The customer is always right. Right?

I just recently re-designed the web site for a public institution. The revamp involved killing a very central but also very sophisticated (i.e. not very user friendly) search function. I had replaced it with a simple search field and then specified how search results should be ranked based (among other things) on META data already in the system. Also I placed an index with categories linking to major topics with the database. The design was based on the research done in the last 20 years about users search behaviour as well as interviews with users (upon the customers request). The customer was appalled. Their database was much more complex than that - you could not just use a simple search to get what you wanted! I've now drafted a memo outlining why we specified the design to be the way we did, citing both user interviews and numerous scientific articles on the subject of information foraging, and also why we cannot be held responsible for the solution that the customer now has designed by themselves.

This is not the first time. Another customer a couple of years ago whose business was to be ASP (Application Service Provider) for a number of clients was completely baffled after I reduced their number of menu items from around 70 to 15. There was no way their very complex and advanced application could be "reduced" to just this. Fortunately they choose to listen to their customers input (upon which the design was based) and ended up being very happy.

I fear that the soiled reputation of the database mentioned in the first paragraph will not improve (even though it will look better because the graphics have vastly improved).

As I always say: Everyone thinks they are experts in user interface design. (Oh! And graphic design as well).