What's the worst file you've been given to print?

[JBurton]

I just got one, pdf's supplied from a school for softball tournament brackets. I'll usually import something like this into corel and scope it out for issues... This particular one tried to crash corel, had all the fonts named 'AAAAAA Times blah blah', which is just a pleasure to fix, it also had all text broke apart, about 10,000 spaces that I didn't even realize could remain objects by themselves, and a pretty bad logo in the header that was the only part I was actually wanting to look at. One trick I'll try is to let gmail print a pdf and import that, it fixed the font naming but eliminated every 'y' at the end of Saturday/Sunday. The craziest was going through the import dialogue (I usually drag and drop out of laziness) caused all sorts of letters to be randomly assigned to different fonts. WTF is that about?
At any rate I just gave up, imported into onyx and resized it there. All came out ok.
Who can top it?

 

[DL Signs]

I really don't think I could narrow any one down as the worst in the decades I've been doing this. I've seen it all... Besides employment in this industry, my sideline for about the past ten years is doing ads for magazines, publications, and newspapers. Most of them I do from scratch, but some of them I get sent customer provided files to prepare for print (basically, they think they're a designer, here's their crap... Please re-do it from scratch so it'll work). The only advantage is they get to deal with the butt-hurt customers who get irate because their wonderful design won't work.

I never realized just how many publisher & design type, both web based and installed programs/ apps there are, and none of them provide a workable file. A lot of them I can't even open without using whatever they did it in, period, and none tell you which one they used, or don't know because it was on their kid's computer, or an app they found. The ones I can open, instead of using separate text boxes for different parts, or justifying text, they just use the damn space bar to get to where they want, and the usually show up as characters like yours. They use fonts that seem proprietary to whatever program they use, so they blow out, they use effects that aren't recognizable, they use images and logos that are bitmap at icon size, they think saving it as a pdf makes everything magically vector... Then there's the worst, it's heavily watermarked because they wouldn't spend $0.99 for the app. But hey, it looks good on the phone they used to make it, so it should work, right? Ugh... I probably vectorize 100+ logos a year from companies that either don't have one, lost it, or don't have a clue which format is for what, or they're not using an actual design program so the nice Ai, PDF or EPS logo won't place in it, so they use the same JPG they do for address labels. Everyone's a designer today...

The one thing I'd really like to know is, why do I keep doing this to myself? Good thing it's St Patty's day and I'm part Irish... I need a drink

 

[Zac]

That is downright vile, and I’ve received a lot of Arkansas ‘artwork’ over the years too.

But jeez man, that’s a whole ‘nother level of dysfunctional.

 

[Bobby H]

We frequently receive garbage quality files which customers expect us to print in large format or even use to make lighted signs. It happens so often that it's really difficult to think of any one example that could rank as the worst file.

PDFs that are not edit-friendly are common. Some simply have to be printed as-is because certain features in the document utterly break when imported into Adobe Illustrator. PDFs aren't too bad to receive if the goal is simply extracting artwork elements from the file. The Flatten Transparency dialog box in Illustrator can fix issues such as missing fonts (it converts the type objects to outlines). Astute Graphics' Vector First Aid plugin is pretty handy for fixing a lot of other common problems. It can't fix everything though.

PowerPoint files suck. We get PPT and PPTX files from military customers all the time, even after they've been told PowerPoint isn't any good and we need files in certain other formats. Plus they'll bring the files to our shop burned on a CD. Security rules ban them from using USB memory sticks or even emailing the files. Dealing with a CD-R disc was not a problem in the past. Now it is. Most modern computers don't have built-in DVD/CD drives. And of the few computers that do have built-in CD burners the drives have terribly flimsy build quality. The DVD/CD burner in my co-worker's new PC failed after only a few months. The one in my tower works, but the other day I had to take apart the case to dig a CD-R disc out of it, thanks to the disc popping off the drive spindle while loaded in the PC. The Army is going to have to figure out something with this CD problem soon.

Then there's the tide of pixel-based "logos." JPEG (or is it J-Pig?) is the most popular format, followed by PNG -basically any low-res junk that can be grabbed off a web page. "It's a digital file, right? That's good, isn't it?"

It's always fun to receive an AI, EPS or PDF file from a customer after they first tried sending a "logo" as a JPEG image. When you open the AI file it's bound to have the same JPEG image placed inside.

 

[gnubler]

99% of files from customers are all the worst. My current rage is getting Canva files, they're always wrong and usually ugly to boot. Smartphones are making it worse, nobody knows where their logo files are anymore, or how to download/move them from the phone.

