Originally Posted by derek lapp depends on what their bad taste is about. if they have a flat-up tacky idea, i'll probably just turn the project down. i know i won't want to do it, i'll push off working on it whenever i have something else to do, and eventually i'll fall behind and drop it anyways, might as well keep a good rep. if they want some tacky/dated art direction that i personally disagree with, i'll do what i can to talk them out of it. if it'll look dated, i'll explain why, if i just don't like the style i'll explain why - usually it'll be because i get a disconnect from the stylistic attributes and the brand's actual message. in this case, i'm with village genius: do it, compromise on the design enough to get the job done, then file it under "paid the bills".

as an art director who deals with a ridiculously fickle client with awful, awful taste, on a daily basis - pretty much a month after i first posted this - i can't stand by this advice enough. i'm even going to extend it with my response when a developer asked me why i so easily let the client make the design even worse after a meeting:

unless you're going to use this project specifically to get a job, it isn't worth the headaches.

it's tough if you're trying to assemble a portfolio for the first time, but you really only need 2-3 good work examples to impress someone, so unless it's a dream project the CEO is just flushing down the toilet, try once and if it doesn't work, kill-it, bill-it, go by something with your check that makes you happy and forget about how stupid your client is.