'Let me know when your entire life goes up in smoke, then it's time for a promotion.'
This entry is a filler entry. Something like a personal vent for things that happened to be over the past week or so. This post will probably give you a satisfactory explanation of why am I absent from this blog for awhile lately, as if I’m relapsing into yet another period of hiatus.
My cousin installed a copy of Left 4 Dead on my laptop… and yea, it’s a bootlegged version, so I hard a very hard time getting it off my harddisk when I desperately needed the 4GB worth of space it’s occupying. The uninstallation wizard was doing fine at first, but at a certain point, all my Windows font turned either bold or italics, meaning that there’s a corruption of the regular fonts (yep, most fonts ship in 3 different styles – Regular, Bold and Italic, so even with Bold Italic). I panicked, Googled about it and immediately thousands of results blamed it on the crappy uninstaller.
I redownloaded the corrupted fonts and attempted a system restore to recover the damaged registry file. Everything was fine except that Verdana could not be restored! Verdana is one of the most common fonts, and more importantly, it’s the default font used in Firebug and when it’s corrupted, I’m seeing good ol’Â Times New Roman in the Firebug console.
I wet my pants.
I downloaded the .ttf file of Verdana. They all opened up blank. I frantically restarted my laptop for a couple of times but that didn’t help. I edited the system registry files, didn’t help too… until I restared the laptop again. Whew.
And there’s another thing.
I just had to get this off my chest.
I accepted this first freelancing job from a friend, and a big multinational corporation’s local branch has hired them to create a blog for them. At first not much instructions came, except for a few notes on how they wanted the colour scheme to be done and the general layout. I rejoiced, slapping myself awake that I’ve finally fount one MNC that actually respects artistic freedom. Did a few tweaks here and there after I was done with it, sent it over to that friend of mine, who forwarded the designs to the MNC.
It was a bomb.
The people there barked orders at my friend (I felt bad for making life so difficult for the middle person), saying that I totally had no idea about their branding. Well, they didn’t give me anything detailed at the first place, so what the hell am I supposed to start off with without your so-called divine interventions?!
Now they finally sent me what they wanted – to make the blog looking like their corporate site. Exactly. Like a verbatim lift. That appeased my inner hell a little because a verbatim lift of their corporate site’s design is as easy as cheese to me – I’ll just need to measure out some dimensions in Photoshop, download their graphics, optimize their CSS and HTML (you would not believe such a famous MNC actually paid so little attention to semantics and etc). I shall stop lamenting about their design – probably not worth a mention in my entry.
So I finished up the layout, and after a few modifications which I’m more than happy to do because knowing that I’ll get paid at the end – which screamed danger! danger! danger! – I was informed yet again, last Friday, that they wanted a makeover of the header navigation to look like one of their community subpages. I was like, come on duuuuude! You guys work for a multinational corporation and you’re as flicker-minded as everyone is, which is not expected of you.
And thanks to the nature of the project and its pre-agreed terms, I will only get paid when this is all done. Basically I’ve fell into their evil trap for not asking for 50% of the total payment first, and telling them – in black and white – that I’m not doing complete, functional (not drafts, you know) layouts over and over again with absolutely no guarantee of payment. Basically, that’s spec work.
Edward Murphy1 is right. Things will go wrong when they can. I knew the dangers of not asking for a 50% pre-payment first, and I thought it’ll be over soon. Instead, I landed myself in the middle of a never-ending circuit of exchanges between flicker-minded numbskulls (who also initially refused to accept WP thinking that it’s insecure. What, you want yo make your own CMS?) and myself. It’s an all-or-none principle. I can’t quit halfway. I either forgo all the previous month of hardwork and accept that I’m not going to get my – for crying out loud – FIRST pay, or I just have to trudge on and accept everything they throw at me ahead. I’m not going to be surprised if they ask for another gazillion edits, with the project extending well into my semester or even worse, exams.
I have one of the biggest time-sucking black hole here. They shouldn’t have built the large hadron collider. I have it right here.
Moral of the story: All freelancers, listen up! Read up on NO!SPEC and then select your projects carefully :)
Just like the line in the film The Devil Wears Prada, Nigel told Andrea Sachs, “Let me know when your entire life goes up in smoke, then it’s time for a promotion.”2
- Murphy’s Law: “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” ↩
- A quote from the film The Devil Wears Prada, found on Wikiquote.org ↩
Freelance jobs are quite risky without black and whites. I’ve experienced before a client(middle man) discriminating my service and delaying my payment. In addition, he’d even asked for a discount after we discussed on the amount earlier on. :S sigh.. next time we should just sign black and white before progressing our work.
Yea, I’ve learned the hard way, but nonetheless, it’s a precious lesson :) I’ll lay out all the terms and conditions prior to diving head-in a project, to make sure that my client and I have, finally, reached a common consensus before any work is done.
