Yup, I'm serious... What has traditionally been one of the craziest press days of my month went quite smoothly. Very much overlong, due to the Editor being incredibly slack. I spent a lot of time advancing my next couple of flatplans, and trying to decide whether or not I could safely work on web ads... But eventually the pages came through. Slowly.
Doesn't help that the Designer isn't exactly quick in her work, or assertive with her editor (defensive enough about her work when it's called into question or otherwise challenged, though). It's frustrating in many ways... She reckoned on being familiar with InDesign, so Quark 4 was probably a terrible shock to her... but she's not picking up on shortcuts (I can only hope she's better in InDesign, as I've never seen her use it), and is very reluctant to think for herself. On a couple of occasions today, she wanted me to look at pages that had failed their flightcheck. Since the software puts up a big, red icon saying "PDF Failed Checks" where the page preview should be, it seemed as though she hadn't read the details of the error. Most were self-explanatory. More than 310% ink coverage is the norm with supplied artwork (and our own, where the Designer is using stupid Photoshop profiles), and I've lost count of the number of times I've explained to all of them that, yes, we like to have our images at 300dpi, but anything above 150 is passable.
I do not understand why so many 'Designers' these days cannot remember and understand these things... Why they can't look at a preflight report and determine for themselves whether the artwork is passable or not and, if not, investigate the reasons and take appropriate action to fix them without involving me.
Although, upon reflection, it is perhaps for the best that they do involve me... I just kinda wish it wasn't necessary. In many ways, I feel (and have done for years) that my presence in that sort of environment inhibits their development as Designers. While I'm there to answer questions and investigate problems, why would they try? It's not as if they'll be as good as me anytime soon... if ever.
These people will be made redundant at the end of the year, and I dread to think what their next job will be like. As harsh as my boss is, she has yet to sack someone for being crap - and there have been those who really needed sacking for being crap. I don't necessarily agree with her methods, but her ultimate aim is to get people to think about what they're doing, recognise their mistakes and learn from them. Far too many are far too keen to stop listening and blanket disagree with any comment made about their work, rather than taking on board what's been said. They shut down at the first sign of complaint, and - quite visibly in some cases - build walls around their egos, which the criticisms do not penetrate.
One of my team is an excellent Designer when given something worthwhile to work with, and time enough to work well... but point out a mistake, and she snaps. Eyes narrow, mouth tightens, arms cross.
I've had limited success by suggesting alternatives ("instead of this, try that... and maybe see what the other looks like."), but what I'd really like to do sometimes is wring her bloody neck and point out that the reason our boss is so hard on her is because she knows what level of work to expect, so she's frustrated and disappointed when she doesn't see it... but if this Designer can't figure that out on her own, it's hardly worth the effort.
If they don't learn, part of me actually hopes they'll get sacked from one job after another, until they figure out that much of what our boss says was worth listening to... but, I suspect, by that time, they'll have forgotten it all.
In other news, The Naked Office? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Reality TV Commissioners. The woman fronting the show poses the question: "If these people can get naked in front of each other, what can't they do in the future?"
Um. Breathe in space?
But seriously, what on earth does that have to do with failing business? "Breaking down boundaries"? Please. This is just some TV Commissioner's bizarre wet dream. Nothing more. But what's worse - that someone is actually daft enough to believe that getting people to strip off in front of their coworkers will actually help their business, or that some businesses are desperate enough to give it a try? Or maybe the possibility that the folks behind the show don't believe that nakedness will make the tiniest difference, and choose to continue the parade anyway?
Ugh.
Really ugh.
But, hey. Season three of Chuck begins on Monday... and it doesn't even clash with the finale of FlashForward. Sometimes, I like the schedulers.
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