O Is For Oops
Happy December, all! Wow! We are at the end of 2018 and what a year it has been! This month has truly been one for the books and, in an effort to be totally transparent, we wanted to share our story.
A few months ago, we were listening to the Secret to Success podcast hosted by Eric Thomas, CJ and Karl of Eric Thomas and Associates, ETA. Eric Thomas, ET the Hip Hop Preacher, is one of the top motivational speakers in the world, while CJ and Karl assist in the company’s management. In the podcast, the trio recounts their early days building ETA and dropping the secrets to their success in hopes to inspire others achieve their goals. In this particular episode, they discussed a time when they ordered hundreds of shirts with the quote “You have to succeed as bad as you want to breathe.” However, upon delivery of the shirts, it was discovered that the word “breathe” was spelled “breath”! We, at Pinch, gasp at the sheer thought of making such a costly error. We have heard the tales from other designers and counted ourselves lucky to not have made an error like that.
U N T I L T H I S M O N T H …
Recently we completed a beautiful rack card design for a client. The text had been updated during the design process a few times and we thought everything was good to go! We sent the final files. The client reviewed/approved those files and sent it off to the printer. The prints were received and, upon closer inspection, there was a double word (“not not”) under one of the sections. We were mortified! Our stellar editing process was shattered. We apologized to our client, made the corrections and refunded what was paid for printing those items. Thankfully, this mistake wasn’t too costly and our client forgave us. One small boo - boo, right? Wrong! We have another one to share with you today.
At the end of November, we wrapped up on logo and business card design for a client. We loved it and so did our client. We provided the final files and closed the project. Naturally, the excited client showed off the new design to some trusted friends for feedback. That exchange led our client to contact us after the project’s conclusion. A lot of the client’s friends noted that the designed reminded them of the AT&T logo. The companies aren’t in the same field so, when we were researching competitors, they didn’t come up, naturally. Shocked by this, we pulled up the AT&T logo and, sure enough, there was some resemblance. Wow, how did this go unnoticed? Like the last client, this client had already ordered the business cards. We ended up re-doing the logo and business cards and refunded the printing cost to them too.
Having two printing mistakes back to back has caused us to really pause and take a look at our processes. More time is needed to make sure every design is original and error-free. Money can be refunded but time cannot. Don’t worry, PDC will be making some changes in 2019 that will ensure that these errors don’t occur again. Stay Tuned!