I got an order in the shop today for something that needed to be turned around really quickly, so I slapped something together, they liked round 1 and it’s on the press right now. So while the design is done, I’m still feeling like there was room for improvement and just kind of want to hear what you guys might have done differently.
The oddest part is that I didn’t get a brief so much as I got two designs to work from - the old art that they’d used in previous years, and a low-res printout of the client’s mockup of what they were thinking. So to post the work I did with the right context, I’d kind of have to be putting up two designs that weren’t my own for reference, and I’m not sure if that’s acceptable.
Without the visual reference, the best context is that they needed “passes” for the regional volleyball games that are business card sized and contain a lot of data crammed into it. I don’t think I could sum up the visuals I was given in an effective way, but I tried to take the principles I saw them aiming for and polish it up so it was a little less…a little less a lot is probably the best way to put it.
When something needs to be put together “really quickly” because the customer didn’t get it to me earlier and now it’s become urgent, well, they get what they deserve and pay a little extra for it.
It’s the kind of thing that gets done and quickly forgotten about.
Surprisingly, I don’t think so - I think these people did their own art originally. Both the old card and the new mockups had a very strong “made in microsoft word by a secretary” kind of vibe to them. I can’t say for sure, but I remember when we ran the cards last year they wanted the background changed to blue instead of red, and it was a headache.
The biggest reason I’m interested in posting it is to see if it would make a decent portfolio piece - a “given this and an hour, I produced this” - or if the slight dissatisfaction I’m feeling can be pinned to specific design choices that I could have made differently, and it should probably stay in the rush bin.
EDIT That, and just the desire for self improvement, I suppose.
They are passes for a regional volleyball game, they’ll have a very short lifespan, the client told you what they wanted, the client approved the art, and the job is on the press . . . I really don’t know what your concern is about. Not trying to be offensive, but this one is in bed. Move on to the next job.
Oh, it’s not a matter of concern, though re-reading my original post I guess I can see where the confusion could come from. Sorry about that. The request is odd in that the job is done, and I wasn’t sure if it’d be acceptable to post client-provided reference art that came with the brief.
Nothing about this post is urgent - I was just curious if anybody would be interested in poking at a rushed design and seeing if any of the flaws I was feeling were easily identified/rectified by others, so I could improve my work in the future - or on the other hand, if the flaws were deep and fundamental and would have taken a lot more time and back and forth than I was given.
It was intended to be a sort of casual “anybody want to tell me why this isn’t great” request. If nobody’s interested in looking at something that’s already shipped, it’s no big deal! Sorry again if the way I worded things made it confusing.
I see what you’re saying. You might be able to learn something or grow from a post-mortem, so to speak, of the job. Since you were working within the constraints of their previous job and what they told you they wanted, I don’t know if it will do much good.
I get the feeling and I’m only guessing: that maybe you feel like it wasn’t your best work. And to this I would say the work you produce is not a representation of you or reflection of you or what you’re capable of anymore than a piece of garbage is when you screw it up and throw it in the trash.
So while it’s easy for us all as creatives that have high standards to feel guilty about having work out there that we don’t feel is our best - in the interest of running a profitable business it’s important to sever the connection with what we have produced.
I think what you’ve done is great and if the clients are chuffed and what you’ve produced is fit for purpose, it’s a win.