Designer Questions

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Permalink Reply by MagazineLaunch on May 4, 2009 at 2:23pm

I understand what you mean and, as a designer, I offer unlimited revisions.

Since I'm a designer, however, I definitely understand the frustration a designer goes through when being asked to make a change (or multiple changes). From our point of view we expect the client to provide final and complete work to us. We think that the editing should have already been handled.

In a perfect world that may be the case. Sadly, we're nowhere near perfect.

I've worked as a designer for 17 years, mainly in the newspaper industry. I've seen time and again how late changes can come before something goes to press. A designer should be willing to work with you to make these changes.

However, there is a limit to what is acceptable and there are clients that tend to cross that limit.

Take a recent experience I've had. I'm designing a quarterly newsletter for a human rights organization. They sent me specific instructions in their e-mail that they wanted 2 particular articles on the front page. I did that. As a result I had to put the editorial, which normally runs on the front, inside on page 3.

The client e-mailed me back after I completed the job and said they would like the editorial on the front as well. All of the stories are long and therefore wouldn't all fit on one page. Therefore I had to redesign several pages to get everything to fit.

Then the client e-mailed back and said they wanted all the stories to jump from the left hand page to the right hand page (jump from page 2 to page 3 or page 4 to page 5). As it was, some of the stories would jump from the right hand page to the following left hand page (jumping from 3 to 4 or 5 to 6). I had to then redesign the layout again.

Then the client e-mailed back and said they only wanted 2 stories on the front, one of them being the editorial. I then had to redesign the layout one more time.

It's frustrating. It's taking way more time to do this and I'm not being paid by the hour on this project. Instead I'm getting a flat fee for the entire project.

I understand making changes after the story is laid out. Hopefully, however, this helps you see the designers frustration. Several revisions that take an inordinate amount of time to make add up to loss of revenue.

Not to mention that it feels like dealing with someone who can't make up their mind.


by Shawnster on Sat Nov 17, 2007 6:51 pm (Pulled over from original http://www.magazinelaunch.com Forum)