Life After Death
Having things rejected is not all that fun. It can be an ego bruiser or just make you feel like you've failed in some way. Sometimes there are reasons beyond our control that cause jobs to get killed and we move on. In some cases there is a kill fee involved, in some I've been paid in full and the client came back later with other work. The cover on the left was recently rejected when the client showed this comp and another one to "friends and colleagues." Design by committee never works well. The middle piece was paid in full by Abercrombie and then they killed the whole campaign that it was part of. The cover on the right was rejected by the client after he said simply, "I hate it." I did another version which went to print. I entered both in the American Design Awards competition and the cover above won an award: NOT the one that was approved and printed. I'm sharing these anecdotes because rejection has taught me something in each instance. You may or may not like any of these pieces, but I gave it my best shot. I am still proud of all of them and there are dozens more in this category that over the years have almost formed their own body of work. It's kind of funny in a way that I'm sometimes fonder of the pieces that have been rejected than the ones that were accepted and produced. One way or the other, don't get discouraged if this happens to you. It eventually will. Keep on doing your thing. You can't make everybody happy, so start and end with yourself.
New York Area Manager for Duxiana
5 个月I just experienced this last week- your words brought me comfort!
Great article and lesson for all creatives to read and digest. You always put your work and student projects into perspective to learn from. Our graduate faculty had an exhibit years back called “Rejects” and some of our best — and not so best — work was included. Work on!
Director of Sales Northeast & Mid Atlantic for A JAFFE
6 个月Nice work Jon. And a great observation.
Visual Storyteller | Branding and Packaging | Merchandise Design
6 个月Reassuring. Thank you ????
Enterprise digital product design team leader (can work in the US or Canada)
6 个月One of the best lessons you taught me was to ALWAYS get a kill fee in my contract. I had no clue as a naive student just how many jobs end up getting shelved. The fact that it was always in the contract meant that when it happened I could just point at the clause and send my invoice.