Hi all, I’m new here. Thanks in advance for reading/responding!
I have a situation that I’ve never dealt with before and not sure how to handle it.
I created a logo for a client who is an artist (mostly oil painting) and also a personal trainer. She needed a logo for the PT gig. She gave me some strong guidelines that included the use of a woman’s face. I sent the first version and she liked it but said the eyes needed more work. With each revision, she comes up with a different critique of the eyes. Too round, not enough eye lashes, pupils/iris don’t look right . . . On and on. Finally (after the sixth revison just working on the eyes), she says she wants to draw the eyes herself. I thought that was a great idea - we can get off this merry-go-round and she can have eyes that she’s totally happy with. I gave her some perameters so I can convert her drawing into a vector.
Some time passes, I send a message asking for an update and she says she’s still working on it - sorry it’s taking so long so go ahead and bill me. I send an invoice (for the full balance) and she pays it immediately.
More time passes and I get an email from her with a mockup of my logo but another graphic designer’s eyes. She says she contacted another graphic designer and she produced eyes that were acceptable to her. Now can I incorporate the other designers eyes into my work? Nevermind that the new eyes are no better (they are round and not almond shaped like she originally said she wanted) than the eyes I created.
Anyway, I’m at a loss of what to do. Honestly, I don’t want to mess with it. The deal was that SHE would create the eyes - not another designer. I feel like just sending my work to the other designer and say, “Here you go, it’s your baby now.”
What would you do? Honsetly, I’m not even sure if I should be offended by this. And I don’t even know what my obligation is at this point.
Yes, I know that’s semantics…you did of course do the work, but make no mistake; the client owns it and can do whatever she pleases with it. If it was agreed the eyes were to be other-sourced, why does it make a difference who drew them?
If it was me, that’s all that would matter at this point.
Yes, you want to do good, effective work that provides results to advance the client’s business objectives. But, you can’t force anyone to conduct their business as you’d prefer, recommend, or do yourself. When a client takes full control of a job out of your hands, it’s on them.
It sounds as though she doesn’t understand the purpose of a logo anyway. And it sounds like you were never especially happy with her micromanaging.
In the end, doing a good job that you can be proud of is a great feeling. Sometimes clients make that impossible. In those situations, deposit the check, move on, and find a little perverse humor in knowing the less-than-good client intentionally paid full price for less than what you were capable delivering.
Since she just seemed to want something that struck her particular fancy, you can hardly take your inability to read her mind as a deficiency on your part.
Always keep in mind that this is just business. You earned your fee, and the money from one job is just as good as the money from the next.
Mr.B is right. You got paid for your portion of the work. AND the client came back to you to finish the piece. As long as the client continues to pay for the work, that’s all you can ask for.
If it’s a pride issue about the eyes, you simply need to let it go.
I just had a similar issue with a logo design involving the illustration of hands in a particular pose. The work is about 90% there, but the client just isn’t satisfied. He paid a deposit, and then paid the remaining billable time, and I referred him to another artist.
I dont have time to go back and forth about the space between the fingers, and the shape of the thumbs. I’ll HAPPILY pass him to another designer.
The client wasn’t happy but didn’t do you any disservice. While the outcome isn’t the best situation, you have been paid and the client is happy with their logo.
Now can I incorporate the other designers eyes into my work?
Can you clarify what you mean by this? The logo belongs to your client. If you are designing a flyer for them, then yes, you would use your client’s current logo, even if you didn’t design it 100%.
Sorry, I didn’t make that clear. She was asking me if I could incorporate the eyes into my design.
Okay, thanks for the perspective. Perhaps it was just a prideful thing on my part. I just couldn’t get over the fact that the eyes are no different from the revisions I produced. At this point, I guess anything that puts this thing to bed.
Thanks so much for the thoughtful responses. What a great forum!