Client Created Magazine
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- 23kon
We've a client asking about creating an online magazine using Page-Flip.com kind of platform.
(I know i know what you'll want to pipe in and say about page-flip ... but the client wants it and they are always right)
Pageflip imports a pre-made PDF and created a page flipping magazine from it.
The client wants to be able to create the PDF themselves though. Is there any software / services out there that would allow us to be able to create templates for the client to work with to create the magazine each month?
This will allow them to have a nicely designed magazine (templates by us) but content added by them.
- mydo0
I presume they probably want something microsoft based?
- goldieboy0
what are you designing the templates on?
- doesnotexist0
doesn't indesign cs5 do this?
- vaxorcist0
RUN...I worry you will regret starting this process....I think they're beginning to become a shit client.... they don't mean to be shit clients, but they often are...
as you will be spending lots of hours "consulting" on why "this looks so busy" or "why can't I cut-paste from X in to Y directly without that resizing hassle' or whatever....
unless you switch to a consulting business model and charget $$ by the hour and milk the cash cow of their desire to become designers...
- iheartfun0
I would say it would depend on what they have existing and whether they are willing to pay the money for something like Indesign and to be trained on it if need be. Otherwise you might be stuck with having to create something with microsoft publisher or word, which in that case take the advice from above
- TheBlueOne0
Everyone, please raise your hand if you've spent any actual time reading in the real world one of these "flip" style magazines online...
*no one raises hands
That's what I thought.
This shit is vanity pieces for clueless clients and clueless or unscrupulous designer/developers. A good designer would talk them out of it or walk from the project, unless there was a really, really, really good reason to make one of these stupid things.
- i know they are shit but its what the client wants. its a client of a client btw
23kon
- i know they are shit but its what the client wants. its a client of a client btw
- TheBlueOne0
Or just stick to html and show them this:
- vaxorcist0
Before I begin my rant, I should ask.... is the client a business-to-business salesperson-driven company? If so, let them do it and limit your time on this.....
Otherwise, I have to remember a very wise account person once telling me that for a brand-driven company, "the definition of quality is the absence of non-quality signals"
This means that anything badly designed tarnishes the whole brand's effort... like trying to sell a car with a gash in the dashboard, that's all most buyers will remember, no matter how good the engine is, you'll have to cut the price a lot....
OK, possibly for an annual report or a "contractual obligation" newsletter....
Do you have an account staff? If they let this slip past them, they owe you a HUGE apology and a beer and a strong indication that they're looking for new clients....
If you have an account staff and they've not done that, then they're not dealing well with the situation with the client..
why?
People on the client side ask for things like this in order to BYPASS YOUR AGENCY... so somebody is feeling that they're not being heard, that they need to do stuff faster, that something is missing in this business relationship.... and it's often not just butt-kissing, but something structural, like too many meetings with the wrong people and not enough short concise meetings with the right ones.....
sorry for the rant, but this is more of a sign than a request for me....
- MSL0
The line 'Shit storm in a tea cup' was used in a meeting here today and this sounds exactly like one brewing. You'll do a load of templates, then they'll start adding in the content and things will creep in; bold type, underlines, comic-sans, shite clip-art all over the shop.
The idea about charging a consultancy fee would cover you for some of the inevitable dialogue that is bound to happen.
Just read Vaxorcist's reply - I would say that's on the money.