Back in the day a customer ordered triplicate forms with a slew of 4pt fine print on the back...sent it over via fax, it looked like it was a copy of a copy of a copy...and argued with us when told there would be typesetting charges to get it set up properly. "F that, just print what I sent you."

Anything from Quark or Publisher, even exported PDFs. All drink-inducing. Once had a customer bring in a file to print a product box, boasting that he spent hours and hours in Publisher and he wanted it to look exactly like his design...that race car website posted here the other day reminded me of the design scheme. File completely unusable, we ended up firing him.

I frequently get crappy JPGs saved as PDF or EPS, "here's our logo in vector format". Or they'll up-res a pitifully low quality image in Photoshop to like 600dpi, thinking we must be total idiots for not knowing that brilliant trick.

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

Most memorable was a client that provided us with a 320x200px 2 colour file and needed it printed to a full sheet of ACM 8'x4'.
Ended up running a vectorization in Illustrator, re-scaled it and printed. Client was stoked with the result somehow, but definitely the worst supplied file we've ever seen.

 

[DL Signs]

We have a local company we do work for that does modular wall panels, and once in a while they get requests for custom artwork on them. It has to be all vector because they finish them with architectural coatings, and everything is done by stenciling, we've done a few for them without any issues. Last year we started doing a job off of artwork that came from a "professional designer", first batch of artwork came in and couldn't even be opened, next batch could be with notes on it that no one was allowed to make any modifications other than scaling and tiling. It was all for the face of a building in California, they hired a designer out there to do the artwork, the panels spanned over 100' so the artwork came in at 1/32 scale with several layers consisting of patterns that were made up of copy & pasted bitmaps, and already pixelated at that size. No one could talk directly to the designer, you had to go through his "personal assistant" who didn't know anything about designing, he took weeks to return calls to anyone, and wouldn't talk to anyone here, not us, or the company making the panels. After the third or fourth time we got files that were unusable, we offered to just re-draw the parts that weren't vector, but we needed the OK from someone, and that we'd have to be paid for the time (I could have fixed the whole mess in hours). By this time the building was ready, waiting for the panels, so they approached their "designer" again for new files, even told him if he couldn't provide it in all vector they would gladly just pay us so they can finish the building. I guess he blew a gasket, quit, threatened to sue everyone, and wouldn't allow any part of what he "designed" to be used... I heard he got tens of thousands up front for his copy & pasted garbage, that I'm sure they'll have to sue him to get back. We did get paid for the time we had vested by our local customer, and after six plus months of headaches trying to get simple vector files from a "professional designer" and failing, the building ended up with solid color panels.
Everyone is a designer these days...

 

[Bobby H]

99% of files from customers are all the worst. My current rage is getting Canva files, they're always wrong and usually ugly to boot. Smartphones are making it worse, nobody knows where their logo files are anymore, or how to download/move them from the phone.

Moving files on/off a phone fast & easy is one reason I've been in the Android camp. If I connect my iPad to my computer the only thing the iPad shows in Windows File Explorer is the DCIM folder. When my phone is connected to a PC I can see any folder on the phone in Windows File Explorer and move files on and off the phone. That's without using any third party apps or cloud stuff.

But so many computer users don't even know how to manage their files. They'll save everything in the "My Documents" folder. Or they'll save all kinds of junk right on the desktop! They don't want to open Windows File Explorer on a PC or the Finder on a Mac. The same people will have their phone's internal storage completely maxed out with photos and videos they haven't bothered to back up. They don't want to learn file management despite the risks they're taking with their data.

I have a very difficult time sympathizing with these people when they lose a bunch of files due to some catastrophe, such as a failing hard disc drive, or they lose their phone. It is so freaking easy to manage files in a graphical user interface based operating system. When I was first learning how to use computers during middle school in the early 1980's our computers had black screens with a monochrome text command line. We're talking Radio Shack TRS-80 computers with 16k of RAM, an Apple II or a first-gen IBM PC. Computer users these days are so freaking spoiled.

BTW, Canva does suck. I do not like the PDFs people generate with it.

Everyone is a designer these days...

Tell me about it. This week I had a headache involving a local "professional designer." I needed vector artwork of a local company's logo. The logo was fairly complicated. They initially sent the typical batch of PNG and JPEG images. I told them no, I need vector-based artwork. The company owner said she would have to get in touch with the graphics person she hired to do the work. This graphics person kept sending f**King JPEG and PNG images, basically refusing to send what I needed. I emailed her, saying if I have to re-build this artwork in vector format her client is going to get billed for all the design time it takes to do the conversion. Considering the nature of their artwork that's going to mean at least a couple hundred or more dollars.

