Rant
- Started
- Last post
- 48 Responses
- Dennis_Moore0
I'm going to lighten this thread up with a business meeting that all of you must attend:
- creative-0
Burn down their print factory (but rescue your books first)
- gramme0
Our client uses a pre-press company that pulled in hi-res images. The pre-press people provided final files and confirming HP's to the printer. They told us they "did not have time in light of the quick turnaround to provide us with proofs before going to the press check."
We showed up for the press check and saw all this shit, and because of the hard and fast deadline for launch, we were only able to correct a few of the many errors we came across.
For example – some of the photos stripped in by the pre-press guy were not even the right photos. We fixed stuff like that.
- Spookytim0
Fair Do's Gramme. I didn't mean any offence, I just know that sometimes during moment sof anger we all cast about for someone to take the blame when we might need to share a portion of responsibility. I still don't think you're company are entirely faultless even after reading your explanation, but heck, lots of stuff gets lost in translation so what the hell do I know about being there and dealing with it. Hope you get soemthing sorted to your satisfaction with this and I hope it doesn;t eat you for too long... other projects, new opportunities, lessons learned to be applied to future situations etc.
Wow, how sanctimonious do I sound?
- gramme0
I hear you Spooky. Thing is, I'm not a finger-pointing kind of guy...when I screw up, I own up. I've made mistakes in the past and have been frank and honest about it with the necessary people. The primary source of blame resides in scheduling problems, I think. My boss was travelling a lot and often wasn't able to get me feedback when I needed it. The whole thing was really rushed. We found out 3 weeks before the press date that the entire book had to be translated into French and Spanish, all in the same thing, all while retaining the same format and page count. We made it look good, but going through numerous rounds of proofing with three different languages was a high hurdle in such short time.
I believe the client is getting some sort of discount, dunno how much.
- Then you did what you could, and one step removed I bet the project still looks great.Spookytim
- so applaud yourself for the huge acheivement despite the disappointment of the finishing issues.Spookytim
- does the client have a beef? or their audience? Sometimes, your perfection is their indifference. next time it will be different.capsize
- thanks man :)gramme
- Randd0
I don't even understand how this could have happened--it's outrageous. a job of this magnitude should never be rushed to the degree that so many things could fuck up!
- gramme0
^ ...made mistakes w/ print jobs, I mean. I make other sorts of mistakes as often as anyone else. I just realized that might come across as rather smug in my last post...
- Spookytim0
Randd, when you close the office, do you remain on the inside, or do you position yourself outside beforehand?
- grunttt0
suX with a capital X!
- Randd0
out studio connects to our living space. the last time this happened I went into the living space, went upstairs and went to bed
- gramme0
My boss thinks it's still good enough to communicate the message and win awards...but we can only show the book and pretend there was no campaign.
- Spookytim0
OH SHIT!
Gramme, I just wrote you an email. I just wrote it and sent it... and then I saw the email address is to 'Studio@metagramme' not directly to you so someone else might get it... I'm really sorry!!!!!!!!
- Randd0
THAT BLOWS
- Glimpses do ye seem to see of that mortally intolerable truth; that all deep, earnest thinking is but the intrepid effort of the soul to keep the open independence of her sea; while the wildest winds of heaven and earth conspire to cast her on the treacherous, slavish shore?capsize
- yeah I know, esp. since nice campaigns are such solid portfolio pieces..gramme
- heaven and earth conspire to cast her on the treacherous, slavish shore?capsize
- gramme- a couple of days the shock will fade. the quote was for randdcapsize
- gramme0
Don't sweat it spoox – metagramme is my dusty ol' portfolio, nothing more. I actually work at another studio elsewhere. Studio@metagramme goes right to my g-mail.
- spendogg0
I did a retail style guide for a national brand and the printer fucked up the tabs, and there was no time to redo it. I feel like it ruined a great piece and many, many hours of work. the culprit was the AE and one of my juniors - they only had to check the die-lines - damn fuckups.
- gramme0
Thanks for listening and for the encouraging words. You are all grand chaps and chapettes in my battered ol' book :)
- gramme0
On a general note...do people just not pursue excellence anymore? Do you guys experience this in dealing with various vendors/artists – be they printers or photographers? I'm not old enough to know, but is it really true that in the paste-up days this kind of thing just didn't happen? I mean...we only hire the best printers in the U.S. Does "best" mean anything anymore???
I just talked to my dad about this. He's much older and wiser than I. He used to work for a rinky-dink offset shop in Texas. He was livid on my behalf, and stunned that my boss did not squarely demand for the whole campaign to be recycled and reprinted at the printers' cost. He said they never would have let something like this occur, even at their po-dunk little offset shop – and if it did happen, they would eat the cost – call the insurance company, if they had to – rather than foist something so shoddily constructed on the world.
- gramme0
Seriously, I wonder why my boss is not more pissed. I consider myself a fairly level guy, and I almost completely lost it in front of the entire studio when I saw the books.