Are our workplace problems unique?

[olcvisual]

Sure everyone, regardless of discipline, has bad bosses, bad coworkers, bad environments, etc. But after reading and skimming some of these posts we apparently have problems that are unqiue specifically to designers and perhaps generally to creatives. Mainly, our bosses and coworkers are not familiar with design and the creative process but many think they do. For example the company owner at my first job thought designers and writers just spend all day "monkeying around on the computer."

Post Edited (olcvisual) : 5/24/2004 8:43:43 PM GMT

[defjoe]

I think our industry is unique in that way. We don't have the typical bosses, for the points you just said. They think what we do is 'easy' (this goes with the general public as well). Just pushing a few buttons. but what few realize is that the buck usually stops where we are. We are the communicators to the masses. What we do brings in the customer. We have to be the visual directors of a said company. so really, when you think about it, we can arguably be the most important aspect of any company. If not for us... no one would know that said company exsisted. It sucks but it is the way it is.

'I will become the most powerful Jedi ever!'

[D-Zine]

Its funny you say 'just push a few buttons'! My bossman is always telling me that. He will ask me to do something and what it will take to do it and I will explain to him the process that has to be done to get the impossible thing done that he wants done and he always says 'c'mon, all you have to do is push a few bottons' and deep down I know he is kinda playing bc that's how he is but at the same time I think he still believes that and it kinda jerks my chain ya know...LOL!

What you say is true tho...I mena we are the communicators in the businesses that we work for. I wish more people would realize that. No chance huh? ;o)

http://coastalcarousel.com/GDF/metatag3.jpg

Who says doodling isn't constructive?!

[olcvisual]

defjoe said...
I think our industry is unique in that way. We don't have the typical bosses, for the points you just said. They think what we do is "easy" (this goes with the general public as well). Just pushing a few buttons. but what few realize is that the buck usually stops where we are. We are the communicators to the masses. What we do brings in the customer. We have to be the visual directors of a said company. so really, when you think about it, we can arguably be the most important aspect of any company. If not for us... no one would know that said company exsisted. It sucks but it is the way it is.


Designers are communicators. Unfortunately, many people including some designers think designers just make things look good.

[D-Frag]

I lost my last job cuz i was 'surfing the internet' I was actually doing tutorials, but watever.....I say F em all and start your own company and be your own boss :)



censored by the all mighty gods of reality. (http://www.broadjam.com/songtracking/playsonghifi.asp?songID=70045&play_file=6353_70045 &sessionID=AD25B69960314533A78B9AE267360C5E&sessio nINDEX=5525)

[D-Zine]

That's what I'm talkin about!!!!!! Fk 'em! w00t! LOL

http://coastalcarousel.com/GDF/metatag3.jpg

Who says doodling isn't constructive?!

[Rocketpig]

My method of getting around bosses who don't appreciate my work is to stop working entirely.

I may not get much done, but I sure know a lot about ESPN.com now. And my boss just gave me a 3 dollar an hour raise.

What a sucker.

/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Being a one-man advertising guy in a small business, you become very good at juggling.

[Magnus]

Actually, there are many fields where the boss/employee problem is similar to the graphic design one. Take prostitutes for example. They get no respect at all. A bitch slap at the end of the day and a boot in the ass. Now that's a tough job.

"The function of a warrior is to eliminate an exterior enemy presence. A warrior is an antitoxin, a protector. The warrior does combat where and when necessary and not otherwise. "


- Ambrose Hollingworth Redmoon

[Silence04]

yeah, it sucks when people think you work 10% as hard as you actually do....

but it is funny when they try to talk to you in 'photoshop' lingo....like...
'you should put one of those 'Alt+F7 Blur Vectorizer Filter' button combinations on the background...don't you think?'


http://www.jdcgraphics.net/banner.gif

Post Edited (Silence04) : 5/28/2004 4:46:29 AM GMT

[aprilcartergrant]

Oh, man. When I first started where I work, I had a boss who was notorious about saying, 'Isn't it as simple as...' and 'it would be just a few clicks.' Fortunately, the REAL boss man completely understands the creative process (or at least understands enough to know to leave us alone and let us do our thing). Since the 'few clicks' guy was asked to leave, everything has been much better. We get a lot of 'is it done yet?,' but no one implies that our work is easy or necessarily fast anymore.

The main problem we have is that the IT guy knows nothing about Macs, and he's pulled a million different ways... so we Macs are not connected to each other or to the PC network or to a shared server or printer (we each have our own printer). Since he's pulled so many ways, the IT guy cannot be expected to go take night classes to learn about Macs or anything. He already works like 80 hours a week. And, we are on the same circuit as the kitchen. So, if both microwaves are running at the same time, our fuse blows. It's sort of a growing-pains issue; we are moving in a couple of months (and are on top of each other until then), and I have a Mac and network guy coming in next week... if we could access everything as freely as the PC side of the office, we'd be great!

+++ april carter +++

Coming soon: www.sugarsock.com

[PrintDriver]

Get OSX. No problem accessing the PC network servers. Minor problem for IT when they have to go in and fix everyone's PC so the Macs couldn't read all their hard drives too. LOL. Just went thru that. Security is much tighter now.

[3howards]

get osx, easier said than done. some companies don't see the need to updgrade the os on their computers if everything is working, too an extent.

april, how'd you guys end up with a tech that can't work in a mac environment? my husband is a the tech guy at his organization and has to know everything, i mean everything. web design and development, pc/mac troubleshooting, software updates and purchasing, network administration, firewall setup and maintenance, ... i could go on and on. the crazy thing is that he deals with the same crap from his bosses. they think he doesn't do anything because things run smoothly. heh, there's a reason things run smoothly. they give him new projects and expect them to be completed in an unrealistic timeframe, assuming that all he has to do is 'push a few buttons'. just like us i guess. my clients, and your employers think that because the 'marketing and communications' is working, you're not. pretty ironic actually.

some employers will eventuall understand, but then there are those that won't. it's a matter of respecting something you don't know. it's when you run into people that 'think' they know when it becomes a problem.

[Rocketpig]

I think I know the reason why we, like the IT guys, often get the 'it's just a few clicks of a button, it can't be hard' mentality:

It's because our employers usually know virtually nothing about design/IT work.

When you don't understand something, you often times have the tendency to think that it is either harder or easier to complete.

And bosses, almost always without fail, lean toward the 'it must be easy' end of the spectrum.

If I was any less productive right now, I'd be comatose.