I ♥ clients
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- mayo0
"If i only want half the quantity of business cards that we quoted on, can you cut your design fee in half? Since I'm only getting half as many cards?"
mind you, i'm not the printer.
- skelly0
Designers are like hairdressers, it is above all to provide a service for a client, making an artistic statemant of your own comes second, some hairdressers seem to miss that, and therefore make unhappy customers
Communication with the client is very important
grown-sexy
(Jun 27 06, 10:35)true, but people who go to get their hair cut are much better able/qualified to communicate about what they want than the average client.
it's a double-edged sword though, if you teach the average person enough about design so they can talk about it intelligently, they start wondering why they need a designer anymore.
- spendogg0
Designers are like hairdressers, it is above all to provide a service for a client, making an artistic statemant of your own comes second, some hairdressers seem to miss that, and therefore make unhappy customers
Communication with the client is very important
grown-sexy
(Jun 27 06, 10:35)you must get your mullet cut at a $200 a cut solon and tell them how to cut every hair.
- version30
"Why are you billing me for things in Oct and Nov?"
because you still haven't paid for them.
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"Why am I being charged for my updates? I have a contract."
because you are cheap and didn't want to pay for a cms, so if you want anything to change i have to do it myself, reread your contract, unless you'd like me to read it aloud to you right now
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"I need this in an hour, I'll pay you in a month"
...click
- skelly0
"Printing/Delivery can take up to two weeks."
"Why can't you just bump me to the top of the list?"
--------
"Don't make me come down to your office, I am NOT a happy man!"
"Are you threatening me?"
"Yes."
- gramme0
Designers are like hairdressers, it is above all to provide a service for a client, making an artistic statemant of your own comes second, some hairdressers seem to miss that, and therefore make unhappy customers
Communication with the client is very important
grown-sexy
(Jun 27 06, 10:35)Corporate communications, or even your sister's wedding invitation, are a bit more important than a haircut. You're making an unfair comparison; graphic design is juuuust a bit more complex than cutting hair. And any job that involves skill, delicacy and originality requires a certain amount of trust from both parties involved.
All of our clients seem to understand that we are experts in visual commmunication, which means that if they provide us with a message, they will trust us to convey the message visually. Granted, we listen closely to them and are careful about choosing our battles; they are paying our bills, after all.
The biggest problem I run into time and again with clients is that they don't seem to understand their audiences; at the end of the day, what really matters in their minds is whether they like what I do or not. The question they should be asking instead is how it will communicate to their audience.
Cheers to you, grown-sexy, if you don't fall into the bottomless pit of htis category.
I think the reason why many rifts happen between client and designer is because many designers don't really take strategy into consideration, or if they do it isn't made clear to the client. The client's perception of the designer is that they get caught up in the details and miss the big picture. The client then starts to see their designer as a wallpaperer, not a visual strategist who takes their problem seriously. This is why designers are not present in 99% of all corporate strategy meetings.
30 years ago this was not the case, because designers communicated better, understood the big picture better, and refused to talk about style before the strategy was nailed.
There are of course exceptions to this rule, our company being one of them.
- BREWMANCHU0
After presenting a logo design depicting a globe and hand (client art directed)
"hmmm, looks very Mayan. I love Mayan symbology. Obviously you have studied Mayan art hidtory yourself."
"uh, sure."
- davey_g0
Taken from Craigslist, Salt Lake:
!!!!!!Logo design needed!!!!!!
I'm 3/4 the way there... I know what I'm looking for and just need some one to do the final bit to get it done. I have 2 graphics that need some work - 15 minutes should be all it takes. What can we trade?
- gramme0
my first freelance job ever was for a friend's dad who was starting a restaurant called the hotdog house.
He handed me a sketch of a hotdog bursting out of a dog house that really looked like a sunburned male member and asked me to 'turn that into a logo'.
I felt like a whore.
:|
- bbq10
client walks in the door at 4:30pm on Friday and the first fucking thing out of his mouth.
"you guys work on sat. right?!"
*slap / punch / kick / tackle
- nosaj0
"I'm going to need to use your phone to find a dog sitter"
While yappy little dog runs around the office.
- nosaj0
Sitting around a table with a number of represenatives from different divisions of the Canadian govenrment. As everyone takes turns introducing themselves one guy stands up and says:
"I'm from ....... , the other guys there don't think I know anything about things so they sent me here."
- version30
From the democratic representative of kansas 3 years ago
"We are going to have to cut the budget on the promotions"
So no flyers, mailers? i need details so I can plan accordingly.
"No. none of it, no site, no cards, no flyers, no posters, nothing"
...
uh, so I spent the past 3 weeks comping, preparing, organizing information and getting production costs together for nothing?!?!"uh well, yes and no, what we are trying to tell you is that you will no longer need to provide services for us as we have realized that we can not win and see no need in squandering our budget, everyone is getting paid, we're just not doing any work"
are you serious? You are going to pay me for the past 3 weeks because you don't want anything else?
"yes, we are all being paid for our time, but now, it's up to you how you spend it as we do not require promotions"
sweet!, i love poiltics!
"Can we call you next year?"
please call me next week
(that man is now on my softball team)
- gramme0
(that man is now on my softball team)
version4
(Jun 27 06, 11:35)It's all so clear now
- TheBlueOne0
I need a website. I got a list of requirements from my son: It needs t obe web 2.0 compliant and have RSS feeds and access via MySpace.
Oh, if I paid you extra, could you teach my wife how to use the internet? She needs to learn how to email and go to shopping sites and I don't know how to do any of that...oh, and you can bang out that website in a day or so right?
- Mimio0
//Clients killed my parents.
- digilee0
i'm in a first meeting with a client discussing an upcoming online project.
me : so can you take us through the marketing strategy?
client: why do you need to know that?
me: so we can get an idea of the direction that you want to take the project.
client: errr ... well, we're just going to release it and see what happens.
me: what? ok. What I'm trying to get here is a feel for the website, a direction, an ambiance ...
client: errr .. it has to be web 2.0.
me: bye bye.
- Mimio0
//Then I did a sweep and knocked the bitch off his feet.
- gramme0
a client stole my lunch money. I confronted them about it; they faxed it back to me the next day.