I'm pretty sure this graphics person created the artwork in a vector program. I think she wouldn't send over an AI, EPS, PDF or CDR of the graphics because she didn't want anyone else having an equivalent of her "master file," including her client. I guess that's so she can nickel and dime the client with service charges any time the client needs any sort of work done involving their brand.

 

[Johnny Best]

I'm pretty sure this graphics person created the artwork in a vector program. I think she wouldn't send over an AI, EPS, PDF or CDR of the graphics because she didn't want anyone else having an equivalent of her "master file," including her client. I guess that's so she can nickel and dime the client with service charges any time the client needs any sort of work done involving their brand.

Had to laugh when I read this. That is the advice people on here give to others who complain the artwork they designed is trying to be used by others. "send them a low res .jpg file and tell them to pay for your artwork".

 

[Bobby H]

Had to laugh when I read this. That is the advice people on here give to others who complain the artwork they designed is trying to be used by others. "send them a low res .jpg file and tell them to pay for your artwork".

In this case I'm pretty sure the client has already paid for the creation of her artwork. The "designer" person is keeping possession of the best quality, vector version and only providing pixel-based versions of various fixed sizes to anyone else. I think that's stupid. It puts the client on the spot when dealing with people like me. And the client probably gets to pay again and again for basic, chicken-s*** tasks -such as this "designer" emailing a pile of worthless pixel-based images to me.

And really it's a big waste of time for a graphics person to act like a gate-keeper of a vector logo. It's one thing if the person in the process of designing a company's brand and haven't been paid for any work yet. After that project is finished I think it's best to move on. Ultimately a logo is just a design element. Being stingy over that element will run the risk of making a client unhappy. An unhappy client could be less likely to hire that graphics person for other projects, possibly projects that are bigger and more lucrative. It's just as likely the company could hire a different freelancer, even if it involves tossing out that existing logo and starting over.

If we create a company's brand or do a pixel-to-vector conversion of an existing piece of art we charge them one time and that's it. If they call up needing a copy of their logo, even in vector formats, we'll send it immediately. But our main business is selling various types of signs, not being gate-keepers of logo art files.

 

[Eforcer]

I just got one, pdf's supplied from a school for softball tournament brackets. I'll usually import something like this into corel and scope it out for issues... This particular one tried to crash corel, had all the fonts named 'AAAAAA Times blah blah', which is just a pleasure to fix, it also had all text broke apart, about 10,000 spaces that I didn't even realize could remain objects by themselves, and a pretty bad logo in the header that was the only part I was actually wanting to look at. One trick I'll try is to let gmail print a pdf and import that, it fixed the font naming but eliminated every 'y' at the end of Saturday/Sunday. The craziest was going through the import dialogue (I usually drag and drop out of laziness) caused all sorts of letters to be randomly assigned to different fonts. WTF is that about?
At any rate I just gave up, imported into onyx and resized it there. All came out ok.
Who can top it?
View attachment 164558

Too many over the years...But I love it when you appeal to those clients for better artwork, and they respond with. The other printer never had these problems. Makes you wonder, why they are not using these other printers...


Sign Up!

 

[Abraxas Aguilera]

I worked in small format printing before joining the sign world about 8 years ago. We had a Government Print Office contract for 10 years. Every month I would get an 8.5" x 11", single sided flyer that we printed on glossy text weight paper. The file was always over 1GB and would take forever to rip & print.

 

[PinkPrintingPixie]

This was an 18x24 yard sign from years ago... the customer was happy with it...... bruh. (I was back at office depot then - I did not have the pride nor tenacity to argue more than "are you sure this is good to print?" in a very disappointed tone)

 

[Smart Ideas]

Had to laugh when I read this. That is the advice people on here give to others who complain the artwork they designed is trying to be used by others. "send them a low res .jpg file and tell them to pay for your artwork".

Yeah. And 1080px works best for me for low res

 

[ColorCrest]

I seem to remember it was the absolute, very first file.

 

[gnubler]

I seem to remember it was the absolute, very first file.

And every single one since then?

 

[PinkPrintingPixie]

Moving files on/off a phone fast & easy is one reason I've been in the Android camp. If I connect my iPad to my computer the only thing the iPad shows in Windows File Explorer is the DCIM folder. When my phone is connected to a PC I can see any folder on the phone in Windows File Explorer and move files on and off the phone. That's without using any third party apps or cloud stuff.

