I deal with a lot of different people at my day job. I deal with musicians, audio engineers, small business owners, web designers and music fans. I also deal with a lot of “graphic designers.” I meet a lot of talented folk who can manipulate images beyond my wildest imagination and create amazing eye candy. On the other end of the spectrum, unfortunately, the most common end around my office, I deal with a lot of “graphic designers” who aren’t anything of the sort. Let me get my definition straight; knowing how to add text to a picture on a ripped copy of Photoshop does not make you a graphic designer.

Why am I ranting about this? Because I’m frustrated with people saying they can do something they can’t. I don’t mind working with amateurs; let’s face it, I can be pretty naive about some things myself, but I have had it with people who claim to be professionals yet make the most novice mistakes in the book and get offended when you call them out on it.

This morning, I got an email from one of those “graphic designers” whose artwork I had rejected for print due to low quality. He emailed me saying “what is dpi? I haven’t heard that term before.” You’ll likely think I’m making this up, but I’m not! After I explained how print resolution works, he sent me a file about a tenth of the size he wanted. I tried to explain how to rebuild the file. He got mad and said that HOTMAIL must be re-sizing his Photoshop file. I gave up and redid it for him, which is, guess what… NOT MY JOB.

I work with plenty of people who aren’t skilled in design. That’s ok, I’m happy to provide advice and help out where I can. However, that’s why we have a graphic designer (not me) on staff to help those who need it. But you have to pay for her services. Her paycheque costs us money. Lots of it, because she’s a professional designer, not some hack messing about with a cracked version of Photoshop and blaming Hotmail for her own inefficiencies.

The point of this rant is that it’s important to be honest about your abilities. Don’t hide your shortcomings. Nobody knows everything and it’s ok to admit when you’re stumped. It makes you much easier to work with and it makes people more forgiving of your mistakes.