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... And you could be next as a freelancer.

The other day I was doing my very important internet stuff to help me procrastinate when I found several quotes in thypographic images from Zerouno that claims to be "ridiculous" and made from "clients from hell" with some request that (I think) sometimes the client asks. The collection is named "What not to say to a graphic designer" and it basically explains why they struggle so much to find a job.

Now, I am not a graphic designer and I don't know squad about typography or colors or the whole graphic elements but I can relate to many graphic designers that sometimes could claim that their client or customers are hard to understand and harder to make them understand, but when you start complaining about everything that the customer do you end up losing something very important in this business: professionalism.

Avoid becoming such a negative freelancer and take a look at the following

If I understand this correctly, you are not supposed to make a suggestion to the guy you are paying. How could you dare to offend him by making a request or a suggestion? I mean yes of course, you are the one that knows your business, you know your market, you know your competitors, you know the target and you know where is going to be used the design: you have context but this designer, that has 8 hours working in the logo and of course, he/she knows much more than you.

Remember this as a freelancer: You are hired to fit a business needs, a business that is not yours, with foreign ideas. When you become the CEO of your own company, you can lead those ideas but in the meanwhile show some respect to the people that pay you and trust you with the job.

So you are telling me that you are rejecting the opportunity to show that you are that good and refusing to actually do your job?

Sometimes the employer will ask you to do changes trusting that they are easy to do. If that is not the case you should explain why; you have to avoid situations where they add free work for you. You have to bee very clear because the employer doesn't know about the topic, you are the expert and you could tell if that only take a minute or not. Most of times the employer would understand you and then you could apply extra feeds to add unexpected work loads. Money!

But when it takes only one minute you should always do it. Shows professionalism, shows that you are very good at it and will make your employer more likely to work with you again. Remember: It's your job, you have to do it!

What is wrong with you? This is the best thing it could happen!

They are offering something that many people died for: Freedom! And you get annoyed? No wonder why you still living in your parents home at your 30's. I just have no words for this one.

So, the employer must know how to do a vector image with image processing software. Care to tell me what are you being paid for?

Most employers hire people because they don't know how to do that specific job! Many people with small business don't know how to use dedicated software and MS Paint or Word is the only thing they know. If they knew how to do it, you would have no job. The answer to questions like that is always "Any format is ok".

As told before, never waste an oportunitty to demonstrate that you know about the sibject. When asked a question you have the responsibility to answer it so your employer is well informed to make a desition. He/she depends on you to scrap ideas that are wrong. If you disagree you have to make it crystal clear so it's understood and an error is avoided. When your employer is stubborn, you will have to suck it up and deal with it. Remember, it's not your business, it's not your idea and there is no room for your frustrated dreams.

Classic, the boss gave you the "It's ok" So you signed the app in production and when you test it in a real device it crashes. The worst part? You saw it comming.

Having a moron employee is perfect. It's the ideal tester, he could warn you about so many things that you are not seeing from your perspective. Of course he can't see what you trained eyes and senses can so it's your responsibility to make it clear for him what is going to happen if you let something pass. If it crashes it's your fault and no one else's.

There is nothing to prevent a stuck development. I face it all the time with many customers.

When you work as a freelancer, you can find many bumps in the road like when nor your or the employer know what to do next. Your communication skills will sharpen everytime you sit with your employer and have a talk of what to do next. There is nothing wrong to ask "Ok, tell me your ideas and concerns". It's actually a prietty solid technique to create stronger bounds with your employer to find a solution.

"Try something else" it's a perfect situation to ask "What do you have in mind?" and smile.

Ambiguous request are always there. Like in the previous image, you must master communication skills to become a professional freelancer. Don't just stare at your employers after an ambiguous request, say something! Say "I don't understand what you mean" but end it with "... but I think this works because of the following reasons...". If you fail in communication skills, quit. There is no hope for you.

Always ask for context. It's plain textbook.

Whenever an ambiguous request comes, you can't say "ok" without understanding what's going on. That's lying and it's devastating for you and your reputation. When in doubt ask for additional information to make a whole. Your employers has a lot of context but sometimes they fail to give it because they think we already have it. It's your job to get it out from their confused minds.

Many other images are available at the author's webpage but I'm not against the author. I'm against narcisist and egocentric developers that also has many of this as their work habits. Remember that you are supposed to be a professional. You know your expertise area and it's always your job to handle the client in the most polite manner.

Android 101 | The Android tutorials classroom

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

This is why a graphic designer is unemployed.