a simple file one would think!!!

[gabagoo]

Another sign shop emails me and needs 100 very simple red on white decals (rush rush rush of course) and with it I get a pdf file. I open the pdf file and in Flexi it contains masks so I unmask it and then what appeared to be an identical layout of the decal appers to the right of the original layout. Like I said, easy decal just white on red copy.

I decided to grab the one to the right as the one that appeared first had dimensional info all around it. I rescaled it to the size they wanted and sent it off for print.

Get a call today feom the designer and she is telling me that the font is not heavy enough and there is an extra word on the decal that should not have appeared. I told her from memory after I thought about it what had happened and that I saw 2 identical labels....I guess not!! and proceeded to print one of them.

This quick little job used 10" of 54" vinyl and was printed in less than 3 minutes so I just rushed it through you might say.

I am guilty of printing the wrong decal and have already reprinted it again after reopening the file and examining it closely.

What I dont get is why would the designer send me both files when she only wanted one of them...Naturally one would think to delete the wrong decal and leave the one you want. I am not a mind reader.

I know for me when creating a pdf file for customers to view from Corel, I have to make the pdf fit into an 8.5 x 11" area to be able to see it on the screen properly and thats what she must have done, and left the other decal off to the side not thinking it would be included and I would not see it. But I did, and disaster strikes...no real big deal but I know when I send files out for anything, I simply send what I want and eliminate everything else. makes sense duh

 

[Marlene]

What I dont get is why would the designer send me both files when she only wanted one of them...Naturally one would think to delete the wrong decal and leave the one you want. I am not a mind reader.

lazy
not very good at the job
stupid

 

[Gino]

Marlene's last adjective.

We're so overrun by STUPID.... it's becoming rampant in our industry.

 

[StopSignGraphics]

It's happened to me too. Laziness or simply not have any clue about the confusion something like that might cause.

I always send a lo res jpeg with the dimensions back to the customer confirming that this is what they want printed and I do the same if I ever have any work subbed out.

It doesn't solve every problem but it takes the blame off of me and puts it back on the customer.

~Chris

 

[G-Artist]

I use Corel and I use it to make PDF's from any file regardless of final dimensional size.

No need to scale it since it is a vector. It will scale for viewing and the client can print it out
on a single 8.5" x 11" page for viewing in-hand (fit to page).

Thank goodness for wire frame mode as we get "art" in here from "agencies" that have all kinds
of covered up artifacts that a plotter will cut if not removed. Not many 'graphic artists" working
in those companies have a clue as to what "weld" is for or how to use it.

 

[Cmind335]

That's happened to me so many times I can't even count. I'm a Designer myself and I still can't understand WHY will they do that. I don't think its laziness, more like carelessness.

 

[GVP]

It's because a lot of designers only think about how it looks, not how some poor bugger has to make it....

 

[gabagoo]

what bothered me the most is the attitude she had when she called.

I told her that there was other info in the file and why not just send an eps file instead. She refused to think that she had done anything wrong and then I said Letme speak to the boss and he confirmed my beliefs about her. Just a Monday morning I guess. It is now 4:00 and I am still trying to do what I was planning at 9:30 lol