Issue link: https://nbm.uberflip.com/i/1451376
3 6 G R A P H I C S P R O J U L Y 2 0 2 2 G R A P H I C S - P R O. C O M 3 6 G R A P H I C S P R O J U L Y 2 0 2 2 G R A P H I C S - P R O. C O M S I G N A G E & P R I N T I N G S I G N D E S I G N to be better. If you are not looking at your own work with a very critical eye, you are simply not growing your skill sets. Expanded my note-taking during the information gath- ering process. You would be amazed at how many spelling errors originate from the initial creative request process. Weird spellings of loca- tions or materials usually get overlooked by a statement such as "Oh, I'll get you the spelling for that name later," and once the design process is finally in full swing, that little note on the proper spelling of that word will simply be overlooked. at's where your notes come in to play — what needs to happen to that weirdly spelled street name or last name? Leave all text as live fonts until the design is com- pletely finalized. I cannot pound this one into the brain deep enough. Leaving all the text as live fonts for as long as the design process takes will benefit you in the long run when the client decides at the last minute to change the content. Once you convert your text to curves or outlines, you lose all of the text editing software benefits. If your client wants to change their copy, and the few words you drop in and substitute into the converted text, there is no way to know if it really helped or hurt your editing process as the context of the writing is gone — the graphics left will not tell you that "managment" is spelled wrong. Read every line backward. This forces you to look at each word, spelling one at a time. Ugh, this is time consuming, but it's the only way to override your brain's nasty habit of seeing things that aren't there. Your brain will assume that "managment" is spelled correctly because it thinks it recognized it. It's a nasty brain trick that everyone struggles with. Follow what outside spell checkers and grammar mon- itors suggest. When did you get your degree in literature? Yeah, if you think your spell checker and grammar guide is wrong, then you have a bigger issue than this article can fix. Document all customer feedback on a special page to verify the revisions were made. at means detailing your note-taking to a whole new level, like I had to. I made every detail of every request by the customer a big deal. So many times, when I have simply nodded my head, agreed with the customer, and made the revision only to realize that they told me something that was incorrect, I incorporated it, 3 I have covered up the names and company logos to protect my customer's identity, as this was super embarrassing for everyone, mostly me. Lesson learned, and fortunately, I was able to catch it before the second run, so I changed the file, and all was good moving forward. Some words simply hide behind their commonality and usage. We are tired and overworked. What are the chances you would miss this error also? It's easier than you think. (Image courtesy Matt Charboneau) 4 5 6 7