"I love deadlines". said Douglas Adams "I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by..."
At TSDG, we love them too. We meet them. During any given week, we are meeting deadlines for advertising, collateral for list goes on.
Deadlines create a fantastic buzz in the studio and keep the adrenalin flowing. To be successful in the branding and design business, you need to love that feeling. Deadlines are our lifeblood. We've been in the business of meeting deadlines for many years now and in order to ensure that everything runs smoothly, we have a tight system where every designer has his or her schedule set for several days, if not weeks. Every designer knows what they are doing that day, how many hours are allocated to that job and exactly when the deadline is. I like to think that we operate like a well-oiled, creative machine.
We have our morning meeting where jobs are discussed, then every designer goes to his or her desk to attack the day. Ads are created, files are sent to printers, new brands are bound into presentations for meetings, websites are built, CDs are Fedexed, illustrations are drawn, logos are created, new businesses are named, meetings are held, hosting accounts are set up, emails are answered, designs are color-tested, new jobs are scheduled, contracts are drawn up, email accounts are configured, brand manuals are created, files are uploaded to FTP servers, copy is written, telephones are answered, blogs are written, tag lines are developed, graphics are optimized, invoices are created, printed and sent, job jackets are created, websites are browser-tested, blueprints are developed, HTML is coded, client copy is corrected, pages are speed-tested, microcontent is written, print quotations are requested, client order forms are faxed, head sections are created, client questions are answered, Section 508 compatibility is ensured, DNS issues are dealt with, the production area is checked, client orders are processed, brochures are created, copy is proofed, printing is delivered, client consultations are held, email addresses are encrypted, websites are updated, menus are engineered, signs are designed ...
... and it's not even lunchtime yet.
And then comes a call from a valued client:
"I know it's short notice, but I need an ad for Thursday". Hastily, the schedule is re-arranged. Can we fit the job in? If we move the signage job to Wednesday, call a client and see if a meeting can take place three hours later than arranged and if the designer works a twelve hour day, can we get the job done for the client? Yes!
Phew. That happens quite often. It can be difficult to juggle the schedule but after all these years, we can do it.
And then there's a client message in the production area:
"It is imperative that our website is launched at 4pm on Friday". It's Monday.
Gulp. Now a lot of work has been done on that website, but for it to be completed properly, our milestones show us that there are twelve more days work required. YOu can imagine the chaos this brings to the schedule. I'll need designers to create and optimize images and graphics. We juggle, we rearrange meetings, we call printers and publications to see if deadlines can be extended. OK, we have freed up time for the graphics.
Now, I have to free up the time to do the build; a job I don't like to delegate. So more meetings are postponed, more calls - and apologies - are made. Which clients can be moved without causing them inconvenience? Who won't mind if the meeting is moved? A client has requested a meeting at 5.30pm. Will they come at 7pm instead? I squeeze the time in the schedule.
The only other jobs that can be moved are branding jobs. This means that the creative director is the only person who I can free the time for .... after hours of phone calls, emails, rearranging the schedule and longing for a large gin, the schedule is OK. If one designer can work two twelve hour days and the creative director and I both work four twelve hour days, we can make it. We want to please our client.
The week progresses. It's a long hard job but by 4.02pm on Friday, we are ready to launch. We wait for the go-ahead from the client. And wait ....
At 6pm, the message comes in that they have 'edits' to make before the site goes live. I ask what the edits are. I need to know. If they are edits to the flash, then that will be one designer. If they are copy edit, another designer. Graphics edits? I need to know how long these edits will take so that I can fit them in. No response. I have a mild panic because I know that I won't be able to get designers in at the weekend at such short notice.
Eventually, I get word that the edits will be supplied on Monday morning and that it is imperative that the site is launched on Monday at noon. Without knowing what the edits are, how can I say that we'll be able to launch at noon? What if they are time-consuming edits that will take six hours? Amazingly, I manage to free designer time for Monday and at 9pm, head for home... so much for my Friday evening.
On Monday, we are in the studio at 8am waiting for the 'edits'. And waiting and waiting....
When they eventually arrive, we leap into action and yes, we're ready to go live at noon. So we wait for confirmation from the client...
Then, (yes, the story continues) it transpires that the site needs to be checked by a third party before we launch. On Tuesday morning, the message arrives that it is imperative that the site is launched by 10am.
I have had enough of "imperative". I recall the story about the boy who cried wolf. I inform the client that I cannot schedule designers at such short notice and refrain from telling them that I no longer believe that their launch is 'imperative" at all. This is the third (or is it fourth?) "imperative" I've had.
The client pleads. I swing into action again, juggling schedules, moving meetings, et al. We launch at noon. We don't even get a 'thank you'. All we get is comments about minor issues, and I mean very minor, which the client wants addressing.
The studio's schedule is in complete disarray. I had to plead with designers to work twelve hour days, and the weekend, to make sure that no other clients are inconvenienced because of one inconsiderate client.
The day the site was launched, we emailed the invoice.
We have still not received the check...
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