A question of scruples
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- Spookytim
This has been on my mind since I got hospitalised with meningitis a few weeks back.
Prior to falling ill, I had taken on a big ad campaign for a fashion brand. Its a big job and the client wanted to commission one piece out of a possible six by way of a test before he committed to contracts for the full fee. Stupid really because a contract isn't going to help anyone if they aren't doing the work, but thats what they wanted.
So, we had one week of February, all of March, all of April and most of May. Ther eis a lot of work to do, but it was manageable.
Then, after sending over a pencil sketch of the test piece (a test piece that will be used as part of the full campaign) there was a weird sort of two week delay where we waited for feedback, and sort of pushed and pulled a little bit on things, and generally wasted the time. By week three I was ready to start when BANG, I got ill, and really really ill.
One week of hospital and I get back home, call my client and say (and I really did say this)... I think we've lost too much time to acheive all this now and I need you to know now so you can make alternative plans.
My client though (the art directory part between me and the 'brand' client) did that classic thing of trying to save the situation without changing anything and came back at me with a revised schedule for delivering the test piece that has now swallowed up two more weeks of the remaining time.
In my brain-sick befuddled state I listened to him suggest I use two weeks to work on the test piece (last week and this week) and even though I had been told specifically to take "at least a week off, probably two", I agreed to get back on it. I have to deliver the finished test piece Friday, and I know in my heart of hearts that we just don;t have time to acheive what they hoped to acheive with this.
meantime I am turning down projects left right and centre becuase I can't take anything else on, and trying my best to keep my regular clients happy where I can, and all the time I'm thinking... this is a hopeless situation. I'll never get all six pieces done with the time we've got left.
If you've read this far, thank you for that, and my question is...
Would you wear red slacks with buckle shoes, or a tutu?
No, really my question is, would you tell the client now that the project is not going to work out and kill it now rather than keep turning other projects down and keep rushing it to try and get back on track?
Its really taking so much longer trying to do this test piece in a rush than it would have taken if I had had the time to do it 'properly'.
I feel so desperate about it and wondered what anyone thought?
QBN Award: Longest fucking post ever.
- emukid0
i didn't read your post but was just curious how you spent your days before joining qbn? don't get me wrong -- i enjoy your comments here.
- I read it all and I have no idea what you should do.Jnr_Madison
- This was emo's post I read.Jnr_Madison
- MrOneHundred0
I would cut your losses. You had meningitis FFS! that’s no case of the sniffles. I all parties can’t see past that – fuck ’em.
- IF all parties. FTWMrOneHundred
- Fuck the Word. Right on.blaw
- emukid0
now that i've read the post, i concur with mronedhundred.
- Melanie0
I would call them and let them know that they're not going to get the best product you can deliver within the timeframe. Give them a realistic timeline (and add a week on top of that). They can then choose to continue on or find another designer. You're just going to make yourself feel worse trying to please them. That anxiety seems to grind creativity to a halt.
Hope you're doing alright after the hospital.
- Spookytim0
I used to be on a closed group called The Pile. Much like QBN but it was just a group of friends across the US. Primarily it was about a band they were in. Over the years, the number of people contributing to The Pile dropped, and the ones who were left all had babies (including me) and got regular jobs. Somehow it all just stopped being the amazing and hilarious thing it once was. We just wrote total nonsense all day long and it was fall-off-the-chair funny to us, but then we grew up and had no time for it, and it pretty much died.
I came to QBN to re-engage with the world of design... ffs.
- 7point340
tell em youre concerned about the quality of the work if its rushed out the door, and that obviously you and and the client cannot afford another delay like this past month. your condition was not under your control, however there was little or no feedback from their side in a situation that called for immediate attention.
its a shit situation tim. sorry to hear about it. i know you had to turn down what would be some excellent work it seems to do this project and its becoming a waste... good luck dude, wish i had more advice for you.
- also what melanie said. good stuff, and more professionally stated7point34
- Spookytim0
Hi Melanie. Good advice. Saldy they have a production deadline that really can't change. The marketing materials have to be dropped across Europe and the States by a certain date that can;t be shifted, so the end-frame remains. I've laid it all out to them already but their problem is its not design work I do, its a particular style of digital artwork, so they would struggle to replace exctly what I'm doing for them and would need to re-invent a new concept for the campaign. But good commetns and food for thought... it confirms what I know to be the right train of thought. Thanks.
- 2pence0
You type too much, make head hurt.
- I know. If you like, I can fax it to you in chunks?Spookytim
- Do you have an audio version, maybe a podcast?2pence
- the podcast is only available spoken in binary7point34
- I have a transcript of the podcast version. I can email it to you?Spookytim
- That still requires me to read it though. Maybe you can read it to me, kinda like a bedtime story.2pence
- I'll read it to my secretary, get her to type it out, and then send it to you in the post.Spookytim
- BUT I STILL HAVE TO READ IT!!!2pence
- I know 2pence, that's the theme I'm working with for this discussion.Spookytim
- Hahaha.2pence
- _salisae_0
tell them i said it's not going to work out and if they need to talk about it further they can drop me a line or phone me. you need to think about yourself first. and if the situation were reversed they would think of their needs first.
