Clients From Hell

Clients From Hell is a collection of anonymously contributed client horror stories from designers. Excellent resource for a daily chuckle.
Personal favorites:
- Can you please remove the iStockPhoto watermark on the photos? I don’t think it adds anything visually.
- Can you bill your design time in 6 minute increments?
- How late can I get you the revisions and still have it ASAP?
[via]
Advertising from the 1970’s

Vintage Men's Advertising from the 1970's
Only Thing Cool Microsoft has Done
A valiant and creative video effort for another lackadaisical Microsoft product. Never been a fan but the video is cool. The video was most likely created on a Mac.
(via: adchick)
Clever Coaster Designs
Ever come across a really cool coaster and wonder, “Am I drunk or is this coaster really cool?” Well here is your sober chance to take a look at some clever and creative coaster inspiration. We’ve rounded up 30 coasters that would definitely liven up any bar top or table.
Did you know? Coasters were first made in 1880 and originally called Beermats? First use of a beermat was to advertise alcohol.
To see the rest of the collection head on over to YOUTHEDESIGNER. Original Blog Post by: BlueGrassPrintMacs and Windows Computers are Incompatible?
An interesting Myth about Apple & Windows

With all the "Mac versus PC" debates raging on many blogs, message boards and even TV commercials, it's easy to assume that Macs and Windows PCs are so different as to be utterly incompatible or even friends.
It's true that Macs and Windows PCs run on different operating systems. Macs use the UNIX-based OS X, while Windows machines use, well, Windows. But that doesn't mean that the two operating systems speak completely different languages.
For starters, just about every common software application runs on both Macs and Windows PCs. That includes Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook), most major Web browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari), Adobe Software and even iTunes. This means that Mac and PC users can share almost every type of document or file. What's more, Macs and PCs can easily run on the same home or business network.
As far as graphic design is concerned, there is no significant difference in the design software available for both the Mac and PC. The standard, Adobe Creative Suite, is developed for both platforms. The Mac is often considered the designer’s computer. One the other side of the coin, there is more software available for the PC, especially if you are focused on a particular industry, gaming or 3-D renderings (such as for architecture).
For end users, the major differences between the two come down to cosmetics, semantics and overall service. A long-time Windows user might look at a Mac and ask, "Where's the Start menu? Why don't applications close when I click the X? What the heck is a Finder?"
Part of the confusion comes from the different ways that the two systems approach the menu system. On a Mac, the main application menu is always on the top of the screen, separate from the active application windows themselves. So even when you close your browser or application windows on a Mac, the application you were using is still running till you have selected "Quit" to close the application completely.
The great thing is you don't even have to choose between Macs and PCs anymore: Apple offers an application called Boot Camp that lets you run Windows on your Mac. You can enjoy the day-to-day convenience of your shiny Mac with the ability to use those one of a kind PC programs.
On a side note: PC's are for chumps!
Sources: howstuffworks & graphicdesign.about.com
Your business card is #$@!
Business Card; definition: A small card identifying a person in connection with his or her business, given to a client, potential customer, etc.
Don't expect your business card to be able tell your company's entire story. Your business card is not meant to sell a product or service.
What you should expect it to do is present a professional image people will remember. The color, wording and texture of your business card have a lot to do with its appeal and its ability to convey your company image or message. Use common sense when you're designing your card.
Keep the following tips in mind:
- Use your logo as the basis. Typically, make it the largest element on the card.
- Keep it simple, stupid. Don't cram too much information on the card.
- Do not put your photo on your card unless you sell real estate.
- Do include the essentials--your name, title, company name, address, phone and fax numbers and e-mail address--and make sure your name and business name are immediately identifiable.
- Make sure the typeface is easily readable. Stay away from Brush Scripts, Comic Sans, Papyrus. These are just a few.
- Stick to one or two colors unless you decide on full color printing.
- Make sure it's easy to read.
- Your business card should not exceed $1 per card. This is just a rule of thumb.
Print-Ready PDF files

