I’m so mad, I can’t even come up with a title to this post

I’m peeved today. Oh, I’m so peeved!

For the last 3 weeks I’ve been working on trade-show graphics for a local high-tech company. To start, the client steered us in a direction, so contrived, so wrong, that it’s almost humorous. I will not mention the 12 rounds of back and forth, I will not mention being turned into a Mac Monkey (that’s when a client stands over your shoulder and tells you what to do, pixel by pixel). But what had put me over the edge today, was the fact that through the aforementioned 12 rounds of revisions, the original idea, as contrived as it was, has been watered down and dumbed down SO far, I’m embarrassed to look at my computer screen.

They just want to be “very clear.” They just want to make sure “people get it.” But why treat an audience of engineers – people with at least 1 college degree – like children. Uh, it just makes me so angry.

The audience is smart! Don’t underestimate their intelligence. They don’t need the same dumbed-down, chewed-up message repeated 3 times on a 2-sided brochure. They see right through it. What’s worse is that if a company doesn’t trust the intelligence of their audience, the audience will never trust the intelligence of the company.

Man, I need a drink.