Here's to all you graphic design customers, wondering what if and why not...
And to those self proclaimed designers who don't listen or cater to their clients...
My first story:
The other day, I found myself tracing a logo for one of my clients. - She had been using that same logo for years, on labels, signage - basically everything.
I ask for a digital file of it to work with. She emails me a file named "logo-hi-res.gif" an image, 125 x 125 pixels which she had obviously gotten from a fellow designer.
Someone who had apparently been so bold as to keep her logo hostage long enough, to get a whackload of money out of her, because, well, she couldn't very well go anywhere else to have ANYTHING done without actually having usable a copy of it.
And the sad thing was, she thought that was normal.
She paid someone to create a logo for her, but they never actually handed it over.
Instead, they milked her until she got sick of it and started looking for someone else, even if it meant changing her corporate design.
Make your clients happy, if they like your work, they will stick with you, and actually pay too.
And hey, you don't have to believe in karma to know happy clients are good for business...
