posted
often customer already has designed some logo from "S" designers or printers and want to make sign like these, I mean a lot of these people don't know what kind format file can use in sign business, They often send us .jpg or .bmp file, sometime even we ask .eps file or .ai file they still sent you .bmp file.
my question is how we ask the file format e-mail to us or some kind requirement that customer can submit to their designer to make us work easier, do not to verctize those logo and waste time.
any advise welcome thanks.
-------------------- Linda Yang Wilbraham, MA arttec@samnet.net Posts: 141 | From: wilbraham, ma usa | Registered: May 2000
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Try telling them to sent you vectorized art. If they sent you any form of bitmap (.jpg, .bmp, .gif, .tif, .eps, etc.) then they will be billed at $75.00/hour,a minimum of two hours of time, to make the files usable.
Funny how the threat of a mega bill makes them able to come up with the right artwork. This system has been working for us.
Have a great one!
-------------------- Bruce Bowers
DrCAS Custom Lettering and Design Saint Cloud, Minnesota
"Things work out best for the people who make the best of the way things work out." - Art Linkletter Posts: 6454 | From: Saint Cloud, Minnesota | Registered: Jun 1999
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posted
You could also refer them to a trusted colleague with whom you have an arrangement to provide file conversion services without the risk of them stealing your customers.
Precisely a service I am looking to generate a business doing here in Phoenix.
You can pay your associate and charge the customer with a mark-up, without having to invest your time, or you could straight out refer the customer to your vendor and let them handle it. Then have them send the final art to you for production. Either way you maintain come control of the production, and have an opportunity for income without spending the time.
If you price too out of reach to scare them into furnishing you with what you need, you could lose a chance for any income.
I've been trying to persuade shop owners here that though they covet the 'artwork' part of the job, they have to watch the computer-to-production time ratio. Art studios make their money generating artwork. Sign shops make their money making signs from art, not from making art. Sign artists make their money doing both. And there are sign maker who are not artists but craftsmen, and there are definetly artists who are not signmakersand there are artist/craftsmen as well.
Anyway, vend out teh artwork if you don't want ot or don't have time to, and make something off it rather than sending them away frustrated anbout not being able to get what you need.
posted
There is no answer that will always get you the vectored file you want. In many cases, the nature of the artwork will call for it to be in raster form rather than vectors anyway.
Then there's the problem of someone else "converting" the art to vectors for you who has no clue as to what you require to do your work.
We have found the best answer is to tell the client to provide the art in the native file format of the application that it was created in or to put us in touch with whomever created it so that we can handle the details with someone that understands the lingo.
From there we have as good a file as the client can supply us and we either use it as is, modify or convert it in house to what we want, or send it out either to be modified (to a service like Ethan suggests) or to a wholesale jobber to produce the job if we can't.
Of course, taking this approach means that you will have current versions of PhotoShop, Illustrator and CorelDraw on your computer which will allow you to read and work with pretty much any file that comes your way.
-------------------- Fred Weiss Allied Computer Graphics, Inc. 4620 Lake Worth Road Lake Worth, FL 33463 561 649-6300 allcompu@allcompu.com Posts: 427 | From: Lake Worth, Florida | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
Add the cost of setting up artwork into the final price of the job, and don't even itemize the art setup fees. If they don't like the price, you can then offer a reduced price if and only if their designer can provide usable artwork. Get their designer's information and contact them directly.
First and foremost offer no promises and no guarantees because you cannot ensure their designer will be able to provide decent artwork.
-------------------- "If I share all my wisdom I won't have any left for myself."
Mike Pipes stickerpimp.com Lake Havasu, AZ mike@stickerpimp.com Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
yeah..i just tell them vectorized file or you'll be paying me to do it for you. i have a company that sends me stuff so i can convert it for them in a pict file so they can rout/engrave it. i usually have to mess around with it in adobe ill, corel or freehand then convert it in artcam. it sucks but someone has to do it.
-------------------- Karyn Bush Simply Not Ordinary, LLC Bartlett, NH 603-383-9955 www.snosigns.com info@snosigns.com Posts: 3516 | From: Bartlett, NH USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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