We have pretty specific job tickets that you fill out when you want documents printed at copy center. You need to indicate how many copies, the color, weight and size of paper and if color ink or black and white. A lot of times, when people send in an email request, they forgot to write what weight of paper they want or if they need any clerical services. The majority of the time, it is easy to figure out that people want regular 20# paper and printed in color. However today I fully believe:
Lesson #2 - It is better to ask for clarification and wait then to print 20 copies and then have to go back and staple by hand.
There always seems to be a rush to get things finished right away. Well today I printed something that looked like it should be stapled and not comb bound like they had indicated. Long story short, I ran the job before asking for this clarification and spent the last twenty minutes of my day counting out three pages and stapling. If I had asked before running the job, I could have easily set the copier to do everything for me.
I feel like this happens so often in life. We rush to get something finished before we have the adequate information to complete the job well. In the long run it ends up taking more time.
It's also an opportunity to educate people. Many people who send things into copy center do not realize the different options they have, and therefore aren't really clear on what they want. When I email them, it is a chance to help them increase their knowledge of how to get a better product.
We have touched on this topic a lot in design as well. It is is important for designers to be able to help the client articulate what they really want when they say, "Make it look nice."
No comments:
Post a Comment