always ask and confirm!!

After reading NobleTerry's recent blog, I was reminded of an incident that happened two years ago... it wasn't anything extreme... but here it is anyhow...

I was working on the final project for the intense graphic design class, which was to create a 112-page book for a DVD box set based on an activist or event (as assigned by the teacher)... It was to be printed and bound. It was quite a stressful project but it was rather rewarding in the end... only except I went through quite a bit of stress in the process of getting it together... (we had about a month to complete it)

My book was based on the great poet, Gwendolyn Brooks; so my theme of the box set played on the dark vs. light idea and the book concept was like a journal / diary... anyway... to cut the story short, I found a bookbinder in South San Francisco... it's a little shop with only the owner himself. (I was referred to him by another bookbinding company) Went there early in the morning to speak to him about my project. He wasn't too happy that I was only binding one book (there was no profit for him, I guess) but he promised to help me anyhow for US$70. well I have no choice, it was a bit late to find another bookbinder who was able to help me do that job. Deadline was tight b/c the week I went to talk to him he said he was taking a 3 day vacation the following week (the week I would drop off my book pages to get bound) but he said he'd help me get it done in the few days (after his vacation, I had about 5 days before the whole project was due) that was quite stressful...

So I get my pages printed (I ended up with like 150 pages or so)... cost me over US$100 to get one set printed and that was already with student discount... so the following week, I take it to the bookbinder... and I was doing a french fold on my book (which means the pages are folded in half, but the bind of the book is on the opposite side and the printing is only on one side of the page) as shown below...


so I folded all the pages before handing it over to the bookbinder to save him some time from having to help me fold the pages as well... dropped it off to him Thursday morning with a feeling in me that I should ask and confirm with him that my book was a french fold... but I didn't say anything b/c I assumed he knew and that he would at least flip through the pages before binding it...

WRONG!!~ I get a call from him two hours later... he binded the book on the wrong side!!! He asked if I had another set of pages to re-do the binding job... I was thinking, Of course not, the damn printing already costed me over $100... but in the end I had no choice but to get another set printed in rush order because even if he chopped off the glued side and tried to re-do it on the other side, I still lost the folds on the pages (and when you flip through it, there would be blank pages showing)... so I got that done and gave him a new set of pages by the end of the day... another $100...

I was freaking out... It was the film festival weekend  and I had plans already (even though I was supposed to working on my project)... but anyway... I picked up my book the next day and he gave me a discount on the bookbinding... (but everyone said he shouldn't have charged me... but ehh... he got it done in a day, so I can't complain too much b/c I should have confirmed with him anyway...)

anyway, I told everyone in class what happened in my presentation... they were all shocked... and then the conversation came up... when are we supposed to question a professional? it may come across like we're being rude to question their profession, but when in doubt always ask and confirm... it will be best for both sides...

here's how my project came out though...






so in total, I spent about US$300 on this one project... I had to buy the box, get the book printed and bound, get the DVD box, the foam and cloth for the lining of the box and all the other stuff... but I love how it turned out...