Strange, unrealistic client requests are quite common. Usually, though, you can at least foresee what the client has in mind.

Brian McCracken had a client who didn’t quite get the concept of a website:

Client: “I want the website to be like a movie.”

Designer: “You mean, to tell a story and take you through a narrative?”

Client: “No. I mean, like a movie. Here, like this YouTube video.”

Designer: “So, this is a video of guys sitting around a desk, talking. Do you want me to develop that imagery?”

Client: “No. Just the movie.”

Designer: “So do you want that specific video on the page?”

Client: “Yeah, but like a website.”

Designer: WHAT THE ^%$ DO YOU WANT EXACTLY?!?!? It’s a %$# YouTube video, that you want on the page “But like a website?”

…So I literally made a header, footer, put a video background in the center as a GIF that I made out of the YouTube video they gave me.

Their feedback: “But, can you make it more like the video?”