Boudica
Back to "educational purposes"
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Educating clients in what is and isn't high quality artwork.
- Thread starter heyskull
- Start date
jtiii
Beautiful day, great to be alive!
Oof it always pains me to see graphics that have gone from vector to bitmap and then back to vector; not only do the letters themselves look sh*tty the outlines always go crazy!
2B
Active Member
THIS x 100
We no longer do the song and dance,
When the provided file is received, we enlarge it to the size, screenshot the pixelation and reply with what it will look like. we also list the cost to correct the design.
99% of the time we "magically" get the requested file, in the correct format.
caribmike
Retired with a Side Hustle
Like everyone else in the business, we run into this all the time. We put a statement in all our estimates as follows: Prices based on receipt of properly sized, print ready art or add'l charges may apply. We charge $65 an hour with a minimum $25 for graphic design. Customers rarely ever complain and most often say "just do what you have to do."
This topic is a never-ending struggle for my company. Most of the people providing their "logo" for a sign project ARE LAZY AND COULD NOT CARE LESS ABOUT DETAILS. They especially don't want to be troubled with nonsense such as the difference between pixel-based artwork and vector-based artwork. Very often these clients will grab the very first "logo file" they find in their My Documents folder, email it and then demand you complete the project using that vomit-quality garbage. It's a digital file! It's digital! Since it's digital it should work!
So we just plain don't f*** around anymore. When we receive that knee-jerk JPEG "logo" image we immediately fire back a canned response of "you're going to pay $50 per hour for this crap to be re-built in proper form unless you can provide real actual artwork than sewage-level gunk." The response is worded more polite than that, but the gist is still the same.
And we remind them that computer use in real life is NOTHING like the phony computer use in any of that CSI: Miami nonsense they love watching on TV. Oh, and FONTS! Well, we're not going to hand digitize that logo letter by letter if there is a commercial font we can buy to get the work done faster. But we're going to bill for that font purchase. However much it costs!
Those warnings are usually enough to inspire the client to look harder, make phone calls or do whatever is needed to be done to provide some proper freaking vector-based artwork.
It is still grimly funny just how many clients will try to take the same JPEG image they originally sent and place it inside an AI, EPS or PDF container file and then re-send it. As if the container file format is going to somehow magically convert those pixels into clean vector art. Rookie mistake.
So we just plain don't f*** around anymore. When we receive that knee-jerk JPEG "logo" image we immediately fire back a canned response of "you're going to pay $50 per hour for this crap to be re-built in proper form unless you can provide real actual artwork than sewage-level gunk." The response is worded more polite than that, but the gist is still the same.
And we remind them that computer use in real life is NOTHING like the phony computer use in any of that CSI: Miami nonsense they love watching on TV. Oh, and FONTS! Well, we're not going to hand digitize that logo letter by letter if there is a commercial font we can buy to get the work done faster. But we're going to bill for that font purchase. However much it costs!
Those warnings are usually enough to inspire the client to look harder, make phone calls or do whatever is needed to be done to provide some proper freaking vector-based artwork.
It is still grimly funny just how many clients will try to take the same JPEG image they originally sent and place it inside an AI, EPS or PDF container file and then re-send it. As if the container file format is going to somehow magically convert those pixels into clean vector art. Rookie mistake.
Truly valuable clients usually have their s*** together and don't insult people by re-sending the same JPEG image they sent the first time wrapped inside an AI file container. At least for us the clients ordering pretty serious packages of work not only provide vector artwork of their logos, but also have color specifications and other branding use guidelines handy. People doing the DIY "logo" work are often shopping around, looking for the cheapest bid to make their little banner or yard sign.
Boudica
Back to "educational purposes"
I'm not saying these scenarios and more don't happen. But it really varies on the client, the project, and how much I care. I'm not the the owner, just an important part of a very small crew. It's not really my call on what jobs to accept. But I have some weight on weather or not I can produce something. I have skills to make things work. My boss can decide how much to charge the client for my magic.