Wow, that’s really shameful and miserable for the person to ask for the discount. I guess a lot of people still don’t respect the design business, let alone freelancers – the typical thing that one would say is ‘this is not about art or about you – it is about the money. Just do it and I will pay’.
Yes. Tsk tsk.. And the actual client really likes my work! haha
What? That’s even worse! And he still had the balls to ask for a discount.
That sucks…. =( But cool picture by the way!
Wow… as if the company you were freelancing for would do such a thing. I hate that about some people–they just expect the designer to read their minds without them saying what they want.
As for the computer, that super sucks. I’ve had a corrupted fonts issue as well… it’s definitely no fun. Especially because for me, as a font addict, a lot of the fonts I had were custom ones… and so were impossible for me to find again. It sucked. I feel your pain.
I guess there’s a lack of communication between the MNC folks and me. Or perhaps they think that I’ll work like a slave for them just because I have no prior experience in freelance design. They think they are smart, but now the whole world sees them as flicker-minded and indecisive people.
They weren’t clear with their instructions at the first place, which lead me to design a blog that has little resemblances to their corporate website. How on earth should I know they wanted it to look identical?
Regarding corrupted fonts, perhaps you can uninstall them and reinstall them again, and referrence the correct files using the registry editor. Warning: Editing the registry is a highly risky move, you should back it up (export it to an external storage medium like a USB drive or something). Here are the detailed steps.
If you’re not sure about the steps, feel free to ask me because I’ve been through that.
I feel your pain. I’ve been through it before, though it was for a Flash video, not a site design. It wasted my two weeks of effort, and hell ensued for another two months. I really regretted it, but nonetheless the pay was quite alright, seeing that I was only in Grade 9 at that time.
Owwww! I’m enraged that they actually exploited a young lady like you for a Flash video. How unscrupulous and shameful that is. At least you felt that the pay justified your effort, which is a good thing out of the bad. The worst thing is to feel underpaid and yet being told that your work sucks :/
chill bro…you’ll know the pain of office politics later on…hehe…unless you’re the boss la
Hi Terry,
Have you read ‘Cucumber Cake’, by Eric Karjaluoto?
http://www.ideasonideas.com/2009/02/cucumber_cake/
That’s a very interesting article, Eli! Thank you so much for sharing. Reading it made my day :) I like the allegory of the cucumber cake to a crappy design. It’s a good read for all designers!
Ohh not too good for you. It’s time for an optimistic quote, isn’t it? :D (I like Verdana after Tahoma)
Yeah it would have been better to get them to type up a contract so you can read it over… In canada and US, any terms that you don’t like, you can change, with your initials.
Also, when’s the deadline? When’s the project going to be “done”?
Ah, Verdana and Tahoma are one of my favourite fonts. I think Verdana looks god damn sexy in uppercase with a 10px font size (see the breadcrumb typography for the Tut+ pages – e.g. NetTuts+)
I’ve learned from this experience, that is, to submit a contract with all terms and conditions specified in it so that we won’t have to dispute over minor details during the course of the project. That’ll make life a lot easier.
I don’t think there’s a deadline for the project. They just want it to be done ASAP. I submitted the design yesterday and when middle person presented it to the MNC folks. So far no complaints. If everything goes well, it’ll be up and running by the end of next week, or latest, the end of July.
I’ve keeping my fingers crossed!
Yeah I’ve experienced about the same thing before. Where the client just gave the ‘too-random’ brief at the beginning of project. They seemed like letting me do whatever I want. But then, they started giving so many complaints and demanded revisions so it would match to their liking..
However, they didn’t give any payment, because they thought I was still amateur..
Wew. Man + power + money = pure evil!
Life is cruel indeed!
Wow. That’s exactly the same thing we’ve experienced! The clients starts off with the accommodating and comforting tone of ‘do whatever you like’ and gives their clear support for ‘artistic freedom’. Down the timeline, they get increasingly demanding and specific about their needs, so much so that we find it difficult and impossible to cope.
I love their technique. It’s like what the salesperson is doing – foot-in-the-door technique. They give you a modest request, and then start to expand upon it until the request balloons up to be a horribly bloated one.
They didn’t pay you?! OH DEAR LORD.
I can’t stand close-minded clients too.
Here’s my latest rant although it’s somewhat unrelated:
I made this awesome site for this company a couple months ago… it was probably one of my favorite ones but I do freelance right and they needed me more often so they switched to another SEO-based web company which was totally understandable and I had no problems with because I got paid. BUT that company totally butchered my design and now it looks like shit and something that was made in 1996 or something. There are tacky drop shadows everywhere, bright yellow-white gradient backgrounds, etc. Makes me so sad looking at it. That company’s website looks horrible too … I sometimes don’t understand how people in the industry can’t even understand what nice design it. Sigh.
I’m sorry to hear about that horrifying experience, Katy. Must be very hard on you. Countless of times I’ve read how one designer’s design got butchered, quartered, beheaded and dismembered because the client tells you that it’s not art, and it’s not about standards, let alone about you or your design values. They just want a working website, and no matter how hideous is it, if they like it they’ll pay you the money.
