Graphic Designer Frustration

[wildsoul]

The company I hired through eLance is not giving me what I asked for. They are not following my instructions, and I'm spending a LOT of time on the message board trying to guide them. We've now missed the deadline I needed to get the brochures to the printer in time for a tradeshow.

[vent] The reason I'm trying to outsource this stuff is because I'm working non-stop! I'm getting super frustrated with the time it's taking to tell subcontractors what to do. This isn't just the eLance team, but 2 of my associates and another designer working on a different project. I've got my own HUGE projects with deadlines, and then I'm having to manage these other people who are underperforming. Feels like I'm working harder than ever!

I'm tempted to see if I can bail out on the eLance hire (haven't read the terms of service yet.)

Then I also wonder if I have to search the internet for examples for them to follow. But I REALLY don't want to do that. It's not worth my time!

Has anyone passed through this phase where you have to double your workload in order to get outsources performing satisfactorily? Tips? Suggestions? Is there hope?

[RichB]

I've outsources a LOT in the past 5 years and it's difficult to get started and depending who you work with can be more trouble than doing it yourself.

I've found I've learned how best to give directions and follow up to ensure they're meeting my needs and if not, find someone else.

Getting the process down and finding the right team is by far the hardest part and why "offshoring" fails so often.

I know someone who's done some decent graphical work for me that isn't a bozo . If you tell me what it is you need I can assess if he'd be able to do it more than likely.

FYI- depending where you're sending the work I've found different cultures have different levels of creative ability.

rich@608inc.com

[Marcie]

I'm having similar issues with my elancer :( It's frustrating because she had very good feedback, and was very communicative during the bidding process, now she has all but disappeared.

Wild - I am curious - is your company outside the US?

[wildsoul]

Yes, Marcie. They are in Argentina.
I paid double what they charge in India, in fact they are $50 more than my American guy. ($300 for a tri-fold brochure.)

It's more money than I want to walk away from, and since they offer unlimited revisions, I should just keep at it till they're done. But the tradeshow opportunity is lost, and I'm very cranky about that!

[GAtkins]

Yes, Marcie. They are in Argentina.
I paid double what they charge in India, in fact they are $50 more than my American guy. ($300 for a tri-fold brochure.)

It's more money than I want to walk away from, and since they offer unlimited revisions, I should just keep at it till they're done. But the tradeshow opportunity is lost, and I'm very cranky about that!

That's unfortunate, they have a nice looking portfolio of stuff.

Glenn

[shortcutter]

A good thing to do on elance is to tell them that you will rate them very badly until they do it your way. Rating is everything on elance and if you tell them that, I bet you they will move their *** and do what you tell them to do. After all, you are paying and they should do what you need.

shortcutter

[frank.cabrera@gmail.com]

whats the name of those guys in Argentina?

[wildsoul]

I received a message from a supervisor last night. So either my first account coordinator bumped me up, or someone is screening the workspace for customer satisfaction. This pleases me.

Following something Tim had written, I had asked them to reiterate what they understood the project parameters to be. The new supervisor had followed that request, and it was CLEAR that she totally didn't get it.

[BTW, the project is to create a series of brochures for our DVD's. I need a main template for the overall theme/brand, then color-coded individual brochures for each title in the series. So the style should be consistent, but individual titles should stand out if they were all sitting together on a table or brochure rack.]

I spent another hour+ last night, Googling for images with the keywords "brochure series," thinking that if they could see a picture of a series, they might get the concept. This sample was the most obvious. (http://www.frostyland.net/adasportfolioimages/BGASBrochures.jpg) I think it did the trick! At least she seems to understand the idea of "master template for a series," now.

But I'm trying to cover my bases, and wrote detailed one-sentence instructions again in the workspace (to document this.) I also just phoned her, and am waiting for a call back.

So we're still not even on a true round one! I've totally missed the deadline, but will try to press through, and just let this darn project have it's own pace.

LEARNING LESSONS:
-Don't hire a new outsourcer when you have a deadline!

-Start with something really inexpensive, in case you want to bail. To me, $300 is more than I want to walk away from the table over.

[wildsoul]

FYI, I spoke with my account coordinator yesterday. Very nice woman. It was facinating to learn how much of a language difference there was! For instance, I was using the phrase "accent color," but she didn't understand me. Of course, she must know what that IS, but didn't know the English language for it.

I wonder how many eLancers have phone numbers where you can do a quick phone chat before accepting their bid?

Written english seems most important for a lot of projects, but if there is still a lot of verbal incomprehension, it's a sign that even writing emails may become challenging.

[KMO]

FYI- depending where you're sending the work I've found different cultures have different levels of creative ability.

I'd be interested to read more on that topic.

[wildsoul]

I received an email from eLance today, acknowledging that my project was at it's "final milestone" date. The terms of my agreement for the brochures was that it was expected to take about 2 weeks. The notice from eLance made me think.

==> This project has totally turned into a negative 20% drain on my energy.

-The due date for me to get the finished brochure to the printer in time for a tradeshow in 2 weeks has passed.

-The last 2 weeks has been extremely tedious and time-consuming, as it's all been spent trying to get them to understand the basic concept of a brochure series.

-There were a LOT of examples where the process was slowed down from them simply not following directions.

One typical example: The brochure is geared towards spa owners, who are business women. I described the target market clearly, but they kept giving me brochures with photos of semi-naked women, women receiving massage, swimming pools, etc. I clarified that it is business-to-business, and not to use any photos of consumers AT the spa, no nakedness, they should be happy businesswomen, not relaxing on vacation. No swimming pools. BUT then the very next round was a photo of 3 girls (around 12 y/o) standing around in bath robes! And 2 photos of bathtubs, clearly in a home. (WTF?)

These types of problems made it for extremely slow-going, as each revision would take 2 biz days (longer on weekends.)

I thought I was locked in, and didn't want to lose my $300. So I've been continuing to press on, even though I missed the due date, and then realizing that I still have to create something myself so I have something for the tradeshow. Ugh.

The eLance email had a phone number, and so I called to ask what I was supposed to do about the milestone notice. A very nice young man took my call. He looked at my account, and the long thread in the PMB. He said that the company I used is one of the highet rated (one of the reasons I hired them) but then we both agreed their high-rank is mostly for LOGO'S and they haven't done very many brochures. He suggested I consider cancelling, then explained that I wouldn't owe any money, and it's no big deal to cancel since we haven't even got the main template done. He was so kind. It really helped me get over my feelings of guilt for bailing out, and since I CAN w/o financial penalty, I decided to bail.

I learned 4 important things from this time-sucker of a project:

1. Don't hire a new outsourcer on a deadline.

2. Telephone first, if possible, to *really* get an idea about language differences.

3. More expensive does not necessarily mean better.

4. Set terms at the beginning for how much time/energy to invest before pulling the plug.

I did lose 2 weeks on this, and now have to bang out something on my desktop computer. Fortunately, I still have time to get that done. I'm not great at it, but by doing it myself, it WILL get done. I can't waste time on another outsourcer on this project now.

I'm thinking of trying a super-cheap outsourcer for a non-essential project w/o a due date. If I can make it so there's nothing to lose, then it won't be so aggravating.

==> Anyone have a referral for a cheap outsourcer who can design printed marketing pieces? (brochures, flyers, postcards)

[Marcie]

Sounds like you did the right thing, I might be right behind you :( - Had you already paid a deposit or were those funds in escrow???

[wildsoul]

I didn't pay a deposit.

I'm not sure I understand how the escrow part works. The guy at eLance assured me (in fact encouraged me) to cancel, and said it was no risk to do so. I didn't double-check the FAQ, but just took his word for it.