This handy essay is oriented to help editors, work-mates, marketing people, project coordinators, and friends to cheer up your mate that does design.
(this text haven’t been proofr eaded)
7 ways to lead your graphic designer to the border of madness
For: High Quality Print, ie. books, magazines, posters.
1.- When sending and gathering artwork
Put the pictures inside a powerpoint file, word is also valid, extra points for exotic applications like excel, remember to sent logos as documents headlines. JPG @ 72 dpi, 75% smaller than the output required is a most. But weird formats like gif, bmp, pix, is expected. When looking for pictures also ask for some random files in quark 4.0 done 13 years ago by some random designer in a zip drive unlabeled.
Quote in first e-mail in the morning: “I sent you the word file for our A1 poster, the picture is pixelated but photoshop it”
2.- When setting up deadlines
A deadline is always set in stone, ALWAYS, keep repeating that all the time, in fact the custom signature of your e-mail should be a deadline. In case that you are a busy guy, the editors, web developers and designers work for you, hence they are a lazy kind-of-unemployed people, that like apple products and surf the web.
Take advantage of your position, and set up the deadline as the lapse of your next appointment to the hairdresser, expected 2 weeks. Set up a last meeting to set the deadline. Then the day before the meeting change the date for the next monday.
You always need at least 2 meetings for rescheduling deadlines.
Quote for rescheduling: “Hey guys, I got this situation, I’m in Ibiza, can we change it for monday.”
3.- In the process of designing
Ask every 15 minutes what’s the status of the project. Remember in the intervals is always good to remark that the text is not final neither proofr eaded, in fact is not even sure if that content will be approved for publication.
Even if your designer remark that is only a draft, you should look at it as the final design. Then ask again for the status of the project.
Quote before coffee break: “So, what we are looking at, humm, long way from lunch man, shall we talk about the white backgrounds…?”
4.- When approving drafts
Delay the meetings to get close to the deadline. Always remark that is looking like the last draft.
Remember to talk like if it’s the color proofs from the printer and there’s no way back. Keep your mind focussed in thinking: I’m paying for this?. All changes you are asking for make notice that was well written in your multitask/agenda+scrapbook, attach stupid drawings on it.
Quote before saying bye: “Looking good then, I expect the changes for our next meeting, rather hard work isn’t “
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