Crawling Through Files...

Sometimes this is the stage of the design that I hate the most, even if it is one of the areas I am most qualified to do (and one where I am able to save myself some money). Being a graphic designer lets me layout all the files and hand a CD over to my printer camera-ready, but the larger the files or the more complex the design, the more chances there are that you will overlook something important, miss a spelling mistake etc.

I get to the point where I peer at the screen or at artist’s proofs so many times, I can no longer be objective about them. I grab friends, teachers and sometimes even total strangers to look over the proofs, begging them to read them through in case there is an error. Most times, I find them about 3 days AFTER they come off the press as I am folding them to send to distributors. Sometimes it is eagle-eyed stitchers who notice things as they are stitching them while the design is only a few weeks old. (You know who you nimble needles are!!) Then there is nothing to do but grit ones teeth, scream loudly in the basement where the neighbours can’t hear you and call the funny farm, post corrections to the website if the FTP is cooperating and then hope that next time you will catch everything.

Back to peering over files to avoid the basement screaming in a few weeks if at all possible. This is the only cool place in the house. Poor Wuffles is still upset about living in a fur coat through a Canadian summer, but at least our dwarf hamster is down here in the basement with me!