Stacey K
I like making signs
It very much does depend on the project. I'm in a small town, there's lots of farmers and small businesses, much more "hicksville" than where I grew up. A lot of the people I deal with can barely send an email and don't text. There is zero sense in trying to explain what vector art is. And their logos are the same...simple and Arial or Comic Sans-ish. I just send it out and add it as a set-up fee. Sometimes I make them myself and use similar clipart or similar fonts and they don't even notice LOL
Other customers with more complex artwork or more professional looking logos or businesses- that's a different story.
Other customers with more complex artwork or more professional looking logos or businesses- that's a different story.
Goatshaver
New Member
I deal with this so much as most of my business is with individuals or people that don't understand printing IS NOT magic. I get screenshots all the time, if I can scale it to a useable resolution for the piece, I'll use it instead of trying to explain vector artwork because 9 times out of 10 they can't get anything else or don't know how. If I need to do a lot of work to it I will either try to get them to get me something in a higher resolution, or tell them I need to do extra work on it to make it usable. All depends on the project really. Just don't over-commit to doing extra work on garbage artwork.
This is a never ending battle. I've noticed that the best response is I can re-draw it, it's $75 an hour with a 3 hour minimum.
Thats when they magical get the file or they tell me to re-draw it.
After I re-draw it, I create .eps, .pdf, .png versions in color, and black and white. I than create a little notepad file explaining what each file is and what it's used for. I take all of that, thow it in a folder, zip it and e-mail to them. This way they will always have that logo in a vector and raster formats in a easily accessible place.
Thats when they magical get the file or they tell me to re-draw it.
After I re-draw it, I create .eps, .pdf, .png versions in color, and black and white. I than create a little notepad file explaining what each file is and what it's used for. I take all of that, thow it in a folder, zip it and e-mail to them. This way they will always have that logo in a vector and raster formats in a easily accessible place.
Geneva Olson
Expert Storyteller
I posted a doozie a few months back. a customer created his artwork on his computer and cast the image to his big tv so he could see it and work with it. He pulled images from the internet and put it on free software. One image was from shutterstock and since he didn't have the account to shutterstock he just clipped out the water mark. THEN took a photo of the image on his tv and thought it looked great. He decided he wanted to print it out himself on his home printer and then glue it on his motorcycle. I told him that was a GREAT idea.
Jay Grooms
Printing, Printing, Printing......
Think we may have had the same customer.... lol
Geneva Olson
Expert Storyteller
the fact that there might be 2 of them out there is scary
Mike Brice
New Member
We do the same at our shop. Only it's $125/hr. If the client pays for the vector conversion, which I'll admit we have to sub sometimes, they wil always get the full file-type treatment.
myront
CorelDRAW is best
To curb the frustration I'll try google advanced search to look for pdf's
9 times outta 10 the logo is in vector format on one of those pdf's
Occasionally I've found svg logos on the company website that the company didn't even realize was vector.
And then there's Brands of the World or Wikimedia.
We've often paid for military emblems from a vector source.
Outsource a redraw to Vector Dr. and charge to the customer. p.s. a lot cheaper than our art rate.
9 times outta 10 the logo is in vector format on one of those pdf's
Occasionally I've found svg logos on the company website that the company didn't even realize was vector.
And then there's Brands of the World or Wikimedia.
We've often paid for military emblems from a vector source.
Outsource a redraw to Vector Dr. and charge to the customer. p.s. a lot cheaper than our art rate.
gabagoo
New Member
To curb the frustration I'll try google advanced search to look for pdf's
9 times outta 10 the logo is in vector format on one of those pdf's
I do this also and it's such a relief when you find a good pdf file
Econo Signs
New Member
I am from South Africa and I am actually glad to hear that this is a universal problem. What I do is to enlarge the "design" to the size the client wants his banner/board. Then I draw a rectangle the size of my screen, put it over the "design" sent to me. I then zoom in to the rectangle's size. This gives you an exact idea of what the quality of the final print is going to be. If I am not happy with it, I convert to pdf and send it to the client. This way they can decide whether it is good enough. It takes a couple of minutes, but cuts out the possibility of an unsatisfied customer.