Unlimited budget, limited imagination
After really good business office graphic designer left, IT put a stipulation that we would have input on the new hire. VP of college, meanwhile, has friend/designer take care of work on the side. Job opens and guess who's suddenly in that position, without proper process? I'm given the job of ordering top-line Mac and PC for user, before meeting her. I call around to graphic designers I know and start ordering. I have unlimited budget. Soon, there's a pile of shiny kit stored in my office; 4 21" monitors (two per system), two 6x9 tablets, 2 Kensington track balls, 1 tabloid scanner, 1 GB ram each (2001), large format Epson, HP colour laser and full Adobe/Macromedia suites.
I get office set up, designer shows up and complains that there's too much equipment in there. All she really wants is a pc. Doesn't want printers, scanners, Mac, etc. Too many monitors, too.
First call after clearing most gear out of office is, "where do I send things to be scanned?"
I explain that graphic designer does scanning. Turns out she's never scanned anything before. Sigh. A day later, scanner is reinstalled, user explained her job.
"Where do I get clip art from?"
Explained last two designers created their own on paper, scanned into draw program, etc. Ended up purchasing clip art CD.
"Where are all the fonts?"
Explained previous designers used Macs exclusivly and we had Adobe Library available for Mac. Could not be used on PC. Told user to find fonts she wanted and I would order them.
"What fonts should I get?"
blink-blink. I'm an art school drop out, who's specialty was fonts but I'll be damned if I do her job for her ($45k/salary her-$27k hourly me). "What fonts do you use at home?"
"I don't have a computer at home."
blink-blink. Never known a designer who didn't have their own rig at home. I dig deeper. Turns out she worked as a 'graphic designer' as a production house, where everything was decided for her and she was actually just a layout jocky. D'oh!
So, it's not what you know but who you know. Damn my anti-social geek ways! Will never get ahead.
I get office set up, designer shows up and complains that there's too much equipment in there. All she really wants is a pc. Doesn't want printers, scanners, Mac, etc. Too many monitors, too.
First call after clearing most gear out of office is, "where do I send things to be scanned?"
I explain that graphic designer does scanning. Turns out she's never scanned anything before. Sigh. A day later, scanner is reinstalled, user explained her job.
"Where do I get clip art from?"
Explained last two designers created their own on paper, scanned into draw program, etc. Ended up purchasing clip art CD.
"Where are all the fonts?"
Explained previous designers used Macs exclusivly and we had Adobe Library available for Mac. Could not be used on PC. Told user to find fonts she wanted and I would order them.
"What fonts should I get?"
blink-blink. I'm an art school drop out, who's specialty was fonts but I'll be damned if I do her job for her ($45k/salary her-$27k hourly me). "What fonts do you use at home?"
"I don't have a computer at home."
blink-blink. Never known a designer who didn't have their own rig at home. I dig deeper. Turns out she worked as a 'graphic designer' as a production house, where everything was decided for her and she was actually just a layout jocky. D'oh!
So, it's not what you know but who you know. Damn my anti-social geek ways! Will never get ahead.
