Special effects are totally needed here

[Taboo]

Just passing along a short one:

My friend's been working on a website for an outdoorsy supply company and has been complaining about them all the way along - not paying on time, not emailing back until the last minute and then expecting things to be done asap on his end, etc. Apparently they've just asked him to put lensflares on all of the photos of chainsaws. He asked them why and apparently one of the words they used in the explanation was classy. Yes sir, would you like some fake giant explosions in the background while we're --- oh.... according to my friend apparently yes they would as they've already told him they'd like bursts of fire while clicking on links. (He refused. Politely. Then got off the phone and laughed like a maniac.)

[Legal Eagle]

Sorry but they are employing him to do a job, whether it agrees with his artisitic tastes or not if they asked for explosions then he should provide them. There are web designers who work very hard to comply with their clients wishes, no matter how politely he did so he should not have refused the request.

[Shalom]

Well, that depends on what the job they're employing him to do is. If they only want him to create the HTML for a site they designed themselves, then I'd agree with you. As the printers used to say back when newspapers were hand-set, "Follow the copy, even out the window."

If they're paying him to design the site for them, though, then it's absolutely his job to inform them when they want something that is going to get them laughed off the web. If they insist, then on their own heads be it, but he should at least try to dissuade them from stupidities like this.

[Shironu-Akaineko]

At least the Lens Flares aren't animated...
Right?

[RecoveringKinkoid]

As a graphic designer, I resent the hell out of it when someone hires me, presumably to design something for them, then turns around and refuses to let me design the damn thing.

Because what they invariably end up doing is forcing me to churn out a piece of dogshit, then go around and tell everyone I designed it.

This town ain't that big, and I might want to work in it at some point.

Way I see it is either let me design or you hire the neighbor's eleven year old.

Clearly, this attitude of mine is not to exclude reasonable requests. I am extremely accomodating. I want my clients happy. But I chafe at being forced make tacky things. If someone feels like they are creative genius, by all means, create your own damn stuff. You don't need me in that case. Hire me and start making tacky requests, you will very quickly find yourself in the market for a different designer.

I don't hire mechanics and then tell them how to fix my van. I don't know dick about fixing a van. Most people dont know dick about design. I'm just sayin.'




And ANOTHER thing...the way you can tell when someone doens't know dick about design? Easy. They love to use special effects.

[Argabarga]

Call Michael Bay, I'm sure he'd love to make everything on your website explode in all it's glory....

[Bloodsoul]

At least the Lens Flares aren't animated...
Right?

Don't give them ideas...

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

So when can I expect to see this monstrosity on webpagesthatsuck.com?

[Taboo]

Sorry but they are employing him to do a job, whether it agrees with his artisitic tastes or not if they asked for explosions then he should provide them.

I don't think you understand the job of a web designer. They are employing him to build a page with the intention of getting their company positive attention. If they ask for something that is not professional, then it is in fact his responsibility to tell them that as politely as possible and try to find something that combines what the client wants out of a site with what professionalism demands out of a site. Frankly if he puts something there only because they asked for it, he's an awful designer because he's not acting in their best interests.

There are people out there who will do that and just blindly throw everything in. They are not web designers. They are just people who happen to own software that can be used for websites.

[JoitheArtist]

There are people out there who will do that and just blindly throw everything in. They are not web designers. They are just people who happen to own software that can be used for websites. happen to be employed by Joi's CEO and just really want to keep their jobs at this point.

There, I fixed it!

Seriously, our designers get this crap from the CEO all the frakkin' time! None of them can afford to lose their jobs at this point, so...*shrugs*

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Exactly. My last job hired me for the express purpose of keeping the creative to a certain standard. I mean, come on, I had to show up with a portfolio. So it irked the hell out of me when these clueless pantywaists they kept on the payroll decided they knew better than I did how to design something.

It is professionally offensive to pull that shit. I'm sorry, but the whores that are willing to throw just anything on there and call it day are legion. Hire one of them. Don't bother me with it.

Maddest I think I ever got was I designed something for a guy, who turned around and for whatever reason, let his wife redesign it. No, she was not a designer, she just had layout software, so magically, that made her qualified for the job. It was just about one of the worst messes I have ever seen. And the kicker? Everyone thought I was the the one who fucking made it.

Seriously, it was so bad people were stopping me in the halls, with "That piece doesn't look like your style." Which was a tactful way to say "Holy shit, were you freaking tripping when you made that?" So then I went to look at where the piece was supposed to run, and my head just about exploded. I didnt give a damn the guy wanted to embarass himself by running something that awful, but the fact everyone thought I'd done it made me want to call either a hitman or a lawyer.

You work as a graphic designer, one of your responsibilities is to give council on this stuff. So it doesn't look like shit. It's offensive to be hired to do that and then not allowed to do your job. And then blamed for the mess.

[Legal Eagle]

web designers are not mechanics, they are artists if i commission an artist to apint a picture of a landscape and they did not paint one of the buildings because they deemed it ugly then they are refusing to do their job, likewise with a web designer it doesn't matter if they like the colours i choose or the style i want their job is to follow their clients orders.

[Darkforge]

this is turning into fratching territory.

anyway, customer is still being sucky demanding additions to the website with almost no warning, whether those additions are good or not is not the suck here

[Argabarga]

A customer is displaying pretty poor judgement if they're going to hire an expert, and then argue with every single suggestion the expert makes.... cuz like, what do THEY know anyway? Besides, you HIRED the expert, so you OUTRANK Them!

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

This is a bit of a tricky issue. Yes as a web designer, you are supposed to design a website that is professional and at the same time balances out with the desires of the person.

I dislike the fact that someone actually told the customer something to the effect of "Would you like explosions with that?".

As someone who is used to balancing what the customer wants and harsh reality, I think it would have been far more professional to have pointed out that what he wants is a little overblown and then asking to what end he wants the lens flairs for in the first place.

Perhaps the customer wanted to accentuate the products somehow to get them to stand out in the minds of the web surfers on his page.

Perhaps a lens flare would be ok for the Top of the Line model, the showpiece of the collection and something a little less flashy, yet still making the product stand out, might have been the happy medium.

Simply laughing at the person and making silly comments isn't the best way to stay in business AS a web designer.