Best practices
Everyday problems on visual projects, and what to do about them. Short answers, with a link to the longer version where there is one.
Feedback is coming from five different people and half of it contradicts
Name one person on the client side who makes the final call, before the first image. They collect everyone’s comments, resolve the contradictions and hand over one clear instruction. Everyone still gets a say; one person decides.
The client says “just make it look nice” and sends five reference images
Five near-identical references are not a decision, they are five opinions. Ask the nominated decision-maker to pick one and say what they like about it. That single sentence saves the rounds that guessing costs.
Nobody knows which version is the current one
Keep every version in one place with clear stages, so the latest is obvious without asking. The moment files live in email threads and folders, “is this the latest?” becomes a daily question and eventually a wrong answer.
The brief has all the drawings but the images still come back wrong
Drawings are the easy part and most briefs have them. What is usually missing is the audience: who the images are for, and what they should make that person feel. Without it the artist guesses, and guessing is what extra rounds are made of.
The artist has the plans but does not know what each image is for
Every camera angle needs its own short description and its intent, with a sketch on a plan. Without it an artist has to guess the intent and the target audience, and that is where random library furniture and wrong-feeling images come from.
The brief is spread across emails, texts, folders and a phone call
Put the brief and every draft in one place everyone can see. It is the critical move from the beginning: it keeps people accountable, informed and speaking to the same information. Scattered across channels, a brief is lost in translation and very hard to rein back in.
Something is going to be late and you do not want to make the call
Tell the client as early as you possibly can. It gives you time to fix it and them time to work around you. 99% of the time clients are forgiving if they know in advance; they will understand. Leaving it and hoping to feel better about it later never gets to the root cause.
Every project runs to the wire and one small problem blows the deadline
Plan the time each stage actually takes and set aside a buffer day for when something goes wrong. As Franklin put it, if you fail to plan you are planning to fail, and without preparation a project is simply likely to be late.
Every project runs differently and nobody knows what happens next
Use one consistent path and run every project down it: Brief, Draft, Final, Delivered. A predictable structure is what lets people ask “is it on schedule, and does it look right” without a meeting, and it is the thing that makes a project legible to everyone on it.
Comments come back days after you asked for them
Put two dates in every email: when comments are needed by, and the next delivery date. Every email, without exception. It is the smallest habit here and it prevents more slippage than anything else.
This list grows. If something keeps going wrong on your projects and it is not here, tell me and it probably should be.