Think customer-provided files are scary now??? Just wait...

[Bigdawg]

Adobe to take Photoshop online

You think customers thought that they knew what they were doing before... get a load of this...

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6163015.html?tag=sas.email

 

[iSign]

it's already bad enough that when I inquire about clients access to industry standard software like Adobe Illustrator, or Adobe Photoshop...

ever since free versions of Adobe Acrobat Reader were literally popping up on everyone's computer... they ALL look at me with self-important airs of pseudo-professionalism, saying oh, I have ADOBE!!

...really? are you sure it's not stucco... I haven't seen real adobe since I left Santa Fe! :Big Laugh

 

[SirSlarty]

I get many files in GIMP versions. Those are scary.

 

[Signsforwhile]

my sons nephew designed this logo in word. im sure you can use it. he's a professional. all this and he's only 12yrs old!!

 

[Replicator]

I get more people bringing me Publisher files than anything else . . .

I tell them I don't accept Publisher format anymore !

 

[Tim D]

I have been getting files sent to me as Power Point Presentations, also designed by someones genius nephew.

 

[thewoodage]

i get the power point presentation's also - from the same guy everytime

-and everytime i say "hey, just print that out and fax it to me, cuz how you do it doesn't work" and he still sends it - everytime - i'm talking like twice a week he does this - i'm sure he was someone's 12 year old nephew once...

 

[thewood]

Powerpoint, Word, Publisher, Excel, Tickle Me Elmo Design Suite...arghhh!!! We see it all. A lot of clients tell me they have Adobe. When I inquire what app they have--Photohsop? Illustrator? InDesign? they just say, "You know, Adobe" What sucks is when someone spends hours designing horrendous layouts in one of these programs and expect me to spend hours duplicating their mistakes. There is a special design charge for these folks.

 

[mladams7259]

Microsoft Word is always one of my favs..... Thats when you know its gonna be a long day.. A little off subject but I almost laughed at a guy I was talking to today. He called and wanted to know the price on some standard big rig lettering. company name, dot #'s etc. He said Ill come down later today to finalize everything then he asked the "QUESTION"......How long will it take you to cut them when I get there.. I almost fell in the floor.

 

[k6media]

Oh I can't wait.. I can just see it now.......


"Hey guys! my son designed a logo in photopaint, it's really really nice.. so what i did was imported it into powerpoint and converted it from a .BMP to a .JPG, I then used my magic upload tool to get it onto my freespace on the internet. I was really really excited when I go to the stage, anyway.. Gary was sick... Gary is my son, he's 6... but very talented, it only took him 45 minutes to design the logo. Anyway.. enough of that.. I uploaded it to Adobe's online tool and I clicked the "auto-trace" tool to make it vectorbased... I'm so happy with it! anyway.. I designed my business card at 47DPI, and I am sending it over to you so that you can print me a 30' banner. I need a picture of cat on the right hand side which I've included the clipart, I need a picture of a donkey and a horse on the left hand side, I've included sketches I've drawn by hand on lined paper. Can you click that auto-trace to vector feature you guys have... Can I get that back by the end of the day?? Oh.. Oh.. I almost forgot, I got a quote on the banner and it was $118.52, I was wondering if you could beat that as well... I was thinking maybe $52?

Thanks guys!!! you are amazing!!!! "

 

[Bigdawg]

That would be soooo funny if it wasn't true K6!!!

 

[Cadmn]

AAAAAAAAAMen to that big dawg. I gots a customer that wants a pocket print & he gave me logo he wants & a someone in his family paid a Pro to do it its a Jpeg & Is soooo much detail it would be pure mush on a pocket. I sent to eric & he verified it was really detailed & to turn to vector would take lots so I told customer forget the pocket & printing it so now just front & back only print

 

[onesource]

Well it takes more time to fix something than to whip it out with your software, that means you can charge more or they can settle for your revision or go buy the software you work with redesign the logo and bring it back

 

[Dave Drane]

What is a "CWK" file? I can't and don't want to open it. A PITA customer who has no clue what he wants has just sent me the exact colors he wants his work done in that file. I'm thinking I'll be telling him to take a walk and make someone else's life miserable.

 

[skyhigh]

I just got one of those "whole body shivers". This reminded me of a customer who designed his own sign in "Word" and wanted it EXACTLY how he had designed it (a sign of a sign), word clipart and all. Him and his wife were very pleased with their new logo.

Then he asked.....
Ohhhh and could you convert that artwork into a pdf and send it over to my printer? Sure I said..... no problem.
Scan....import into illustrartor...export as a pdf....email. (that was easy).:Big Laugh

 

[mark in tx]

One of my best customers wanted me to send him his logo in Adobe format so he could get it embroidered on his shirts. Sure, no problem.
I sent the embroidery shop an .ai and an .eps.
He called me up and said he couldn't open them with Adobe.
Turns out he had Adobe Acrobat Reader.
The embroidery guy.
I sked him what he used for software, he said it came with the machine.
I asked him how he created designs, he said he just recreates them from pictures.
I sent him a jpeg, only in exchange for the chance to go see his shop and setup.
I can't wait.

 

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

Dave, CWK would be Claris Works, an AppleMac file, but there may be a windows version. It would at a guess be something like a word doc file.

If you have Office 2000, or Word 2000, try and import it into that with the import or place options, and see if that works.


Unless you don't want to, of course- it all spells amatuer, anyhow, and PITA says it all.

 

[ovrcafnatd]

bahhhh
I have a new customer that just sent me his
file of his new logo that his 'graphic artist'
produced for him - YAH
he asked me previously to make him up one, but then
heard my price and ran (not what I was told by him) -
someone told me he said I was "too pricey"
Wellllllllll let me tell you - if this was a graphic artist
that produced what I just received I'm about to go and
steal their pricey job right out from under them!!!

What a load of crap (ahhhhhh I'm so glad I changed my name back)
this thing looks like it was produced by a 5th grader
and using a paint program

well you get what you pay for!
but now I'm stuck having to work with it - I hate that LOL

 

[cdiesel]

Skyhigh--that sign of a sign is tanamount to us putting a picture of a truck on a truck! Happens at least once a month. I HATE it!!!

This adobe deal looks like it'll be good for them, bad for us. With bandwidth slowing things down, people will be spending even MORE time making their designs to bring us. Doesn't necessarily mean they'll be better...

 

[Ken]

Well, whining will not get us anywhere.
We try to be all-things to all people ( formats)..so what is the solution?
I would suggest a limited number of formats that we readily use. If the artwork is not supplied in this format then the client MUST expect to pay extra for conversion/re-creation.
So can we come to a consensus as to what formats are acceptable from a client? Remember we are trying to keep this as a "short-list".
I suggest:
.ai
.psd
.cdr
.pdf
The resolution of these files will vary.
This could be a good topic for a poll here.
How do you break the news to client ( with CD in hand?)
How far do you go from a crap file to useable?
It really should be billable time when dealing with ODD-BALL FORMATS.
Let's hear your opinions. Should we have a poll and actually stick to the consensus? Great topic Stacey!
Ken