Kens Pen

Why do people who could not possibly begin to do the technical task they hired you to do, try to tell you how to do your business?

Why do people hire designers when they have no clue about what they want, then become upset with the result?

There is a true need in the industry of Convergent Marketing for Project Managers who have actually done the type of work and truly understand what they are asking to be done.

I call upon all you developers, producers, and designers to think about moving up from the production end of the chain, for the good of the industry.

Why? Because all too often, the people who are “in charge” don’t know, they won’t listen, and they have already made promises they should not have made, which they expect you to make good on.

Here are a few examples of what are we trying to fix:

Technical:

1. The client wants television-size video to download instantly, and run smoothly on computers dating back to 1995.
2. The client wants to deliver HTML e-mail that is all caps and bold with the phrase CLICK HERE! in red after every paragraph. The e-mail must make it to every inbox  without being flagged for spam or there will be hell to pay.
3. The client wants a web banner with 14 lines of text animated on 10 screens with a photographic image on each + a video — and it must be under 40kb.

Design:

1. The client asks you for a design but they have no idea what they want, so they use terms like “artsy” or “hip” - a recipe for disaster. Also beware of the term: “pop”.
2. The client says “I want the finished product to look just like (somebody else’s design)”! You warn them that this is not the proper tone, a greeting card website should not look like a motorcycle companies’ website. The client ignores your advice and when he finally shows it to his boss, it’s your fault.

Cluelessness + a Total Disregard for Reality:

1. I want you to do (difficult task), it’s really easy!
2. I need this by (impossible deadline)!
3. Why can’t you do (Impossible task that does not exist), I’ve seen it before?!

This list is by no means exhaustive. Feel free to add to it!

Kenneth Fisher

Tags: convergence

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 19th, 2009 at 5:55 pm and is filed under Freelancing, Rants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.