Much improved. The small sample before didn’t give a clear picture of how bad the first draft was. It really is overly busy and confusing. The whole point of an info graphic is to simply explain an idea or information. The first one looked like a moderately talented high school kid who likes fonts made it. The second one is simple and clear.
Looks like you had better communication with each other about what was important and needed to be included as well as color and design expectations.
Wow, now we can see the whole version of the first attempt, you’re right, it was awful.
But revisions are part of the process, you need never feel bad for going back with amends.
However next time, pick a better designer, I haven’t worked with anyone who would produce something quite so bad.
SanVito
Creative Director of a design consultancy.
I’m glad you were able to reach a good outcome.
When I read your OP, however, my first thought was that you were relying on Trump’s business model: get a product and not pay the person who produced it, saying it was shoddy.
Great news! Well done!
It really is a fantastic improvement. (Way too much black for me, are you trying to depress people? But that’s just personal taste!)
And you got a lot of really good advice for next time, too!
I think it’s foolish to expect a perfect job on a first draft, especially the first time. Just giving a designer a jumble of info and some samples of ones you like is not enough.
Infographics are a bitch until you know the client and the topic (and something about the audience). I do a regular series of them for a news story, and for every one that nails the presentation on the first pass, I get back two requesting significant changes. And that’s WITH considerable experience, knowledge of the customer and audience, and often a draft of the accompanying article for context.
Expect to send it back with constructive comments and requests… and expect those comments to have some effect on the next draft. If not, find someone new at that point.
Yes, now I see what you meant! Much much better.
This came up a couple of times at my last company. We would often bring in creative designers as contract resources at the last minute. Often on projects where we are starting something from scratch with a new client. For one reason or another, often they wouldn’t work out and we had to release them from their contract.
Legally, we typically had to pay them for the hours they worked. But typically there is a performance clause in their contract where we don’t have to pay them if we have to let them go or they flip out and quit.
I would agree, now that we see the whole thing, that the original version didn’t look very good. The cropped down version seemed decent.
New one looks good.
I agree with everyone else. Bad before; good now.
If you could not have reached an understanding with the artist, I might have paid her and then used the bad product as a starting point to get something decent on the cheap on fiverr.com.
Speaking as a programmer who works with graphic designers…
Your original brief was terrible. A design brief is a really hard thing to nail down, even designers often struggle (particularly outside their speciality).
Your designer did an adequate job. But once you discussed the work with him to allow him to discover what you really wanted, the brief was made far more clear.
Therefore he was able to do a far better job.
The moral of the story: meet your designer. Spend some time hashing out what you want and take into consideration what he suggests. Discuss and argue. Drink a few beers. Agree on the way forward, but let him have creative license.
Ask for a sample, and a couple of quick alternative designs (more like sketches) to gauge if you like the look. If the alternatives are more to your liking, direct him to use that.
Then give him the go ahead for the final product*.
Creative work is extremely hard to commission without a working relationship between artist and client. As the guy paying for it, you need to ensure you get your money’s worth by engaging with the creative. And when you find one that works for you, keep them close and pay them well. These are like dragons teeth.
One more word of advice: agree on a contract, particularly specifying the number of revisions, and how the contract will be concluded if you do not like the final product.
A “gentleman’s agreement” or vocal contract is not enough for either party.
And, if the designer came through and was easy to work with, don’t let the bad first stab keep you from using them again. It will take time before anyone learns what you want - finding someone who can read your mind and get it onto paper will be REALLY HARD. Far better to find someone who can get it done, that you can communicate with and stick with them - they’ll be able to anticipate a little better with each job. Otherwise, each job is going to start with “I don’t really get what they want” from the designer - and a first go that isn’t very good.
I have a master’s degree in digital signal processing. I’m confused as to what this system does.
Is this some kind of forensic software to go through masses of data to pull out stuff relevant to a lawsuit?
I am glad the designer was able to fulfill the brief.
You need to work on your communication skills. Your description (" Unfortunately, the result was horrendous. They used 10 different fonts") was not supported by the example you provided (two fonts). So right away, your complaint was suspect.
You also need to hire a new copywriter.
Communication issues and expectation issues were the root of this problem (along with offering bad copywriting to start from). The only thing the designer did “wrong” was not give you a contract.
Doing work without a contract is downright stupid. Never do business without written contracts. It’s to protect you and them, and you wouldn’t have run into half an issue in the first place if you’d both been professional about this and put down the scope of the project in writing.
That would be my guess (I worked in that space for awhile). It looks like software that would be used to find related evidence based on sample training datasets you provide it.
Back when I was involved in producing marketing material for clients as a translator, the designer and I would always make several rough ideas and meet with the client to see which one they liked and then go from there.
Artists can’t read minds. They need feedback.
Are you kidding? The original used six different fonts on the first section alone!