Recently I was on holiday with a friend in Finland (random place to go on holiday I know, but it was kinda picked out of a hat so we just went with it…and it was lovely) but I digress. On the second day of the holiday it started raining quite literally just after we left our hostel in the morning and continued to rain ALL SODDING DAY!! It was cold wet and nasty and I’m amazed that neither of us caught hypothermia. At the time it really seemed to spoil the day as we were constantly rushing from one indoor area to another in a vein attempt to keep dry(ish), we could not really take any photos outdoors without ruining our cameras and then getting completely lost and trying to stop and unfold a map in the wind and rain was about as easy as being forced to eat soup with a fork (and just as much fun)!!!
However looking back now I realise that the day was not really spoiled at all. Being forced to remain indoors meant that we got to experience a different side of Helsinki that we may have overlooked if it wasn’t for the rain. Finland seems to like sticking everything under one roof, so it is not surprising to find a supermarket, an opticians and a sauna in the same building. We managed to find a lovely indoor market that sold loads of unique foods (everything from reindeer jerky, bear steaks, spider crabs and things that I could not even hazard a guess as to what they were). Being a veggie I did not have a huge interest in the meat but I also discovered that the Finn’s seem to have a passion for patisseries (which is fortunate because me and my friend share their passion…..Mmmm….cheesecake *salivates over keyboard* ….admittedly ours is less about the making and more about the consuming of said delicacies but who’s judging)!!
When we were lost we found out how friendly the locals are because despite the fact that it was tipping down we were shocked when this guy came over from his motorbike and asked us if we were lost and then told us where we were and pointed us in the right direction. Now I’m pretty sure it’s safe to say that the British would not be so forthcoming in offering help to stranded tourists (especially if the weather was as nasty as it was on that day) so I take my proverbial hat (I say proverbial hat…but there could be a blog entry coming up about how we both managed to spend most of our holiday money on two hats if people are interested…leave a comment if you are) off to the Finnish people!
So where is all this rambling leading you maybe wondering (assuming anyone is still even reading)! Well it made me realise that loads of memorable experiences in my life, in retrospect, have something to do with painful times and I think the same can be said of the design process.
I frequently moan about clients being picky and annoying (Christ sometime I’ve thought that if some of them ask for one more revision I swear I’d hurt someone) but it all depends on how you look at it, Surely if the client has paid you for a job, then they should get what they pay for and maybe a bit more. So if you have a client that wants a revision or a little bit extra, try and give it to them because even if they seem to be being a nightmare client, (and most of them will be!) this is not such a bad thing, as they will eventually end up with exactly what they want….and remember when a client gets what they want (and have paid for) they tell other people, but when they do not get what they want, they tell even more people!!!!
*For anyone interested in our photos of Finland & Helsinki checkout the set on my Flickr account