I just want to scream when someone who knows nothing about design comes in and tells me to do something differently with my design. (I work for a publishing company that puts out ATV and Snowmobile magazines of which I am the Art Director).
I'm totally open to suggestions and criticism don't get me wrong! I thrive off stuff like that and it helps me grow. The only reason why it ticked me off today was because the last magazine I had to put together was done in about 2 full work days. Which is not enough time for a 40 page magazine. This last magazine was only the second one I had done for this company and it was the most unorganized mess I have had to deal with EVER (When I started this job I was fully warned of how it works here but I apparently had no idea)! All the ads just trickled into me one at a time and placed here and there. The layout of the magazine was changed 6 or 7 times in those two days, and the biggest section of edit was not given to me until 5 hours before the magazine had to be done and out the door!
This magazine was like trying to put a circle peg into a tiny square hole. I ended up getting everything in there that needed to fit about 45 min before my deadline and was still getting ads in while I final pdf-ed the mag.
So today we got the color proofs back and I am getting ready for changes because there are always a hundred changes, and my Editor walks in and says "I know you were just trying to get everything to fit but I need you to remember to make the products some of the biggest images in this magazine." I just looked at him and said ok....
(Meanwhile In my head I was saying...) OF COURSE I KNOW THE PRODUCTS HAVE TO BE THE MOST EMPHASIZED IMAGES IN THE MAGAZINE. THATS WHY IN THIS ONE INSTANCE YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT I DIDN'T HAVE THE SPACE TO MAKE ALL THE EDIT AND IMAGES FIT . SO I EMPHASIZED THIS ONE PRODUCT IN A DIFFERENT MANOR. THE IMAGES ISN'T BIG BUT IT IS NOTICEABLE! GRRRRR
(Images to come)...
3 comments:
if you work for a publishing company, you should know that someone telling you to do something different is the order of the day. If you wanna scream when faced with this situation then you need to take a good look at yourself and ask, if you are a good designer. not criticizing your design, but your management and communication skills.
It is important to let the user know why the design is, the way it is. It can be best practices, usability, psychology, color combinations tons of things ... all but a scream!
Hang in there, Bird.
nabeel:
Everyone has bad days. This just happens to be one of them and I'm venting, as it says in the title.
Venting is a good thing (Plus its on my blog... I would have never really done or said any of those things in real life) and I know well enough that criticism is part of this job.
But thank you for your concern.
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