Computer Losers

Although I am most proficient in the video production realm, because my workplace doesn't have anyone with the skills to produce professional (or somewhat) marketing materials/graphics, I am the guy that does all this now. I never claim to be a 'graphic artist' but I consider myself more advanced than most people. I've created a variety of materials; brochures, posters, fliers, print ads and even a 10'x12' trade show display all of which look 'professionaly' created. So from time to time I'll run into a person that works for a particular business, and for this story will be a hat manufacturer, that will need a logo or artwork from us and become annoying...

This recent episode is about as typical as it gets... we have an outdoor festival that we are getting hats and shirts made up for, so of course I am asked to send the artwork to the business that will produce these items, which I do. I send the artwork, which I've produced in Photoshop, in a variety of formats (jpeg, gif, tif and pdf) which any NORMAL printshop, newspaper, etc... could easily use 'as is.' But not there. Shortly after I do this, I receive a call from their 'graphic expert' that needs the artwork in some bizarre form that I've never even heard of. My first response to them is..."Isn't any common format usable?" I can basically render this thing out into any one of a thousand different formats...well of course it can't and their 'graphic expert' proceeds to explain to me why...which I just roll my eyes. So after working with this guy for a full day to finally get him the artwork in a usable format (so he has to do as little work as possible) he can proceed with producing the hats and shirts.

Well now he sends us a 'proof' of the artwork that he will be using to produce our items and what format does he send it to us? In a file that is name.f11 - F11? What the hell is that? And excuse me if you know the answer, but give me a break... you see these guys are only 'computer experts' in the ONE program they know how to use. They don't even know what a jpeg is, let alone what to do with it... and that is what drives me NUTS with these guys. They assume that everyone is using or able to view the files they produce with their 1993 version of Printshop that is outputting files as a dos only file...

So I call this guy up to request that the proof be sent over in a format that is more 'common' and after explaining that whatever a .f11 file is, is not common...how about a gif, jpeg, tiff, pdf or eps? Even an autocad/vector based format is more common than whatever this .f11 file is... my point is, are we their first client or have they never sent a proof to anyone else, ever? I can safely say that if they have sent this file type to ANYONE else they would get the same request back...so why do they do this? Do they have no clue...and the obvious answer is yes.

I love explaining to this guy how I can send artwork to newspapers, televsion stations, printshops and virtually anywhere in the world and have ZERO problems with the files I send to them...but for some reason you and your 'hat shop' are unable to use any file that is typical in the 21st century and I'm made to look like the 'oddball'. Unfortunately this isn't the first time I have ran into this which really makes me wonder how far in the stone age some businesses still remain...and then why is my company doing business with them? Oh yeah...their cheap!