Print-ready PDF files Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) is great for a multitude of uses. It has caused a revolution in printing. Everything needed for high-resolution printing can be packed into one file that can be opened and printed using Adobe's free Reader on almost any computer. The trick is, because a PDF can be created many different ways, to create it the correct way and pack it with the essential information for high-quality digital printing or a file that can be used for make-ready, for offset printing.
Here are a few of the minimum requirements for a PDF file to be usable for high-resolution printing using a digital print process.
- All fonts used in the document should be embedded in the PDF file. The preference for "Subsetting" the fonts should be set to 100%.
- For CMYK printing, all color in the document should be CMYK. This goes for ink colors as well as photos and illustrations.
- Make sure that the photos and line art in the document do not have their resolution reduced (downsampled) when the PDF is created. Photos should retain their 300 dpi resolution.
- The compression should be fine set on "automatic" but some say "zip" is better than "jpeg" for quality. You can also choose "none" and the photos will not be compressed when the PDF is created but, this will result in a larger PDF.
If you follow these guidelines, your PDF will work for high-resolution CMYK printing. The same PDF will also work in all the processes that require less resolution as well.
The term "make-ready" refers to everything done on a press to prepare for the final print job. This includes selecting the proper colors, getting the image placement correct, setting up the plates, and preparing the printer for the chosen paper size and weight. Getting everything right during make-ready helps to ensure a quality print run. This step would be considered finished when the printer is satisfied with a print, and can therefore begin the actual run.I would like that for Free
Pretend for just a moment you walk into your favorite local bakery. You go up to the counter and the bakery's employee asks you, "What would you like today?" Now you look at her and say, "I have this important business meeting today and I would like two dozen bagels and a variety of cream cheese please." "Of course," she says. She gathers your order and you take your freshly baked bagels and cream cheese and head for the door. She says, "Umm, don't forget sir, you need to pay for those." "No, it is ok, I buy a lot from you all the time and I need these for free today," you say.
What just happened? As an employee of a local print shop this dilemma has reared its ugly head before, the horror of the freebie request.
Your customer always has a basic want or request -
- - I have no budget for this upcoming project.
- - We are wanting to do samples as a sales pitch to a current customer.
- - Would you like to be a print sponsor for this event we have this weekend?
From time to time freebies are part of any small business. With this, there has to be an understanding between both parties. When running a small business you can not afford to give a free project away that will conflict with your current production workflow already on the table. Your customer also needs to not push deadlines onto a project he or she is not going to pay for.
The dreaded freebie request- [Customer] It would be great if we could just change that layout a little bit and add this logo into it. It won't be too much trouble, will it?
Do you have a freebie story? Please share below.
Short Documentary: Comic Sans
A short documentary about the font Comic Sans. Created for a video production course and inspired by the film "Helvetica" by Gary Hustwit.
Xtranormal: Graphic Designer vs. Client
A familiar scenario is given a robotic twist in this CGC bit made with Xtranormal - a site and technology that allows visitors to type dialogue into animated video sequences.
Critics and Designers
Guess what? Everyone is a critic and a designer in this town!

I have slowly accepted that fact that everyone in Savannah, GA some how thinks that they are qualified to be there own graphic designer. Here are a few do it yourself tips, courtesy of pidesign if you would like to create your own design and not hire a professional to create that next print project.
- Create your project in any program with “Microsoft” in the name. You’d be better off finger-painting with mud on an old pizza box, dousing it with gasoline and throwing it briskly into a portal to hell.
-From a print shops point of view - Charge extra for anything Microsoft. - OPTIMA OPTIMA OPTIMA. Did I forget to mention that use of COMIC SANS will also immediately discredit you as a designer?
-Personal Favorite: Papyrus! - Forget to run spell check. This is the best way to show how disinterested you are in the subject matter. Typos also demonstrate that you’re too lazy to finish the job right. That gives the rest of designers an undeserved bad name. How could we be lazy with all of these extremely tight deadlines that we have worked so hard procrastinating for?
-From time to time I print a customer's project with misspelled words and then the client asks why did I print it? HA! - Add an exciting red starburst with the word “NEW!” in some lame block font doesn’t really make anyone want to buy your new product. It actually makes them want to spray it with bug killer and smack it with their shoe. Twice.
- Add an outline to the lovely cursive font you have selected and watch the readability disappear.
- Use really low resolution images taken from someone else’s website for your brochure. Please note that if you’re going to use stolen imagery for your brochure you have to decide if it’s worth spending time in jail as someone’s lover for copyright infringement. Seriously, if you’re going to go to jail anyway you should at least have a nice brochure from which you might possibly get some business to pay for your court fees.
-Do not get me started on low resolution images. This is a daily nightmare. Why does it look good on my screen? - Clip backgrounds from photos using the Magic Wand tool. The icon for the magic wand should be replaced with a sparkling crutch. Don’t use it to pull out background images from photos. Take that time that you’ll be ridiculed by all of your peers and put it to good use learning how to mask.
- Accidentally outline all the text in your document and then stand by praying that the client doesn’t ask for any copy changes. Come on, we have all been there, furiously trying to move around the big block of blue boxes created by the outlined paragraph instead of having to re-type the whole gosh darned thing.
- Fill the white space by cramming all the copy you can onto the page thereby eliminating any sense of focus to the overall message. This is one of the easiest ways to confuse the audience and remove any chance of successfully gaining new customers for your client. This often results in no more paying gigs for you.
-First rule of graphic design: White Space is always on sale! - Stretch and squish your photos just to make them fit into that little space you have backed yourself into by filling the rest of the document with needless copy. Don’t worry, no one will notice.
Now of course these are things not to do...
But hey, who am I?
Please take a few more minutes to read this again. Why, because I said it was important!
Original Post: http://blog.pidesign.com/2009/08/11-ways-to-ruin-a-great-design/#ixzz0S7rxJOtG
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