Over the past 5 years we have worked on some great projects and have learnt a lot over that time. We’re only human after all and there have been a few mistakes along the way. As perfectionists we were devastated at the time but we can look back now at the following stories and laugh. Enjoy!
Not a great success
In the early years of the business we were briefed by a client to refresh their awards evening branding. This was a great project for us as we would be graduating the year after. We took what had been produced previously and gave it a refresh, the original graphics were signed off and transferred to other materials including tickets, web graphics, brochures and graphics for the event. All the materials went to print, it wasn’t until we got them back that we noticed the glaring mistake. Can you spot it?
The word ‘success’ had somehow got 3 s’s. Seeing as it was used in a word stack it just wasn’t spotted. The client was very understanding and we had just about enough time to get everything reprinted. Lesson learnt always triple check your artwork.
Check your software
Often when we design a website we offer the client some basic training on how they can manage their website and up date basics like blog post etc. This is normally done on a one to one basis but in this instance the client wanted a whole department trained. This is a little unusual for us but we took on the challenge and booked a meeting room and hired in the appropriate equipment so that we could train the clients and they could put what they had leant into action.
What we didn’t think about is compatibility of the software we had built the website in and the software preload onto the equipment. 25 minutes before the client arrived we discovered this problem and began to try and update 20 iMacs. Believe me 25 minutes has never gone by so slowly as those installation bars slowly crept forward. Lucky we got most of the machines updated and the training went as planned. Lesson learnt always check the compatibility of your software and files.
Leave it to the experts
October 2016, we had just completed the branding for a customer who was opening a Deli and Bar in the local area. The client wanted the windows frosted and the logo to be shown within the frosting. This wasn’t a problem we had done the designs and sent them off to a local company to have them cut and installed. Unfortunately due to a mix up with dates the company could not install the frosting before the Deli was set to open. We thought to ourselves ‘how hard can it be?’ Well, let me tell you…’very’ is the answer. We spent a whole day putting the frosting up and there was a lot of swearing and shouting. Although it looked good in the end, lesson learnt leave it to the experts.
Don’t bodge it
In 2017 we were invited back to the college that we studied at to exhibit as part of alumni exhibition. This was a great honour but the deadline was quite tight and we didn’t want to throw a whole load of money at it. We decided to create a single board to display a range of projects we had worked on since leaving. In our wisdom and to save money we thought we could have this printed on a large format printer and the mount it across serval pieces of mount board. Well along with the creases in the artwork and the fact it collapsed in the middle it was a complete disaster. We had a beg one of our suppliers to print it on 3mm foamex for the net day. Lesson learnt don’t bodge a job it will cost you in the long run.
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Make sure you get the correct delivery address
We thought we would end this section with one of our most recent stories. After completing some folder artwork for a client we were instructed to oversee the printing of them. We sent it off to one of our suppliers and thought no more about it. A week later a very large lorry pulled up outside and unloaded two pallets of boxes. The offices we are in have a mixture of business so we presumed it was for someone else. After unloading the driver knocked on our door, we had unfortunately not given the printers the address of the client. The driver refused to move them and we were left with 1000 folders on our door step. Several car journeys to the client later we had finally moved them all. Lesson learnt always check the delivery address for your orders.