Here’s a good read, an article linked by another commentator Eli: ‘Cucumber Cake’, by Eric Karjaluoto.
They started off saying that they wanted you to make this awesome, inspiring, uplifting and lovely design, and later, they start to swamp you with their own unprofessional opinions on design. In the end your job is just to code the design they have made themselves :(
Sigh, Katy. I have to agree with you. What a sad world!
Hey Terry! Something quite like yours is happening to me right now too. You know its my last week in my uncle’s company. I was given 2 major assignments to do about 3 wks ago.
I did up my work merrily within a week, emailed my reports to the relevant people, expected them to get back to me within a day to let me know when a review meeting could be set up. They only got to me 2 days later. By that time, I’ve only 1.5 weeks before I end my contract here.
Then!? Last week, they finally started showing interest to working with me, and asked for my updates and stuff. Later on, they asked me to edit this that this that this that… (oh btw I was writing an article to be published on the company’s website and i was working with the finance dept for the company’s billing engine – supposedly quite major but they were “TOO BUSY TO SPEND 5 MINS ON ME”).
Idiots right!? So today is my second last day here, I had a meeting with them yesterday, and they requested for me to return on next Mon for a meeting. Had to agree because person who approached me was my uncle!!
Wow, you finished 2 major assignment in one week’s time? You’re so darn efficient! I hate it that when things are not urgent yet, people don’t give a heck about you. But when the deadline is near and the urgency arises – and the project becomes some big-ass priority one thing – you get swamped with unreasonable requests and etc.
Foot-in-the-door technique, remember we learned that in psychology? Your co-workers make a modest request (the two assignments) with a lot of time to spare (3 weeks), and at a later date, the request balloons into a big pain in the butt – feels like a cucmber up your ass – and you can do nothing but to accept.
And your uncle! How can he do that to you knowing that you’ll be done for good this week. Oh mans, that sucks :/
Bad stuff aside, I’m so excited for your trip to Hong Kong! I can’t wait to see what goodies you’ll be lugging back from that place :D
woo look forward to something MANLY I bought you frm hk!! ^_^
Wowowow you bought me something? *bounces off the wall*
No matter what it is, here’s a big THANK YOU :D
Well, most importantly, you have learned what to do & what not to do for next time. It’s all a learning experience! I’m really sorry you have to go through all that mess though. Ugh. This company does not seem too professional to me.. they should have told you up front what they wanted.
Hopefully it all works out and you get the money you deserve! It’s tough being a free-lancer. I, thank God, have not gone through too much hassle when I was making websites & paintings for people. Chris, on the other hand, sorta did once. And that was with his own uncle!
As for the laptop/font thing. That’s so weird! Verdana is one of my favorite fonts too. That’s so strange that that happened. That’s why I don’t let family on my laptop! lol
*hugs* Here’s to a much better week ahead! Again, thank you so much for that thoughtful and looovely card. I will keep it always!
Oh, btw. The artist of the above image is amazing! I am flipping through her flickr photos right now.. so creative! wow
Yep! It’s a learning experience. A good thing is that I get to experience it in the midst of my first project, sparing me from more harm from unscrupulous clients in the future. The company is professional, but it’s not hiring professional people. They’re particularly bad at communicating and making decisions. I wonder how they managed to keep their jobs at these hard times – perhaps its exactly their bigoted attitude that kept them away from being made redundant.
I didn’t know that you paint until I saw a comment on one of your Facebook photos – the one with Chris sitting on the sofa, with a lovely red-and-white painting on the wall behind. I love that painting so much :) and is delighted to know that you’re the proud creator behind it!
Why do everyone have problems with their uncles? My university friend works for her uncle and he made unreasonable requests to her during her 3-month stint during summer break :/
Thanks! I’m feeling a lot better now – knowing that it’s almost payday and that my friend managed to shut my client up (she’s the middle person, as they gave her a job and she hired a designer, who is me).
You’re always welcome, Trina! I’m too happy that the card arrived in time :)
im glad that so far, i had no problem with my clients. yet, i won’t take this easy.
we need protection!
especially from big bullies! (big company)
@Stanley: Thank you!
@life4hire: Yea, I heard that office politics can be potentially devastating and deadly :/ yikes. But if I continue to follow my path as a part-time freelancer and a biologist, hope things will not be that bad :)
@xun: Lucky you :) your clients are such angels, heheh! The best protection is to know your rights.
there is always a first time for everything ;) and yea..dun be surprise of fickle minded ppl…from small company to huge comglomerate till governments hehehe
just take it with a pinch of salt and humour and the world keeps turning anyway (^o^)
have a great weekend coussie!
I’m not a web page designer or anything but an evil computer had some sort of mental breakdown and deleted the story I had been working for over a year. I didn’t smile for several weeks.
Wow I’m late this took place nearly two years ago