"here are some sites i like" she says
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- bigtrickagain
so i'm at the end of a long several-month website project:
(go to http://www.qbn.com/topics/624673… if you want to heap vitriol on the design), the design for which the client signed off on three months ago. i was in what i thought were final discussions with the client to tweak some last things - google calendar inclusion, some photos on the gallery, and like that - when she tells me that she doesn't like the energy of the site and then sends me a list of websites that she likes, along with a list of restaurant websites that *another designer* likes.
i'm meeting with her on thursday. if she asks me to change the design that she approved three months ago because she doesn't like it anymore, i... i... i... i don't know what i'll do ):
- d_rek0
kill fee/kill her
- d_rek0
Also, it's nice to see that you completely disregarded most of the feedback we gave you.
- erk? i did a lot of itbigtrickagain
- oh i see. you didn't read my comments on some of the things.bigtrickagain
- Honesty: I didn't read your comments regarding some thingsd_rek
- maikel0
A) You do the job, and you charge accordingly
B) You tell her to fuck off- I'm just hoping you have signed T&C to do B without losing money.
- don't wear a c on your d and j all over her b'sMHDC
- awesomepersona_non_grata
- jamble0
Change it = more invoices.
- flashbender0
Explain to her that she did sign off on the design - provide proof if necessary (and hopefully you have some).
Then tell her you'll be more than happy to explore different ideas (or energies as she puts it) for the site, but this will incur additional costs.
Be happy because you'll get more money.
If she does not wish to pay additional money for additional work, get paid for what you have done and terminate the relationship.
- ckentish0
your rounded corners look a little weird
- ukit0
- i hope it doesn't become as bad as thisbigtrickagain
- < sadly... so trueOSFA
- My god, that's amazing.DoTheMacarena
- hans_glib0
maybe she saw the original thread and took some of the comments to heart
- maybe she glibly took the advice of idiots to heartbigtrickagain
- noneck0
I hate this. I feel sorry for you.
Hopefully you got a deposit and have a decent agreement in place: you may need to fall back on them soon.
Try looking for themes in the sites she sent you, what's the difference between those sites and the one you're working on? Sometimes you can address her anxiety with some tweaks to the existing site design.
I've also worked on sites where 3/4 of the way into it, I decided I didn't like the "energy" of the site. I spoke to the client, and then took it back to the design phase where I designed something three times better, and proceeded really quickly after that.
Sometimes you need to do things like that. It's your name on that work, try to make sure you're proud of it.
- isakosmo0
i hear ya. its the story of my life at the moment and its the reason why my resignation is imminent. they approve, you carry the design across posterrs/flyers/tickets, then they say also, can you change the colours and maybe the photo? IM OUTA HERE
- noneck0
Also, these big changes shouldn't be a problem if you're billing hourly. If you're billing on a project basis, you should have laid out how the project will flow, what phases it will go through.
If you just said "Website - $XXXX", you're sunk. In that case, learn for next time and get back to work on designing a site with a better "energy".
- ukit0
What are some of the sites she likes anyway? Is there some kind of logical connection that can be drawn with the existing site that might tell you how to make her happy by tweaking a couple things? Or is it just completely random unhelpful shit?
- ifeltdave0
I don't like it, you should probably change the design.
- orrinward0
With the rounded corners you should do them in CSS rather than as a png, they'll look sharper.
- this is bollocksckentish
- And yet ie6 will murder both methodssneakybadger
- Yeah, stick to GIFs with the bkg matte matched to the site background. Or nob of ie6 and do PNGskushman
- BaskerviIle0
- can you even be timelined if it's already on the same page? :-)Not_Just_Another
- pillhead0
As long as she in willing to pay you for the redesign take the money.
- straightola0
i get this on a daily basis from the main guy I work for, went completely off the rails at him last night as a result.
Also happened a couple of weeks ago with a band im working with on motion graphics for their tour. They hired me specifically because of what I had done live at a show with them, worked through a load of ideas based on this and tried to get them to have a proper meeting to discuss ideas. I had initially quoted as a 2 or 3 day job and knocked a bit off because I liked them plus I ended up working a full week on it simply because I wanted to do something special. 3 weeks after I had handed over what I thought was the final dvd (and 4 days before their tour started) they email over a load of stuff about how this might be a bit too similar in theme to something another band might do and to redo something with a load of soviet animation off youtube. I suppose these are the mistakes you have to make early on to ensure you beat the info out of the client before you start
- scrap_paper0
It really all depends on hour the contract was worked out in the first place. Did you make sure to highlight process and indicate that changes to the creative phase of the project after sign off will result in a need to re address the estimate?
This really does suck and it happens to everyone. Just tell the client everything is doable (if it is actually, physically doable) with the correct assets of budget and timeline applied to the project. Deviation from the process will require a change in budget and timeline.