After making a stupid mistake at work today, I decided to write down all my mistakes so far and gleam the lessons I learned from them. Partly to share these with you and also for me to see if I'm learning the same mistakes over and over again.
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A paper stock tradition that was not to be broken.I requested to print the
UMD (University of Minnesota Duluth) Annual Report on a matte finish paper rather than the traditional glossy magazine stock that they historically had used. It took some convincing with the higher ups and some penny pinching in the budget but I got my way and we specced a beautiful paper for the book. It was going to cost more, but I was convinced it would be well worth it. The design process of the book went on and when the time came to go to press with the book the paper was late arriving. I was not involved in the printing of the book at all. The publications director of UMD took over at that point and saw to all the press checks. Apparently once they received the paper there were problems with the chemistry and they could not get the images to reproduce well. They ended up sending the paper back and going with the paper used last year. I found this out after the books are already in the process of being printed. They turned out fine, it was just a disappointment to see my book not turn out exactly the way I had planned it.
Two lessons:1) Work with the printer immediately on the paper choice.
2) Be involved in the printing process of your pieces (seems obvious, but in this instance I was not given the option)-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Server's and dysfunctional backups.The work flow at
Mighty Fine Design was based around one central server that everyone worked on. Which means that there was a single file that everyone could work on.
Theoretically this server was backed up every night. Rick Loberg had asked me to work on a file that he had spent some time on. I, being, a smart and precautionary designer duplicate the file before I start to work on it so I have a backup to his file just in case. After working on the file for quite some time, Illustrator decided to crash. When attempting to reopen the file apparently it had been corrupted! Shit. So I navigate to the folder and drag the file to the trash. Since were working on a server my computer notified me that the file will be deleted immediately. Sure! Go ahead! I made a backup. DELETE. I then went to open the other file... Nothing. I deleted the wrong file, and the file left over was the corrupt file. 2 hours of my time and 4 hours of Rick's time gone! Luckily we have a nightly backup. I went over to the server to retrieve the file only to find that the backup hard-drive has been out of service for over a year. So that was it. File is gone, and Time was wasted, all with one stupid click of a button. After that day I made a trash folder on my desktop that i would empty every two weeks.
Three Lessons:
1) Backup your files. Make sure the backup is working!
2) Save Different versions.
3) Double check before you delete anything if you have to delete it.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You've got to kern it to earn it ®I designed packaging for the Musician
Dave Mehling's debut CD. The design came together quickly and fluidly. I am really happy with the result. It has to be one of my favorite projects. But after seeing it in print form, I noticed a slight kerning problem that had eluded me previously. Now whenever I look at the piece all I can see is the bad kerning! It instantly snags my eye and dulls my excitement for the piece.
Three lessons:
1) Kern and rekern it!
2) Print it out and look at it.
3) check your kerning.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Awol CrossbarSeveral versions and minor corrections to a skateboard design for
the FL Project of Forest lake. I finally released the files to the printer who was to produce the decks. somewhere along the line the cross bar of the t had disappeared. The resulting skateboard said something like The FL Projeci! Not a major deal, since that part of the graphic is obstructed by skateboard trucks. A Needless error nonetheless.
Two Lessons:
1) Triple Check your files before releasing them to the printer.
2) Get fresh eyes.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Beneficent ErrorTo design a lecture poster for
Rick Valicenti I redrew the cover of his monograph
"Emotion as Promotion" in illustrator, I proceeded to corrupt the file. The idea was to take ownership of his design by using a technique I had just discovered and represent that as a promotion for his lecture. Once I decided it was sufficiently messed up I tried to print out a proof on my dated Epson C80 printer. Little did I know that it would decide to croak at this very critical moment (the night before the lecture). What came out was even more destroyed than originally planned, Eureka! Tape it to my wood panel wall, photograph it, add some type and voila! A series of beautiful accidents result in nice finished product.
One lesson:
1) Learn from your mistakes and accidents. Use them to your advantage.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The designer shall not bear the mistakes of the friendWhile working on My senior Show Invite at UMD I navigated to the
Tweed Museum of Art website to get the piece of legal copy that was required on all senior show invites. I then commenced to copy and paste the text into my document. The legal information was a last thought and a requirement for my invitation, I didn't want it on there. The Invitations were printed, addressed, and mailed. They looked great, and people loved them. I was getting good feedback all the time. Then my friend
Topher called me up to tell me that there was a spelling error on my card in the legal copy about the Tweed Museum. Dang how could I have missed that! Typical of Topher to point it out to me... Wait a second, topher is the one who designed the Tweed website! I copied his spelling mistake right onto my senior show invite. CURSE YOU TOPHER!!! CURSE ME FOR NOT PROOFING WELL!!!
Two Lessons:
1) Proofread everything, even if you get if off of an organization's website. Especially if it's an organization's website that your friend designed.
2) Never trust a designer to proofread anything. Always get fresh eyes.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When copy and paste goes badDuring my short time here at
3st so far I collaborated with John a poster for the
IIT (Illinois Institute of Technology) Architecture lecture series. The front is a four color process with one spot color and the backside is just a four color process mix. I designed the Front and John did the back. We had a four color mix of an orange to match the spot color on the front. While tweaking the backside a bit I adjusted the size of an element to snap it to the grid and subsequently had to update it on the front of the poster. I copy and pasted it to the front in the same position. Later after releasing the files to the printer that it was the four color process and NOT the spot on the font. Luckily we noticed a couple edits to the poster we needed to do so I made the corrections as well as the correction to the color and sent it to the printer. When we received the proof from the printer I was informed that it was a four color process and not a spot. So I informed him that it should be the spot, but neglected to mark it on the proof. So today when we go to the press check the object is still four color. Dang. To correct it now would be too expensive because they would then need to re pull 5 plates, because it was now on all four colors and not on the 5th color. When in reality, it is not that large of a problem it is something that could have been completely avoided.
Three Lessons:
1) Always put in writing changes on the proof.
2) Little changes get considerably more expensive once you are on press (obvious, true, but the point is even more poignant when it's real life)
3) Always get fresh eyes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall lessons:
1) Look at the big picture.
2) Then look at the details.
3) Seperate yourself from the work, so you can see it objectively.
4) Get fresh eyes. Have someone look at it who isn't familiar with it like you are.
5) Learn from your mistakes.