But so many computer users don't even know how to manage their files. They'll save everything in the "My Documents" folder. Or they'll save all kinds of junk right on the desktop! They don't want to open Windows File Explorer on a PC or the Finder on a Mac. The same people will have their phone's internal storage completely maxed out with photos and videos they haven't bothered to back up. They don't want to learn file management despite the risks they're taking with their data.

I have a very difficult time sympathizing with these people when they lose a bunch of files due to some catastrophe, such as a failing hard disc drive, or they lose their phone. It is so freaking easy to manage files in a graphical user interface based operating system. When I was first learning how to use computers during middle school in the early 1980's our computers had black screens with a monochrome text command line. We're talking Radio Shack TRS-80 computers with 16k of RAM, an Apple II or a first-gen IBM PC. Computer users these days are so freaking spoiled.

BTW, Canva does suck. I do not like the PDFs people generate with it.



Tell me about it. This week I had a headache involving a local "professional designer." I needed vector artwork of a local company's logo. The logo was fairly complicated. They initially sent the typical batch of PNG and JPEG images. I told them no, I need vector-based artwork. The company owner said she would have to get in touch with the graphics person she hired to do the work. This graphics person kept sending f**King JPEG and PNG images, basically refusing to send what I needed. I emailed her, saying if I have to re-build this artwork in vector format her client is going to get billed for all the design time it takes to do the conversion. Considering the nature of their artwork that's going to mean at least a couple hundred or more dollars.

I'm pretty sure this graphics person created the artwork in a vector program. I think she wouldn't send over an AI, EPS, PDF or CDR of the graphics because she didn't want anyone else having an equivalent of her "master file," including her client. I guess that's so she can nickel and dime the client with service charges any time the client needs any sort of work done involving their brand.

I dunno, I'd be more willing to bet you found a "self taught graphic designer" who either made it in photoshop, or got it on fivver and is lying to their client. If they are that reluctant to at least provide an EPS - they probably don't have one.

 

[Bobby H]

Certain features in the artwork have me pretty much convinced the "designer" actually did create the artwork in a vector-based application. Also, usually when I see "logos" that are created using Adobe Photoshop (or another pixel-based image editing application) the "designers" often go nuts with the gradients, soft edges and glowy-glowy effects. When I see a design where the elements have flat colors and hard edges it's a clue that more often than not the design was created in a vector application.

 

[PinkPrintingPixie]

Certain features in the artwork have me pretty much convinced the "designer" actually did create the artwork in a vector-based application. Also, usually when I see "logos" that are created using Adobe Photoshop (or another pixel-based image editing application) the "designers" often go nuts with the gradients, soft edges and glowy-glowy effects. When I see a design where the elements have flat colors and hard edges it's a clue that more often than not the design was created in a vector application.

I wish I could say the same, but as someone with a background in GRDS I had many a peer use the text feature in Photoshop (or a free equivalent) and think that was good. They design it at "high resolution" and think that's good enough. Lots of digital illustrator friends taking up side work of logo design do this too. I don't know them quite well enough to chastise them, but I sigh every time. Nowadays, people are also using AI software and "free logo generators" which may do that too. Ugh.

There's just no point in NOT providing an eps file. If you outlined your strokes and fonts then there isn't much that can be done to alter it that couldn't be done otherwise with a bit of spit and knowhow. I'm not disagreeing with you - but it would just be super dumb on the designers fault. I keep "live files" with uncropped links in INDS and not-outlined fonts, but that's all really.

Agree with the stupid gradients and drop shadows/ glows though. Having a LOT of those come through the shop lately.

 

[Bobby H]

A bunch of these "designers" trying to do graphics work as a side-hustle enjoy passing themselves off as "professionals" when spamming their services. If we're talking about professionalism and credentials/experience, they don't have the muscles needed to lift my jock strap. And their "expertise" at using Photoshop can be easily exposed as very limited when pressing them on work-arounds to deliver a vector file. Work paths can be created from live type objects and saved for exporting in Illustrator format. The same goes for shape layers. Work paths can be generated from selections (and usually result in closed loop paths too). The Pen Tool in Photoshop works very similar to the Pen Tool in Illustrator. "Oh wow, I didn't know Photoshop could do that." Some of these "pros" don't even understand the differences between pixels and vectors. And that makes me wonder how they got a copy of Photoshop.

I try to be polite to these (let's be honest) amateurs when dealing with their trashy art files. Every once in awhile one will piss me off by taking a "I'm better than you" attitude because I'm working full time at a sign company and he "owns his own business." Uh, yeah. A side hustle making money in addition to that day job at Walmart isn't quite "self employed." Regardless of whose "status" is superior the difference is I know what I'm doing with graphics software and have actual talent and know-how. The condescending wannabe douche does not.