Uggghhhh

[Texas_Signmaker]

Me: Thanks for the file however it is too small and blurry to use on a 3'x5' sign. See if the donor has a better file, preferably EPS, AI or sometime PDF.

Client: Attached [is the same] file I converted to PDF for you, see if that will work.

Me:

 

[Gino]

Typical.

 

[Jay Grooms]

EVERY. DAMN. TIME!!!!

 

[iPrintStuff]

I did some graphics for a football (soccer) club three or four years ago.

They wanted some sponsors on there but hadn’t actually gotten sponsors, so in my mock up I had little areas left and just wrote the word “sponsor” in there whilst awaiting the logos for the sponsors.

They loved the mock up and proceeded to start using it right away (even though there was the word “sponsor” written across the bottom four times). I even sent an empty one upon noticing this and they didn’t use it.

fast forward three (or four) years and they’re still using the same graphics that have the word “sponsor” across the bottom. Upsets me every time i see it.

 

[iPrintStuff]

A personal favourite is

Me; hi, this photo is very poor quality and isn’t suitable for the canvas/print you would like, can you send me a higher quality photo. Please avoid Facebook/WhatsApp/twitter etc as they downsample photos (lower the quality).

Customer; hi, this one should work! (FB_IMG583837)

Me; That’s from Facebook, please send me the original.

Customer; This is definitely not from Facebook (FB_IMG583837)

 

[ewded]

Come'on guys, are you experts or not?

 

[GAC05]

Me: Thanks for the file however it is too small and blurry to use on a 3'x5' sign. See if the donor has a better file, preferably EPS, AI or sometime PDF.

Client: Attached [is the same] file I converted to PDF for you, see if that will work.

Me:

Type up your reply - screen cap it - blur it to death and send the image as the reply. When they reply that they can't read it, resend it as a PDF.

 

[Bobby H]

I always love (sarcasm) what too many clients do after I request a vector-based version of their logo instead of the dopey low-rez JPEG image they sent on the first attempt. A couple hours (or days) later I'll get an Adobe Illustrator AI file or an EPS, PDF or even CDR file containing the same dopey low-rez JPEG image. "Vector-based art? What is that!?"

Even more fun happens if they have no vector-based art of the image. We offer to re-build it in vector-format for an hourly rate. Some customers are so cheap they would rather us print that low quality JPEG image than have a professionally sharp re-creation of it on their sign.

Here's another funny (or anger inspiring) example: low resolution photographs provided by customers to print on large banners, signs or even billboards. When we ask them for a higher quality version (such as a copy of the original camera image) they'll sometimes send us a much larger version of the image. But that much larger version turns out to be a very soft, artificially up-rezzed copy of that low resolution image.

 

[iPrintStuff]

That’s exactly why I stopped specifying a rough file size for customers. I used to say any file over maybe 2MB should be ok enough quality for most sized canvases/prints.

Soooo they started taking SCREENSHOTS of their low res photos from Facebook and the screenshots were always like 2MB.

 

[GAC05]

Thinking about customer supplied art. I have a good customer that wanted to start bringing in a line of frozen shrimp. They would bring it in bulk packaged - break them down, repackage & brand with their local company logo. They wanted me to do up the artwork for the boxes.
"OK, we have photos of the shrimp, art files from the supplier, or do we need to do a shrimp photoshoot?"
"No, we have the artwork" Brings in a box from a competing brand.
"Take this out and put our logo here....."

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

I always love (sarcasm) what too many clients do after I request a vector-based version of their logo instead of the dopey low-rez JPEG image they sent on the first attempt. A couple hours (or days) later I'll get an Adobe Illustrator AI file or an EPS, PDF or even CDR file containing the same dopey low-rez JPEG image. "Vector-based art? What is that!?"

Even more fun happens if they have no vector-based art of the image. We offer to re-build it in vector-format for an hourly rate. Some customers are so cheap they would rather us print that low quality JPEG image than have a professionally sharp re-creation of it on their sign.

Here's another funny (or anger inspiring) example: low resolution photographs provided by customers to print on large banners, signs or even billboards. When we ask them for a higher quality version (such as a copy of the original camera image) they'll sometimes send us a much larger version of the image. But that much larger version turns out to be a very soft, artificially up-rezzed copy of that low resolution image.

How'd yall fare with the ice storm? Wichita got it pretty good. Been pretty cold and miserable last few days.

 

[Pewter0000]

Me: Here's your proof! You don't have a lot of space, so you don't want to over-crowd your text...

Them: Alright, can you just add this extra text?

Me: Sure... here's what it will look like.

Them: Actually, can you just add this extra text?

Me: ......Sure, it's gonna be a little hard to read though...

Them: And also add this extra text please

 

[Bobby H]

How'd yall fare with the ice storm? Wichita got it pretty good. Been pretty cold and miserable last few days.

Lawton miraculously didn't do too badly with this particular storm. We had some spotty power outages in town. There were a few interruptions of POTS land line phone service and cable Internet service in some places. Overall it could have been a lot worse. I was pretty worried yesterday with how the branches on trees in my neighborhood were sagging from just the ice that built up Monday afternoon.

I went to bed thinking another 1/2 inch or more was going to build up on trees and then tear them to pieces -leaving a giant mess to clean up (and maybe some substantial damage to my house). I'll never forget the ice storm we had early in 2010. That experience was pure hell. No power for a week, had to stay with friends, my house got burglarized and I spent a couple weeks cutting and hauling off tree branches. Thankfully most of what fell overnight here was sleet that didn't accumulate further on the trees. The only hassle was getting all the ice and slush off my truck so I could get to work.

The forecast is looking a little better tonight. Not as much freezing rain as originally forecast.

The situation has been quite a bit more dicey farther North and West of Lawton. Lots of power outages in the Oklahoma City area.

 

[jimbug72]

Some customers are so cheap they would rather us print that low quality JPEG image than have a professionally sharp re-creation of it on their sign.

Your shop must be someplace fancy. We almost NEVER have anyone willing to pay for a recreation. "That don't look too bad, just do it like that." is the response we usually get.

 

[Stacey K]

Here's a picture of my dog for my logo. Can you make her head face forward, close her mouth and give her feet?

 

[WYLDGFI]

Been there....done that. Someone designs in Xcel or Word....uggh.

 

[The Big Squeegee]

Here in Lawton it was not too bad. 3 of my trees had limbs broken off.
I was going to remove most of them anyway so the storm is giving me the opportunity to stack them in the front yard for the city to pick up without having to call for special pick up.
worked out the same way in 2010 as well.

I had a customer give me a business card with picture that he wanted copied to a 3' high banner. Not the best results but he seemed happy with it.

 

[Bobby H]

Been there....done that. Someone designs in Xcel or Word....uggh.

With Fort Sill nearby we got a lot of PowerPoint PPT files. Just as useless as a JPEG image, except a dose of more hassle.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

I remember getting logos via fax and having to clean them up.

 

[AMGearhart]

I once did signs for a fun run. The sponsor logos were on coroplast stepstake signs along the route, with each logo being about 18". At least four of the logos were 71 dpi. I asked them to please get better artwork, contact the sponsor, but it never happened. We even sent samples of how bad they'd look. A decade later, I still remember those horrible signs. We never did work for that fun run again either. It made us look bad.