Selective Stupidity
It took years for me to get where I am today. Lots of spelling errors, lots of wasted print runs, lots of wasted time, & lots of wasted money. So I'd like to think I MIGHT know what I'm talking about when it comes to print design. Not the design side, because that's all relative to person's opinion, but the technical-can't-argue-with-a-two-ton-press-and-a-postscript-file side.
After years of fruitlessly banging my head against a brick wall trying to explain graphic formats to salespeople & clients, I drafted a course called Graphics 101. It involved short, simple sentences & lots of bright, catchy illustrations. The presentation that accompanied it had lots of fun little tunes and cute animations. There are four basic handouts titled:
a.) "Why Is My Customer's Logo Fuzzy?"
b.) "Why Doesn't The Color Match On My Ad?"
c.) "Why Can't I Use The Picture Off The Internet?"
And of course, my personal favorite...
d.) "Why Can't I Use Microsoft Word To Design My Ad?"
I figured that this was the proactive solution to all my problems. Written in USA Today-level language with lots of big pictures, surely I wouldn't have any more communication problems! When they see what happens to a photograph when you blow it up to seven times it's intended size, I would never again encounter a 72dpi image. Oh happy day! Oh joy!
After giving them the handouts on FOUR SEPARATE occasions, after REPEATED phone calls rejecting artwork, after doing everything short of pulling out an aluminum baseball bat & a cattle prod, I STILL receive files in Mircosoft Word and instructions to "just use the picture off the Internet....."
WHY, GOD, WHY?????
After years of fruitlessly banging my head against a brick wall trying to explain graphic formats to salespeople & clients, I drafted a course called Graphics 101. It involved short, simple sentences & lots of bright, catchy illustrations. The presentation that accompanied it had lots of fun little tunes and cute animations. There are four basic handouts titled:
a.) "Why Is My Customer's Logo Fuzzy?"
b.) "Why Doesn't The Color Match On My Ad?"
c.) "Why Can't I Use The Picture Off The Internet?"
And of course, my personal favorite...
d.) "Why Can't I Use Microsoft Word To Design My Ad?"
I figured that this was the proactive solution to all my problems. Written in USA Today-level language with lots of big pictures, surely I wouldn't have any more communication problems! When they see what happens to a photograph when you blow it up to seven times it's intended size, I would never again encounter a 72dpi image. Oh happy day! Oh joy!
After giving them the handouts on FOUR SEPARATE occasions, after REPEATED phone calls rejecting artwork, after doing everything short of pulling out an aluminum baseball bat & a cattle prod, I STILL receive files in Mircosoft Word and instructions to "just use the picture off the Internet....."
WHY, GOD, WHY?????
posted by Kristie at 2:22 PM
2 Comments:
Oh sista, I hear your pain. I'm working on a 32 page program (due to the printer Wednesday, still don't have the copy as of right now). When I asked for the photos the client told me very proudly that they were scanned already and she was ready to give me a POWERPOINT with all of the pictures. All 72 DPI!
Somehow I made it out to the elevator without killing anyone.
LOL! Thank you, thank you, thank you for keeping me sane!
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