The nice thing about making maps is that its not like a Jenga game. If you make a mistake, the whole thing doesn’t collapse. It’s called trial and error, and even the best cartographers do a lot of it. Unless you are in a production environment with a highly codified procedure that’s been vetted, has won awards, and basically has been proven effective–which is to say, not for most of us who are working on highly individualized cartographic products–you’ll be starting with your base knowledge and making modifications from there.
Mistake #1) Your assume that your base knowledge is what the client wants. For example, you might think Bell Gothic is fabulous for the project but you’ve failed to either a. feel out what your client likes or b. to ASK what your client wants. You give them Bell Gothic and they say they needed Arial all along because that’s the only thing their boss (a publisher maybe?) can work with. That’s trial and error.
Mistake #2) You assume the client will give you exact specifications for everything. Then what happens is that the client asks you to come up with something using your skills…just give them anything, they aren’t picky. You’ve failed because you wasted their time. When a client hires you and expects you to do all the creative work, they are often looking for a great quality product in a short time frame. They are willing to forgo all control over the exact product, but then again, they hired you based on their perception of your competence. But you waited around and kept asking questions when they really just wanted the product.
Mistake #1 and #2 are quite the opposite pair. And if you are good, you’ll be getting clients wherein you’ll make both mistakes. Good luck. 😉 Some will say that it doesn’t matter what the client wants, you’ve got to make the maps that you want to make regardless of these client constraints. Yes, good luck with that.
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