Posts Tagged ‘Illustrator’

A little bit of Sherlock Holmes can come in handy

Monday, December 1st, 2008

I’ve had a strange experience happen to me a couple of times regarding corrupted files that were sent by clients.

By putting on my Sherlock Holmes hat, I came up with what I think is the solution, but I still can’t be sure I’m 100% correct.

But knowing this solution may save you, and the people you’re working with, a lot of grief.

I was working on a lift note for a sales letter package. The lift note was going to be written by a third party and include their logo (and EPS file) and the author’s signature (a TIF file).

The third party sent the files to my client and the client forwarded the files over to me, all via e-mail.

The trouble was, I couldn’t open the files. Illustrator griped that the files weren’t in a format it could read. I know Illustrator can read EPS and TIF files, so something was up. I tried opening the files in Photoshop as well, but no luck.

Well, it’s not impossible for files to get corrupted, so I contacted my client to report back to the third party that there was a problem so we could get a resend.

On the resend, again through my client, the third party said they were using Illustrator CS3 which is what I use. They said the files were fine on their end. But again, I got the same error messages when opening the files.

I started to think of workarounds… maybe they could send the files in their native Illustrator format (an AI file) or maybe send them as JPGs or PDFs just to see if those would work.

But then I had a “lightbulb over the head” moment. I asked my client to ask the third party to e-mail the files directly to me so my client wouldn’t have to forward them.

The third party did just that and the files opened on my end without a hitch.

So what was the difference?

When I got the forwarded files from my client, there were three files… the two graphic files plus a text file from some sort of automated virus checker. The text file simply said the files had been scanned and there were no problems.

But when I got the files directly from the third party, there was no anti-virus text message.

My theory is that my client had some sort of anti-virus software on their e-mail server. The third party sends an e-mail with attachments, the client’s e-mail server scans those files, then passes them on to my contact.

Had my contact saved the attachments, then started a new e-mail to me and reattached the saved files, I think we would have been fine.

Yet somehow, the process of forwarding that e-mail after the attachments had been scanned corrupted them so that I wasn’t able to open them.

It’s just a theory on my part, but I had something similar happen a long time back where there seemed to be some corruption when files were forwarded. At that time, I didn’t consider any type of anti-virus software getting in the way.

I tell you this story just in case you run into something similar. Maybe that will save you some grief and lots of back-and-forth with your client. (And this type of thing usually happens when you’re right up against a deadline.)

Note: I suspect that between an extremely heavy workload and the holidays, this will be my last post of 2008. If that’s the case, next year’s first post will be both my 100th and the second anniversary of this blog. I’ve got something in mind for that post and I’ll tell you now that your local Chamber of Commerce isn’t going to like it. It’s a topic I’ve touched on before in other places, but I’m going to expand on it in this space where I can rattle on without anyone editing me.

Designers: You’re not a restaurant!

Friday, August 1st, 2008

Not unlike the views I shared about rush fees, today’s topic is likely to tick some people off.

A question came up in a discussion forum about whether designers should give clients their source files. For example, you do the layout of a magalog. The client approves it and you send it to the printer for printing. Then, the client asks for the files used to create the magalog. That might be your InDesign or Quark files, and any Photoshop or Illustrator files.

What do you say to that request?

Surprisingly, to me at least, some designers say no. I’ve tried to figure out why they say no, but I have yet to come up with anything other than fear.

Even worse, they use this “logic” as justification: Does a restaurant give you their recipes just because you bought the meals?

This has got to be one of the most baffling reasonings I’ve ever heard. Here’s a little secret for designers… you’re not a restaurant. You’re not a mechanic either. Or a bank teller. You’re a designer. So don’t buy into this notion that what is done in some other occupation is what you’re required to do.

If you’re going to compare yourself with another occupation, you’re obligated to take it all the way. Do you only offer some design services at certain times of the day like restaurants that have different menus for lunch and dinner? Do you offer Happy Hour pricing for your services if people hire you between at certain hours of the day?

Honestly, I think any excuse for not handing over your source files to a client is, bottom line, fear. Fear that the client will take those files and use them to do future jobs without you based on your work. Fear that they’ll take those files and mess something up.

One of the joys of freelancing is not having to work with people again if they do things you don’t like. So if they take your source files and mess things up before it gets to the printer, don’t work with them again or have a clear understanding that source files are just for their archiving purposes, not to make changes.

Even worse than the “no source file” policy is when designers actually hand over the files if the client pays more to get them. So much for standing by your beliefs that source files are sacred.

Let me give you some reasons that I think you should be willing to hand over your source files.

1. With some jobs, you’ll have to give the source files to the printer. You can’t always just provide a PDF. At that point, if you’ve given the files to the printer, what is your justification for not giving them to the person who paid you to create them? Plus, your client could just get the source files directly from the printer if you’re not going to provide them.

2. There are times when the client wants you to do about 98% of the work with the rest being handled internally. Are you going to turn down jobs like that? I’ve worked on a number of projects, totaling thousands of dollars, where I’m doing the majority of work with some details handled later by an in-house design team. Wouldn’t it be silly of me to refuse to hand over the files? And it’s not a valid argument to say that it’s a different situation if you’re hired to only do part of the work.

3. I’ve worked on many projects where the original designer is no longer available or has lost the files, yet the project needs to be updated. If I don’t have the source files, I have to start from scratch. If you were in that position, wouldn’t you hope that the original designer had made the files available to the client?

4. Sometimes, last minute changes need to be made to the layout once you’ve sent them off. This happens frequently in the financial arena. You’ve done the work for some project where the numbers being quoted in the copy are time-sensitive. Right before printing, the numbers need to be changed. These changes may need to be changed by the printer or the client. How often do you think the client is going to want to work with you if you have a “no source file” policy?

5. Your time is valuable. Let’s say you do the layout of a book. A year or so later, the book needs to be reprinted with a different printer. Wouldn’t it be nice if the client could forward those files to the printer instead of contacting you, making you stop whatever projects you’re working on, dig up those files and get them sent off. A surprising amount of time can be spent revisiting past projects. (A topic I hope to tackle here on the blog in the future.)

Now there is at least one area to be aware of when it comes to handing over source files: font copyrights.

It’s generally accepted that you can send the fonts with source files to a printer. It’s not so clear-cut when it comes to sending those fonts to a client. So if you’re going to provide source files, you’ll either need to exclude the fonts, or make sure the client has the fonts you used on their own computers. You might even buy the fonts for the client and add that to the cost of the project. If there are other parts of the project that are copyrighted by a third-party, don’t ignore those copyrights.

If you’re going to have a “no source file” policy, fine. Just do yourself a favor and have a legitimate reason to give the client if they ask for the files. Please don’t embarrass yourself by responding, “Do restaurants give you the recipe just because you bought the meal?” That kind of answer appears to make sense on the surface until you dig a bit deeper and realize that the two situations aren’t the same in any way.

And if you have a reason for not providing source files that don’t translate into fear, e-mail me. I’d be happy to include your thoughts in a future article here.