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sigh.... inhouse life 2727 Responses
Last post: 3 years, 8 months ago | Thread started: Aug 28, 09, 1:21 p.m.
- fourthgen
So I work inhouse for a large company. I'm responsible for the majority of the design throughout the company.... while the "bigger" stuff gets farmed out.
Anyway it feels like I've completely lost control of everything. some examples:
•I designed a whole signage system last year that works with all the buildings and are readable, unabtrusive, etc. Well my boss (marketing) comes out a few weeks ago and tells me I need to change "some of them" to the bright blue company color. He explained the need for them "to pop"....
•I worked on a tshirt design alongside my boss and at the last second he changed the brilliant 4 color design to two colors: white/grey. samples of the shirt were delivered, and they looked like crap. The ceo hates it, and behind my back (I knew what was going on) my boss has the shirt farmed out to our outside design company. This happens with all the projects– boss will change the layout/color last second and I get all the blame and flack.
•I don't know this design company. they don't know me. same with the guy who does our website. All 3 of our main graphic sources don't communicate at it all... and it shows through the work.
•Design by committee. this happens all the time– everytime. Example: We had a meeting with our apparel company to discuss our uniforms and I kid you not we had 20+ people there all giving input. we had 3-4 people from every department. and basically no one agreed on anything and then it looked like complete shit just like everything else.
•CEO regularly comes to me and tells me I need to change the color of this or that so it "pops". could be anything.. it just has to pop! That brown sign on the wooden building? it doesn't pop! change it to our company color bright blue! I should just get everything printed in neon orange and kawisaki green– those POP!!!!
•When ever a billboard, banner, sign, ad, promo, website update, etc goes out I hear it from every dept. "Why is it in this color?", "why did you do this/that?", "The CEO is going to hate that". I have everyone above/below me criticizing my work. Every single time I do something I am putting myself out there and it's really starting to piss me off. I can't do anything right and I definitely can't please everysingle person
anyway I know the inhouse pitfalls... "you have to communicate with them" blah blah blah
- Aug 28, 09, 1:21 p.m. – Permalink
- dMullins
Well, in that case, who is your direct supervisor?
Come up with a logical workflow and sign-off process, spend some time making it read and sound right, and then request an hour of their time. Devote 30 minutes to your proposal, and 30 minutes for Q&A. Stay positive, don't mention anything negative.
For instead, instead of "Fuck John, he is always coming to me with minor changes for petty shit and it wastes my time going back and forth all the time with him over this shit."
Say: "Well, boss, I think that by creating a logical workflow and approval process, we can alleviate department-wide frustration when these situations arise, and in addition to that, we spend less time talking about the solution, and more time making the solution, in order to maximize the amount of work I'm able to do for you in one day. In the end, it's all about money, and I want to save yours. * slurp, slurp * "
- Dog-earAug 28, 09, 1:32 p.m. – Permalink
- dMullins
As far as the CEO issues, you might have to just get over that, he's the boss. Alternately, you could propose that your company drafts a branding style guide, then you could distribute it, make 100% sure that these are the standards, and no one is to break out of them.
Best bet is probably to come up with solution for the fixes, or keep your lips sealed. Your higher-ups and low-belows are probably trying to be seen and heard as decision makers, and if people notice you are always pushing back with negative feedback, it could actually make you look bad, instead of making them look like whiney bitches.
I don't know, that's all the advice I have, but I've definitely been in this exact situation before, and hated it, so I felt the need to weigh in.
- Dog-earAug 28, 09, 1:35 p.m. – Permalink
- brandon_phillip
Been there, done that, doing it now - and I agree that it blows. Another thing to add, if you cannot communicate all the petty and irrelevant changes that are done to your work, is to document it all in emails to your boss and CEO - so you don't get left holding the bag on someone else's stinking bag of 'shit'.
- Dog-earAug 28, 09, 1:40 p.m. – Permalink
- fourthgen
dmullins
yeah that's all good advice, I did a style guide for my last big project. Just a "hey this is exactly what it's going to look like and why so STFU" and it went over pretty well.
I've always strayed from negativity and if I ever needed to argue I used sound reasoning– "the signage is white punched out of brown and has more contrast then white on blue, therefore more readable..." only to be met with a crazy stare and ".... uhm make it blue, they need to be blue"
I can't get past this type of criticism... it's like I should be asking these people what their favorite color and animal is at times. Basically there is no trust in me at all...
- Dog-earAug 28, 09, 1:43 p.m. – Permalink
- dMullins
Oh I agree. That sounds very very familiar. I think I know your boss's type.
Smile, nod, and ask, "What do you want me to do?" Take their direction, and do it. Otherwise, you're just causing yourself stress. Spendogg was right I imagine. This is a creative dead-end. The only thing you can probably do is put in years to get the respect you deserve, and find some other way to create work you appreciate. Otherwise, you will end up internalizing it, taking it home with you, and ruining the beginning of those vacations :)
Again, speaking from my experience, so I could be off base.
- Dog-earAug 28, 09, 1:50 p.m. – Permalink
- mikotondria3
why are they paying you to make these decisions and then make them themselves ?
Sounds like your ceo has too much time on his hands, and if he can't trust the people he oversees, and doesn't employ people he trusts then management is not the job for him.
Just keep setting off the fire alarm everytime something like this happens and they'll soon get the message.- Dog-earAug 28, 09, 2:15 p.m. – Permalink
- akrokdesign
i have this with me on all meetings, i never had a issue. lol.
- Dog-earAug 28, 09, 4:11 p.m. – Permalink
- akrokdesign
the truth is you can't argue with the boss. you wont win. so you just have to let it go and get the work done.
then if you want, you can look for an other job on the side.
if your not happy.- Dog-earAug 28, 09, 4:13 p.m. – Permalink
- raf
When I was an in-house, we had marketing people flown in from 6 European countries (sometimes teams of 2-3) and from the US to discuss the website for a few hours. It took months and months of meetings like that.
The guy from the US kept insisting on things like 800x600 compliance, was very vocal about not wasting screen estate with whitespace and bragged about his US clients being very different from European audience. Months into the process, when everyone agreed to bulk of his changes and the watered down web styleguide was published, the guy unexpectedly quit and moved on to another company.
I knew he wasn't to be trusted when he came in to my desk one day just upon arrival from the airport and pulled out a new Jakob Nielsen book, very excited about it.
- Dog-earAug 28, 09, 5:45 p.m. – Permalink
- Amicus
I hear the 'Pop' bs all the time. I respond with 'what works better with the ladies, a whispered sweet nothing in their ear or yelling at them to get naked?'
Or if it's a girl, I rephrase it slightly - 'If I was Brad Pitt, would you prefer me to whisper in your ear our club you over the head?'
- Dog-earAug 29, 09, 6:11 a.m. – Permalink
- scenek
been there. nothing you can do but fnd a way to deal with it or find a new job. bottom line, they will never be interested in your good ideas and design solutions – they hired someone to do what they say. it's like a chef taking a job at mcdonalds. except unlike that example these types of jobs tend to pay very well, haha. money vs. dignity...
- Dog-earAug 29, 09, 6:36 a.m. – Permalink
