Marlene
New Member
customer supplied artwork is a nightmare at best. I can't show you what I was given as it is being paid for by a major national company that we make signs for and it wouldn't be right to flash it around. lets just say it had everything wrong that could be, yellow lettering with the same yellow shadow, fonts forced and crushed out of shape to the point where they the words were not readable, way too much copy and more.
we talk on the site a lot about what to do when we are faced with a horrid logo or layout that a customer wants and should or shouldn't we talk them out of it. this isn't the first time I have been faced with this issue and wanted to share the results. I worked with the lady who owns the restaurant and just told her outright that the layout for the sign was in need of some work. I set her out on a mission to think up a line of copy that best told the public about what makes them special. I've done this with other custoemrs and have been really happy with the ideas they come up with. her restaurant has been around since 1966 and serves fresh made burgers, no frozen, no pre-made patties, fresh cut fries and real milkshakes. what she came up with is "Serving Old Fashion Favorites since 1966". with a little bit of clipart and a font that looks 1960ish, I came up with a sign that works without a lot of effort on my part.
some times, involving the customer in a major change from the crap they bring us isn't really involving design but an idea works. they don't feel bad at all that you used nothing from what they brought you as they are a part of the process. it won't work every time, but give it a try as I've done this a few times and it saves putting a horrid design out there for the world to see. customer's don't know anything about designing but they do know what it is that they do.
we talk on the site a lot about what to do when we are faced with a horrid logo or layout that a customer wants and should or shouldn't we talk them out of it. this isn't the first time I have been faced with this issue and wanted to share the results. I worked with the lady who owns the restaurant and just told her outright that the layout for the sign was in need of some work. I set her out on a mission to think up a line of copy that best told the public about what makes them special. I've done this with other custoemrs and have been really happy with the ideas they come up with. her restaurant has been around since 1966 and serves fresh made burgers, no frozen, no pre-made patties, fresh cut fries and real milkshakes. what she came up with is "Serving Old Fashion Favorites since 1966". with a little bit of clipart and a font that looks 1960ish, I came up with a sign that works without a lot of effort on my part.
some times, involving the customer in a major change from the crap they bring us isn't really involving design but an idea works. they don't feel bad at all that you used nothing from what they brought you as they are a part of the process. it won't work every time, but give it a try as I've done this a few times and it saves putting a horrid design out there for the world to see. customer's don't know anything about designing but they do know what it is that they do.