- YEAH!!!!!!!!
ITS A DEAL!!!!Spookytim - i honestly don't mind speaking on your behalf. it's the mama bird in me._salisae_
- Thats very kind of you and your inner mama bird. I'll probably just duck the issue and keep slogging away tho'Spookytim
- or perhaps the lawyer in me. if you fell ill again they could be liable._salisae_
- YEAH!!!!!!!!
- Corvo0
Just tell them about Richard Mesmer.
Then they say, "who?"
But that's the last thing they say.
- I'm gonna ask them if Lord of the Flies is not entirely bad, or entirely not too, not, too entirely... entirely not... oh.Spookytim
- Now don't do that, pls. We were just experimenting. If you do, they will just tear you to pieces bc/ its actually not bad.Corvo
- Not Richard, btw, that's a character. Real name is Franz:
http://en.wikipedia.…Corvo - Swabian were the people that conquered my gfather's hills until 11ad. The region was called "Suévia" until late 17th.Corvo
- funny how it's still the most orthodox and still the most pagan area in this land.Corvo
- 7point340
you could always try to calmly explain your point of view and give professional advice for how you think the contract should be handled. if it starts to go south you could always HONK like a distressed goose until they are so terrified that they just end the relationship themselves for fear that you may be rabid and could bite them.
never corner a goose. those fuckers bite and hard
- Jnr_Madison0
What I would do is just disappear, don't reply to their e-mails or phone calls and if they come around just hide behind the big pile of bloody tissues in front of the window that you've used to wipe the blood off your fingers from typing too much.
- AndyRoss0
Hmmm. I can see your point Spooky. But if you drop out, what is the client going to do? I mean, if you cancel tomorrow, they have about 6 weeks left to do their entire campaign with a new outfit? That doesn't seem like a great situation to put them in.
I understand you were sick--I don't feel so good myself--but, you know, you have to see both sides of the situation. Otherwise you're just being selfish, and not professional.
I suggest you keep in mind that:
1) it's only advertising
2) it's only fashion(My point being that if it's no good, no one will notice).
Don't be anxious about the quality. Do the best you can. Get to work. If need be, hire some extra help to get 'er done. But don't crap out.
You gotta go in! It's the big game!
- Spookytim0
Ah, Andy Ross, you're the other voice in my head. The one across the table from the one that says "its fucked, bail out". The one that says "NOBODYS GOING ANYWHERE. GET BACK ON THE BENCH AND ROW US OUT OF THIS MESS".
I know the client will be left high and dry, hence the 'question of scruples' title. But I did tell the client the day I got out of hospital that we had lost too much time and that I was advised to take two weeks off to recover. It was their heads buried in the sand at that point, not mine. It was easier for them to coerce me into carrying on than to consider an alternative campaign at that point... which was nearly weeks ago. Their rescue plan was to deliver half the test piece before Easter, to take easter off, then to deliver the rest this week... where I am now.
I wasn't just sick and feeling a little unwell when I was ill, I was in hospital with meningitis and felt like my brain was going to burst. Its a virus that attacks your brain. It hurts like fuck and you cannot open or move your eyes at all.
I'm trying to be as professional as I can in evaluating the situation as I see it and not using up any more of their time knowing I can't get all of this done. Surely its more professional to say "We're out of time, you have six weeks to seek a new concept" than it is to say "Sure, okay, I'll carry on" when I know its not going to fit.
I know its only advertising, and its only fashion, and that possibly, if its no good, no-one will notice... who's being unprofessional now Mr R for saying it?. Besides, I will notice if its no good. Its my duty to myself ultimately to make sure I do the best I can. This is almost always thwarted in the end by clients who compromise almost every commercial project - we all know that happens, but I cannot give up on myself because of that.
So, I AM anxious about the quality, becuase too often the quality gets compromised by last minute fuckery by clients anyway and I have to fight hard to get just a few pieces out that are up to my own standards. I'm not ready to give up on my work just yet, but I'm equally unwilling to just plough on and then be held responsible when I fail to deliver on the deadline despite the fact that I flagged it up as an unreachable goal on the day I got out of hospital!
Its good to hear your side though Andy. You reiterate what half of my conscience is saying.
- MrOneHundred0
I think you answered your own question there Spookytim, and quite eloquently too, i might add.
- former20
Hire someone else. Worse comes to worse, they don't like it and won't use you again. Best case, you get it done, have a new happy client.
If you turn them down altogether, or say you are too sick (which most won't have much sympathy for - as AR points out, business is business, world has to go round), you won't get a call back next time.
Solving problems and getting things done are great attributes and will bring in opportunities.
- Last line of this post is pure gold! Great advice!AndyRoss
- Spookytim0
I have been trying to find someone to work with me for about six months and so far all I've had through my door are clowns, baboons and halfwits.
I guess its time to accept that the circus is no place for recruiting illustrators. BOOM BOOM!
But seriously though... I can't find anyone who can come in and do what I'm doing. Designers are too.. designery and just want to do big spot colour chevrons and filled in lettering, illustrators can either do retro vector, modern vector, twee little tissue paper appliques, or any other single approach to convey a single subject matter. No good for me.