Paint and an Artist

There are few things that annoy designers more than having non-designers telling us how to design. I have this poster up in my office—it makes me laugh, on those days when I am being told how to design. Which is usually on a daily basis. It helps keep the irritation down as you work on cover mock-ups and have people walk in on you and give their expert opinion.   They aren't going to like that one. The certainty in their voice annoys you—the eye roll is quite appropriate at this point [as long as it is towards your computer monitor]— it isn't done yet, you find yourself saying— they might like it when it is finished. Besides, you mutter to no one in particular, the final decision is the Art Directors, not yours. We recently had a rush job that had to make a specific [unrealistic] deadline. It was one of those wonder jobs [that fell from heaven] where the upper-ups had been talking about it for months—and then "suddenly" decided that they wanted it no