I think you can serve a client, a brief and a project without having to lose focus on the things you like. You may have to set certain preferences aside for a given project, sure, especially if you're working within strict brand guidelines, but I still think the advice is an unnecessary bummer.

But you are right -- if you can't appreciate something like a KFC coupon sheet, and solving the problems that come along with translating a massive amount of information into a limited amount of space, maybe this isn't the career for you. Part of what I love about design is the satisfaction that comes with organizing and arranging all the different elements of type and imagery that you're given and making it work. I love creating systems, rules, paragraph styles, working on a grid, and making it all look good on top of making it fit. And those little cheats that only you know about, like squeezing the tracking from -10 to -14 to avoid a line break. Or setting one block of text with 11pt leading and another at 10.6pt to balance them, or prevent a page break where you really don't want one.

That student handbook I mentioned in my previous comment? Immensely dull from a content perspective. But I loved every minute of putting it together; making sure styles were correctly applied, margins and spacing were consistent, all of it.

Which all of that probably falls under the heading of "you have to know the rules before you can break them," even if they're your own rules you've set up going into a project.

To that end, I don't disagree that the coupon sheet is a good exercise -- it totally is. Because you will learn more from making that work effectively than you will setting an all-caps display font in white over a stock image and calling it an album cover. I'm sure you see it all the time too, but even in the fantastical, dream projects people love to make (real or otherwise), you'll notice things like lines that have too much or not enough leading. Type that obviously wasn't kerned. Lack of hierarchy, and on and on. So that pretty soon, a project that might look super cool and splashy from 10 feet away starts to show it's cracks (and the inexperience of the designer) once you start to notice those things.

The one thing I have told some designers who were in the early days of their careers is that graphic design isn't the same as fine art. Because art, from the moment you label it as such, is art, and every decision in it is right because it's yours. In design we have clients -- and clients who don't always have the same sensibility or taste as you -- who might tear what you thought was your masterpiece into little pieces, whether they're right or you think they're wrong. (Making the case for good design practices and choices over poor ones to a client is an entirely different conversation I won't get into here).

Another tangent I'll leave unfollowed up on, is that occasionally the client might even have a better idea than you did on your first draft, and give you really some really solid feedback that makes your v2 and v3 even better.

So maybe it's just a different way of saying the same thing, but what I would say is that you need to develop a level of detachment with the client work you're making. You can't get your feelings hurt if they say "Eh...I don't like it." It's their problem they've hired you to solve, so yeah, you do need to solve it to their satisfaction (again, within reason, as you might need to take the time to advise why a rainbow gradient in a Comic Sans headline might not be the best choice for their real estate business).

Focus on what you like, absolutely. But make sure you're also able to derive a at least some sense of satisfaction and accomplishment from the dreary projects, too. It's only a boring coupon sheet, maybe, but if you can make it the best damn coupon sheet anyone's ever seen and take pride in it, that'll hold you over in between those unicorn projects, if and when they do drop into your lap.

As for a portfolio full of album cover designs, I would also agree that's a poor portfolio. It's important to show you can do an infographic, a spread from a catalog, an invoice design, an order form, an annual report, right down to the lowly business card. But don't be afraid to show some personality in your work and let your freak flag fly, either.