It depends on whether you're designing for your clients, or for your clients' customers. It sounds like you're doing the latter. I understand that focusing on

It depends on whether you're designing for your clients, or for your clients' customers. It sounds like you're doing the latter. I understand that focusing on pleasing your client is the easiest way to gain acceptance and possibly business, but if it's at the expense of delivering a product that actually serves your client (which pandering to clients on purely aesthetic grounds very often is), you're effectively selling snake-oil. It may be lucrative, but it's bad design. Doing good design requires managing your clients' expectations and selling them on quality.