty, gawdy design. Those big red letters actually do draw attention to get the message across to the audience. In lots of cases, the target audience are people who want a bargain and don't give a shit about design. Sorry off on a tangent here.

Another thing to consider: the copy. You start with bland, generic copy, you're in trouble from the start.

>>313401
i was listening to a talk by ash thorp and he said that whenever a director (he works making HUDs on movies) asked him to do something specific that he found uninteresting or lame he would do two versions, one that he liked and the one requested, after that he would explain the director why he did it and he said most of the times the director would pick his version.

>>313444
This

This is exactly what i've done in that position. Don't just tell them "your ideas are bad, mine are better." Go the extra mile and prove it. This is the first step in allowing them to trust your judgement.