John Cade

As with any profession, being a designer has its ups and downs. My success is defined by my creativity and how other people perceive my art. There are no rules to follow. It is more exciting than desperately trying to meet a sales goal or struggling to increase the bottom line of Company X in hopes of receiving an annual bonus. Don’t get me wrong, corporate jobs are equally as important in most cases, and many people who have them enjoy them. However, the biggest perk of designing for a living is that it isn’t monotonous because each project must be unique. Therefore each day is unique. And so on.

With this freedom, however, often comes frustration. I’m not referring to ‘designers block’ here. What I’m talking about is much more frustrating than that. It’s the disconnect between the finalized design and the quality and accuracy of the display of the design in its final environment that can cause frustration. Let me give you a real life example.

I was assigned to design an identity for a youth group retreat called Wired. Naturally, Nathan and I went through all of the ways we could work wires into the logo, hoodie, and banner designs. We sent a few comps to the client, and they responded with a few minor adjustments. With those adjustments made, the design was done, and everything was sent off to be printed.

This is where I start to get nervous. How will everything turn out?

I ordered the banners onilne. We had never seen a banner that this company has printed. To boot, they are located in California. This alone is enough to make any designer worry. Ordering a 12 foot by 5 foot poster, sight unseen? That’s ludicrous! I thought so too. But this company was extremely affordable and their turn-around time was 24 hours. Alas, we ordered them, but not without hesitation. While Nathan and I discussed everything that go wrong, the posters were shipped, and came back perfect. We were amazed! We couldn’t have asked for better quality.

We also placed an order for some hoodies around the same time that were scheduled to be printed and picked up on January 17, one day prior to the event.

• Problem #1: On the 17th, the order wasn’t ready.
• Problem #2: The printer says “We have never printed a design across a zipper like this, so we are going to have to have to cover the center of it with a piece of tape.”

At this point, I’m thinking

Fabulous. Rather than splitting the design down the middle and making a new screen with everything in tact, you’re just going to knock out a line down the center of my design?

What’s the worst that can happen though, right? Zippers are thin. So it can’t be that bad.

But it can. What’s wrong with this picture?

The knockout is two inches wide, at least! It looks like a roll of duct tape was used to do it!

Outrageous! Why did I let this happen?

Now that is frustrating. At least I can take something from this situation though. Next time someone says “We’ve never done this before”, run for the hills!

As a side note, the incredibily beautiful model in the picture is my fiance. Thanks, Meredith!