Hi, my name is Drew, and I'm a puppet graphic designer for my boss..
I've recently taken a full-time job with a company that I've done stuff for on and off for the past nine years (movie work is slow in Georgia right now). I am being paid a rate that is extremely competitive and am being compensated for the use of my own equipment (staving off the crap experience of designing on a crap PC). And yes, my boss utilizes me, at times, as a puppet for his own designs.
Many are the times that my pleasing palettes and sensitively handled images are knocked down, block-i-fied and turned into something that could hardly be called Graphic Design.
Then I remember that until recently I was a hired gun and long ago tossed away any angst I had about doing bad design for paying customers. I give them the three strikes option if I really care about a design. If my three attempts are ignored then I smile and give them what they ordered. If they later come to their senses and realize that it's a bad design they'll also remember that I tried to talk them out of it...several times. It also may mean that I get additional work out of them for the redesign.
This basic hired-gun mentality will need to be updated now that I'm locked into this one customer for an extended period of time, but that ability to "release" will hopefully prove handy; I don't plan on getting sucked into caring about these images more than my own personal projects...and that's my recommendation to you Usurp...
If you're not doing your own stuff, START. Your portfolio will be richer (I suspect you're a damned fine designer) and your creative needs will begin to be fulfilled. I know that your friends call you to do this little thing and that little thing, but do something BIGGER than that. Create your own "thesis" project and explore it. The results could be fodder for a show, or for products or for landing a creative job somewhere that counts.
And the thing that helps me with the bad designer clients? The Golden Rule.
He who has the gold makes the rules.
sucks, eh?
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