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Saturday, December 14, 2013

"Spirit"


A saw a woman die.  We were in a large room with a lot of people when she slid down her chair and fell on the floor.  The paramedics were there in no time, and my companion took a potty break while the evening's activities were sidetracked by the medical drama.  While she was gone I tried to tune into what was going on with the old lady.  I was close enough to see activity without details, and not close enough to hear anything. 

It looked like they were going to load her up and take her to the hospital when I "saw" her spirit leave her body.  It was like a white, twisting mist that pulled away and zipped out the open door.  My companion ran into the room and whispered "Did you see that?!  She just died!"  We both "saw" that white wisp.

I don't know how to explain seeing something invisible, or why a spirit would twist out of a body like that, or why it would go out a doorway when a spirit shouldn't need doorways anymore.  There's a whole lot of things that I don't understand at all.

Somebody sent around an email a while ago that asked a bunch of questions intended to make us all get to know each other better.  One of the questions was "Have you ever seen someone die?"  I was surprised how many people said yes.  Have you?  Did it change what you think of dying and/or the afterlife?

Seeing that old lady's spirit was an affirmation to me that there is more to life that what we see around us, that something survives the body.

This topic reminds me a lot of work since I work for Religion, but I value my job sufficiently to keep my endless questions to myself.  I remember how many times I got in trouble when I was little for all my whys and hows and whats, and I know I'll never change.  I'll always ask questions.

In a conversation with a religious person over a project I was told, "Quit thinking so much.  Put your experience on the back burner.  Just trust the process."  Them's fighting words, and the project is making me insane.  Let me vent a little...

Recently, I've had a couple of contractors repeatedly refuse to follow directions.  This floors me.  What happened to "the customer is always right"?  I've worked on plenty of projects where I thought the customer was dead wrong, said so, then did what they wanted -- sometimes finding out their way wasn't so awful after all.  (Though sometimes it was.)

Have I just gotten unlucky recently, or do you think this kind of refusal amongst designers is a trend?  Do you think perhaps it's because we've lost studios where other artists saw and critiqued each other's work?  Because software knowledge trumps design?

I'm really curious about what other people think on this, and if anyone has learned ways to deal with it.

20 comments:

  1. Perhaps it's a matter of control. Sometimes it's worth it to impose your wishes but you have to pick your battles. Otherwise the world is a much more hellish place to live. Working in collaboration with others is always a matter of cooperation and collaboration, give and take... and compromise. Hearty discussion is always a healthy exercise. My take. :) Merry Christmas Linda!

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  2. Maybe I should've said that the refusals have been in the line of "center this" (instead of sloppy placement) and "use the logo the way the it was designed"? I'm all for real creative discussions, but these weren't that. Don't mind me banging my head. Thanks for the comment Rand, and Merry Christmas to you too!

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    1. Oh geez. In that case I'd just say "Send me the files." Ha!

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  3. Thanks for the follow Christina!

    Rand, there were extenuating circumstances in both cases that prevented me from saying just that, but I wanted to!

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  4. Re: is the customer always right? I am a professional translator of Japanese to English, and I remember the days (during Japan's "economic bubble" of the late 70s to early-90s) when the client paid through the nose to get my language expertise, and if they dared to question a word choice, they quickly accepted my explanation and defense of that choice. But in these economically tough times, clients pay less for my services and they question my work more stubbornly. They often insist I replace my word choices with words of English origin that have been imported into Japanese, without understanding that the meaning/usage of those imported words are not the same as in they were in English. If the target reader was Japanese (as in the case of English words printed onto T-shirts for the Japanese consumer), it would make some sense. As it is, the target reader is the native-English speaker. I often wonder why my clients even bother to hire a professional if they are going to mess with every translation decision I make.

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    1. Learned early on there is a difference between "translation" and "cultural adaptation" when it comes to transitioning things to different languages. Just sayin'

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  5. I think I'd have complete confidence in your translations Debbie. I'm absolutely certain that working with a translator would be way better than my previous work with Chinese manufacturers where they and I both used online translation software. Worst time was when the vendor kept talking about apples and I kept saying what apples? There are no apples! ("red" translated to "apples")

    In my recent projects, I am more knowledgeable on the subject than the contractors, but the contractors want to look like they know more so won't listen, plus they want the easiest instead of the best route. My frustration is monumental, and frustrations don't get the work done. Thanks for letting me vent, and thanks for the comments everybody!

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  6. Linda, I'm afraid I can't help you with any advice on professionals and contractors, but I do think you make a point in mentioning 'Do you think perhaps it's because we've lost studios where other artists saw and critiqued each other's work?'. Losing studios hasn't been helpful to artists. It isn't so much about missing out on other artists giving feedback, it is that anything on a screen looks so replaceable. As if it is just a matter of hitting the keyboard a few times, editing a little, and ta-da.. there is art or professionalism.
    So, yes, a studio helps because it showcases the hard work behind any design or work of art.

    About the spirit and the old lady. That is a beautiful experience to meditate on during this Christmas. I wish you Happy Holidays, a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, a Wonderful Yule and all the best wishes for 2014 already.

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  7. I'm still thinking about your experience seeing the lady depart--gave me goosebumps, and really got me thinking. Love the drawing, Linda. Happy Holidays!

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  8. Linda, I forgot to say that your drawing is beautiful. Depth, movement and transparency, it is all there.

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  9. What a moving experience that must have been. There are so many mysteries of life.

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  10. Thanks everybody! I don't know why I was so fortunate to be in the right place at the right time to watch what happened with the old lady, but it made an impression on me. The drawing is on scratchboard, which is a technique I love, many hate, but I think everybody should at least try.

    You make a good point Paula. Seeing how much work goes into something does help people appreciate the value of that work, and I think that getting other artists' feedback did help me a lot, but mostly I miss the camaraderie being around other creatives. It was fun that I haven't experienced quite the same since.

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  11. I've never seen anyone die and am a bit curious as to what it's like - now even moreso. Beautiful scratchwork!

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  12. Thanks Abby. I suppose the whole experience would've been a lot different if I knew the old lady, but it was interesting for me to be an outside observer.

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  13. Geez, what a story. I work for an exterior contractor and we do refuse to do things once in a while. If something they want is likely to damage their property, or we don't feel we can do our normal standard of work.

    It sounds like what you got was much more subjective. And if they were working for you, what the heck! Did you fire them?

    I hope you found someone who could do what you wanted!

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  14. I can understand those kinds of refusals Cindy. I didn't do the hiring on the latest project, so I've been trying to get things to work regardless. It mostly means a lot of extra work for me though. I keep telling myself that it's the end result that matters.

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  15. First off (and a bit tardy), this is a really gorgeous piece of art, and perfect for your post too! I never saw a person die, only a cat, and I was too distressed at the time to be paying attention to its spirit leaving. I am certain that you are right though, and I hope to someday see it too. Faith is essential, but 'actually touching the thing' is a lot more solid when life gets hard, I think. As for your contractors...I haven't had any experience with that either, but I definitely have had the experience of an arrogant person feeling like software knowledge (several really ugly websites 'built entirely with HTML!) trumped design. Having a good design sense is essential, in my humble opinion, and has personally gotten me far, even though I rely on those wyswyg do-it-yourself website programs. My approach to that particular tech vs design situation was just to say, "Wow, you really put a lot of hard work into that, didn't you? Impressive!"

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