Fine-tuning is the hardest part of vibe coding. Spent way more time than expected on a small card hover experiment in Claude to prove it.

I really like your work.

"This logo is too cool for us." A client rejected the most visually sophisticated option and... ...they were right! It hurts to hear when the work is technically excellent, but their reasoning was solid: "We love it, but we're a mainstream brand and this just doesn't work for us." A beautiful design isn't always the right one. Forcing a conceptual aesthetic onto a mass audience just creates friction. Commercial design must solve business problems and speak to the right people. We can't design things just to pad our portfolio. The designer's ego is the biggest obstacle.

that's why we practice empathy. it get easier when you see it from the client's perspective.