Journal: Entry for nossy
I know that when designers work together, things don't always go smoothly. This is why I have created templates that suit my boss (designer), myself (designer) and the people creating the website and marketing tools (all designers). I'm prepared to let them have input, since they know what gets the customers through the doors. I am not prepared to let them glance at something that took me hours to arrange and then simply disregard what I've asked them to prepare. (I realize Angie is probably in hysterics currently, and you can just shut it!
)
Both men that I've submitted my lay-outs to have simply kept a couple pieces and then fucked the rest of the thing up. One of them actually put dancing fire columns and a ringing telephone on my website. Yeah. If I wanted to work at a flea-market, I would.
Oops. I just got an email back from the one guy (making a coupon for a mailer) and I think I scared him with my last email.
I told him that if I wanted to use our old logo/lay-out, I wouldn't have spent hours designing a new one.
)Both men that I've submitted my lay-outs to have simply kept a couple pieces and then fucked the rest of the thing up. One of them actually put dancing fire columns and a ringing telephone on my website. Yeah. If I wanted to work at a flea-market, I would.
Oops. I just got an email back from the one guy (making a coupon for a mailer) and I think I scared him with my last email.
I told him that if I wanted to use our old logo/lay-out, I wouldn't have spent hours designing a new one.
seriously?
ringing telephones? fire columns?
do these people have no idea how to make a professional-appearing website????
do these people have no idea how to make a professional-appearing website????
I mean, if there's one thing that midwesterners crave in their professionally designed landscapes...
...it's columns of fire. Making them dance is really just the icing on the cake.
Wow..
What kind of web designers do you have over there? Ones that don't have a degree in their field?
nossy, I want you to design a website for me.
It'll be to sell these toothpicks I have. To advertise the durability of my toothpicks, I want you to show them dancing the tango over a lake of fire on a tight rope with uncooked meat and apples being flung at them. Then a wave of glittering pink water will splash in with my company name, extinguishing the fire and washing away the food. Then an "ENTER" button will appear with a lens flare and appropriate SSSLLLING!!!!sound.
This will all be set to the soundtrack of Be Our Guest from Beauty and The Beast. there will be no option to mute or stop the sound or video.
Wait until you hear what I have to say for the actual site...
This will all be set to the soundtrack of Be Our Guest from Beauty and The Beast. there will be no option to mute or stop the sound or video.
Wait until you hear what I have to say for the actual site...
Whoa!, Celia. . .
SUPERACE; serious. I know you were kidding, but I am not.
It actually would be pretty awesome on its own merits
But not as a website intro.
I'm not in hysterics.
I figured this might happen though. Website designers usually picked the field because they had creative/artistic talents, and they aren't accustomed to being handed something that is already completely mapped out. Also, the higher paid they are, the more freedom they expect (generally), because they feel they're getting paid for that talent. Syntactically, HTML and CSS are not too difficult and don't take long to master.
So while these "improvements" sound really stupid, am not surprised they wanted to put their own stamp on things. Imagine someone coming to you and saying, "We aren't gardeners and don't know how the irrigation/soil/construction works, but we already drew out the exact map of our landscape, and this is what we want." As a company, you could probably pull it off. But as a designer, you would probably feel unfulfilled and maybe somewhat annoyed.
Since you are paying, you absolutely have the right to get what you want (which is why I kept apologizing that night when I was drunk and saying all this in a less eloquent way ). Am not saying it's unreasonable. It's just unusual (for them).
So while these "improvements" sound really stupid, am not surprised they wanted to put their own stamp on things. Imagine someone coming to you and saying, "We aren't gardeners and don't know how the irrigation/soil/construction works, but we already drew out the exact map of our landscape, and this is what we want." As a company, you could probably pull it off. But as a designer, you would probably feel unfulfilled and maybe somewhat annoyed.
Since you are paying, you absolutely have the right to get what you want (which is why I kept apologizing that night when I was drunk and saying all this in a less eloquent way
). Am not saying it's unreasonable. It's just unusual (for them).
on the other hand
if all they want is creative license to do whatever they wish, they shouldn't hire out to do work for other people.
By accepting a job from a client, they are saying "yes, I will put your wishes above my own"
To put it bluntly, their desire to "express" and "create" is only relevant as much as their client asks it to be. If a client comes to them with a cut dry "this is what I want, do it unless I'm being a total idiot" job, they can either take it, or accept that they will not be able to be an artist about the job to the extent they would like.
If you can't deal with that decision, don't start taking jobs from people, or only take jobs you like.
I admit, I look at things from the perspective of my field. If a client comes to me with an injured animal, it might be a perfect candidate for this brand new therapy that came out that I am an expert in, or have been dying to give to my patients. It may even be the very best treatment for the animal. But if the client says no, the client says no. That is something you need to accept as a veterinarian, or you won't find yourself able to help very many animals when people stop bringing them to you. So that might just be how I see it.
By accepting a job from a client, they are saying "yes, I will put your wishes above my own"
To put it bluntly, their desire to "express" and "create" is only relevant as much as their client asks it to be. If a client comes to them with a cut dry "this is what I want, do it unless I'm being a total idiot" job, they can either take it, or accept that they will not be able to be an artist about the job to the extent they would like.
If you can't deal with that decision, don't start taking jobs from people, or only take jobs you like.
I admit, I look at things from the perspective of my field. If a client comes to me with an injured animal, it might be a perfect candidate for this brand new therapy that came out that I am an expert in, or have been dying to give to my patients. It may even be the very best treatment for the animal. But if the client says no, the client says no. That is something you need to accept as a veterinarian, or you won't find yourself able to help very many animals when people stop bringing them to you. So that might just be how I see it.
heh
I've always understood that they will be used to (and want to) tweak any design that comes across their boards, but to take something relatively pretty and basically slap some crap together is pretty silly. I'm not sure why the guy thought that his text-on-white-background-ringing-telephone scene was at all acceptable after what we showed him. And what he doesn't realize is that I learned my lesson after trying to let you design the site. That doesn't fly with Mike always wanting to get his fingers in it all. He has already sent the guy back an email that essentially tells him that even though he has some good concepts (font, positioning), he's wasted his time on the rest.
That doesn't fly with Mike always wanting to get his fingers in it all. He has already sent the guy back an email that essentially tells him that even though he has some good concepts (font, positioning), he's wasted his time on the rest.
Well, yeah. Obviously you have to listen to the customer.
But most people just have guidelines/color preferences/layout ideas, not an actual complete image that the web "designer" is told to bring to life - which is what's going on here. Their job is to design AND code, not just code. Is highly unusual to have the design part already 100% completed.
I'm pretty sure that the guy we're currently using isn't an actual "designer"
so that might help clarify. He's someone who codes and supposedly knows tricks and lay-out "dos" to get your website better traffic. We shall see. And again, I wouldn't have minded if he had input. Input is much different than skimming over a design template and then barely creating part of it.
I talked to the coupon guy today (who is just a salesperson), and he had actual selling reasons for rearranging the lay-out, so that made sense to me. I only made two changes to his changes.
I talked to the coupon guy today (who is just a salesperson), and he had actual selling reasons for rearranging the lay-out, so that made sense to me. I only made two changes to his changes.