The primary thing I'm dreading..... ridiculous client demands for images... "What do you mean you can't do that.. just get an AI to generate it!"

They'll just bring their wonky images for you to fix -_-

When will I ever learn... creating cover for manual... I have 7 iterations.. 3 are mediocre... 1 I threw away... 2 are pretty good, and 1 I feel is outstanding. So... when will I learn to just send this client the 3 I feel are above average?? No.. not me... I send them the 6... and they pick one of the mediocre iterations.

6! You are definitely asking for trouble

yeah..... should have just been 3.. with the best at page 1 of the PDF.

Long standing client though.. so more isn't ever bad.. I just can't seem to stop sending them the items I KNOW could be better at times. Workload causes rushing for some things.... this was one of them. Can't finish (A) until at least the cover of (B) is fleshed out... that sort of thing.

@Scott 6 options is murder on your clients. Limit them to two or three. If they nix all three, you have material to fall back on for round 2

Too much choice is something that most people cannot handle.

Yeah.. that's my normal path. But this client.. well they've been a client for more than 20 years. I know the 3 people in charge of decisions well... and it's up to them to fight amongst themselves for final choice. So 6 really wasn't too many in this instance, for a cover... basically it was 2 for each person.. knowing what they tend to favor.

I'd also point out that for this client.. if I send them 1 iteration of something, they generally go with that. I provide more choices for select items really.

Also.. I don't mind the version they chose. I'm not ashamed or embarrassed of it. If I didn't like it, I wouldn't have sent it. I just think it wasn't one of the stronger designs. The dismay comes from knowing that I will be using images of this cover for years to come in numerous other pieces and each time I use it I'll know there WAS a better design.

@curious firefly is ok

@Scott, I sometimes try to see if I can get away with just 1 suggestion. Sometimes I feel a project could go many ways and I might work with the client to make choices, but sometimes I feel there is just one way I can make this. Or want to make this. So I'll tell the client that I really feel I have something good for them and I don't want to waste time and money doing iterations just for the sake of it. It often works.

It all depends on the job really. A poster advertising some event could be made in infinite different ways. But a book (like a novel) needs to be functional and somehow follow conventions and look like the kind of book it is. And it isn't before everything is balanced it starts to look good. So I feel more like I'm working towards a goal than receiving "divine inspiration".

@Wolff we still thinking Muses exist?

@joojaa Nah, but clients do!

And I need to somehow "be inspired", whatever that is, to make something that pops.

But for standard designs that follow a tradition, I can still work towards a goal on a bad day. Build it brick by brick.

@joojaa Firefly can be your muse.

@joojaa, I think this sketch2vector function seems to suck a bit. Like it's not finished baking yet. The suggestions it comes with doesn't really look like the sketch besides being Bs.

Haven't tried it yet.

@joojaa I'm still not in but I'm peeking in their discord

I would also have more time to look into it if I wouldn't commute for canceled meetings like I did today 😩