Stressed out Designer

Nindja1

New Member
Hi fellow designers,

I am here more to vent then to ask a question. I have been asked to create a 330 page report in Indesign in 2 days. First they said they already had a designed report and wanted it edited/amended but turns out they changed the whole copy of the report and want me to do it in 1.5/2 days. Is it a fair ask considering the turnaround time? Is it even possible to do design a report of 330 pages in 2 days? Please comment and let me know if I can do this. Feel stressed right now!
 
Without the actual design it's a little hard to say if it's possible in 2 days, theoretically if it's just copy paste the text in then it's possible, would I try to do it in 2 days, no, I like to sleep.

I'm guessing there's more to the story too as it sounds like you've accepted the job based purely on what you were told and then found out it's not what you were expecting. I'd be having words with clients if they were a bit 'loose' with the job information.

Just had a thought, depending on the design of the report 'data merge' might be an option to 'speed things up'
 
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Ahh you guessed it right. I was told to do only 19 pages that were updated in the document. When i did that, they said actually we updated the whole document so you need to do all of it. Feel tricked into it. What is data merge? Please explain?
 
Ahh you guessed it right. I was told to do only 19 pages that were updated in the document. When i did that, they said actually we updated the whole document so you need to do all of it. Feel tricked into it. What is data merge? Please explain?
If they changed the 'contract' I'd have just said there's no way that's going to be done in 2 days..... 19 pages yes, full document nope.... if you'd like me to do the whole document, the earliest I can get that finished by is 'insert date a week+ later' and I'll need to adjust the invoice accordingly, including an increase to the 'upfront payment'.

You need to stand your ground as a business owner, having contracts/agreements in place helps, or you'll get walked all over and expected to do things which you shouldn't be doing etc, this being a perfect example of where you need to 'stand up for yourself' and ideally utilise the original agreement etc. I bet they're expecting you to do the extra work without changing the contract etc too....


Data merge - https://helpx.adobe.com/in/indesign/using/data-merge.html
This should work with text files although I'll be totally honest and say I don't have much experience with it.
 
That's a big one, I've was also caught with this one, I call them to add ons, adjust this, ad that it'll be quick blah blah when the contract revisions have already been exceeded.

I just say it's out of the scope of our agreement and send a quote along for the "New Project". If you have such a thing in place as a graphic designer which you really should for the reasons Levi mentioned. It protects you and also gives you some credibility as somebody who has their ducks in a row.

Things is this... im not sure how many clients you have, but let's say you have 30 right and they all have add ones of 30 mins worth your time, 30 mins seems small like I used to think hey il do that to keep this client happy. Well, it's 900 mins of your time you just gave away. 15 hours, 2 working days, unpaid.

My opinion on this is very strong, but if somebody asks me stuff like this repeatedly I realize they don't respect my time or skill and will probably eventually go somewhere where they can get this done cheaper and in 2 days. I don't want to work with people like that.

If I were you and I don't know what your contract says but just say it's not in scope let me draw up a new quote for this. ( granted you may lose the customer. ) I also know that especially right now work is precious so you may not want to do that, and a lot of these guys know that.

It's messed up. People will ride you if they can.
 
Plus - quick turnaround times are a premium price.

Try calling a plumber out on a Sunday or at midnight on a Friday.

You absolutely have every right to turn down the request or ask for a premium payment.

If you do get a premium payment - complete 1 section of the report and then reach out to a few freelancers
send them a section each with your sample and get it done.

You get paid a premium.
You pay some freelancers.

Job done.
 
I quoted on some brochure work once, put it down as a weeks work. But they insisted they wanted it in 2 days so I pulled an all nighter got it done in a day and charged a couple of grand.
Good luck, although you posted on Saturday so I assume you've finished it now?
 
Thank you guys for your input. Really appreciate it. So, the thing is that I'm working on a full time 1 year contract for them. The project lead even made it worse by sending 15 pages in trying to work on indesign. Saying you can work from this now...arghhh! Felt really pissed. It's not i don't know how to create bloody template myself. But anyways i told them i can only work on it if they give me enough time or they can get it outsourced.
 
Well that's a bit different isn't it.

What does the contract say?

I'd be very careful next time around and stipulate reasonable lead times for projects.
Generally, I'd have something like that all job lead times need to be discussed with the designer prior to assigning the tasks.

That way you can get your say in about potential finishing times.

Also, you can include in the future that you need at least 1 hour per 4 pages.

So a 300-page book is going to take 9.3 days.
Which is about 2 working weeks.

You should really have a rate card

Business cards - 1 hour
Leaflets - 2-4 hours
Posters - 6-8 hours
4pg Brochure - 8-12 hours

All based on supplied signed off copy.
Any text changes surmounting to a complete reflow of text is starting again.
 
Yes, that's what i have discussed with them today, that you need to discuss the time frame with me before assigning me a task. It was all a big mess! I have a feeling the project lead wanted a escape goat for his own mishap. So he set up an unreasonable deadline.

[snip because of the huge white gap - Levi]

how much willr a freelance
 
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In your experiences, How much will a freelance job cost to do a 366 page report and a short notice for turnaround time?
 
Depends entirely on the content. If it is straight galleys of text, the time would be considerably less than if it was highly ‘illustrated’. Are there diagrams that need creating? How much photo editing? Has the text been written to length, based on previous documents? This list goes on. Hankscorpio’s guide gives you a fair idea, though, as I say, the time would be considerably less if just straight text.

A 256 page trade, coffee-table book takes me anywhere from 10 to 15 days, but they are highly illustrated, usually with a lot of image manipulation.

Also, it depends on your level,of skill, experience and expertise. 20 years ago, I would have to have doubled those timings. Then again, my hourly rate was half what it is now.
 
Hi fellow designers,

I am here more to vent then to ask a question. I have been asked to create a 330 page report in Indesign in 2 days. First they said they already had a designed report and wanted it edited/amended but turns out they changed the whole copy of the report and want me to do it in 1.5/2 days. Is it a fair ask considering the turnaround time? Is it even possible to do design a report of 330 pages in 2 days? Please comment and let me know if I can do this. Feel stressed right now!
Frankly, I would say no easily.
Means it's not humanly possible. If it was like 4-5 days, you could seek some help from <removed> but 2-3 days for this much work is hell in itself.
Say no to them my guy. Even as designers, we need to take care of ourselves
 
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