In our image-obsessed world, we need to continue a dialog with our clients about the process of design. The difference between using referential and literal images is an important one. With design-heavy social networks like Pinterest and Houzz, clients are becoming more and more empowered to participate in building a project's visual identity. Our clients are collecting concepts, ideas, and images of the things they like and bringing them to the table. 48 In itself, this type of collaboration is a positive trend. But the lines become blurry when clients ask designers not just to draw inspiration from pinboards, but also to literally incorporate elements from found images into a project. This style of "idea shopping" echoes the user-customization and made-toorder manufacturing now often seen in fashion and product design. Working with a preconceived look as the starting point can affect both the dynamic between client and designer and the outcome of the project. If you show a client reference photos of finished projects, that client will likely cling to one of them, and your project will end up looking like something both of you have seen before. Designers are not just curators of ideas (though we certainly are that): good designers process inspirational influences as the context from which to derive their own ideas. The design process is rooted in rigorous research and the exploration and testing of concepts until the right one emerges. We need to educate our clients about this process unless we are willing to accept a new paradigm of made-toorder design solutions based on a series of scrapbook images.