H2O - Hip Hop is dead?

September | 05•2007
filed under "Development"

At work i do design for various salesbooks and i was hired because of my background in art as well as support, and my skill with computers and knowledge of networks is sort of a "and that too". well recently ive had a huge project on my shoulders. i have been singled out to work on the company website. i knew it was coming, i was waiting for it actually, but being labeled as project manager and working under someone who's been coordinating my work for the past few months is hell. today it kind of boiled to a steamy kind of whistling as my boss throws me this peachy, sort-of-pink layout when the guy who gave me the project distinctly stated that he wanted an imitation (especially in color if nothing else) of the brochures that we had been using.

Now he and i usually agree on colors and whatnot, i like his choices of colors usually. very bright and cheerful, but the brochures are none of these things. the brochures in fact are like, 30 shades of brown, black, and white. but yet again, im not even mad about the fact that im having this new layout forced into my grill like some dog having to take a pill while having his mouth held shut. what frustrated me about the whole situation is that after a week they want to have yet another meeting to see our unfinished layout when i cant even get the right and proper graphics and fonts from the graphics guy. and then on top of that i worked two weeks to get the correct colors for this layout from the brochure and then im being told, use pink and rust... which are nowhere on the brochure except in a photograph someplace on one of the old brochures that came out before i started working here. i get aggravated trying to print out the layout for the meeting because all i have is postscript drivers (which arent working) and my boss threatens to send me home and tells my coworker to remind me of "the rules" when he gets a chance. citing that im second guessing / questioning him. what-the-hell?! im trying to freaking print!

now, post meeting, im having panic attacks, because if the guy who gave me the project doesnt bite when he does get to see the colors (he hasnt seen the colors cause i never did get those non-postscript drivers), then they're going to call me incompetent. they're already blaming me for his spelling errors.

look, to those of you who want to get into graphics art for business or website design, they dont understand you, and they dont care about your rep or quality in your work. my advice to you is just dont care. really, stop caring. just do what they say even if its impossible and take your paycheck. spend it on liquor and get drunk.

[Post No. 35]

Tricia || September.07.07

I am so about to enter the world of website design. I have 3 classes in it this semester. What I don't understand is why the heck it's so difficult for your graphic designer to give you his artwork/colors/fonts of the company brochures? I totally understand the frustration with people who think that their secretary could design just as well as you AND have no idea about the rules of marketing. I mean, HELLO, color has meaning. Some fonts are easier to read. And lastly, I want to sometimes scream, "I AM A PROFESSIONAL! I HAVE A B.F.A. IN GRAPHIC DESIGN. TREAT ME WITH RESPECT!!" wow. I almost feel better. OK. Back to your website colors: use the black & white + brown scheme, but also pick a highlight color like red. I have no idea what your company is, so I'm going strictly on color theory. If your brown is a red/brown, then red as a bright color addition make sense. but maybe I'm talking out of my a**.

[Post No. 21]