Stupid coworkers stupefying managers

I can't concentrate on my work... I'm practically fuming. Really I shouldn't let this stuff build up to the point where I just sit and stare at my computer whispering 'this is stupid... this is so stupid..."

First, some words for those of you that aren't familiar with projects/designs.

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mock·up also mock-up (mkp)
n.

1. A usually full-sized scale model of a structure, used for demonstration, study, or testing.
2. A layout of printed matter.

Mock-ups at my work usually consist of a picture, title, and color/font choices for the cover of a brochure. Nothing is finalized. The only text that's editable consists of a tagline. This isn't a full-blown ad campaign for pepsi. It's a stupid letter-sized piece of paper folded in half.

After the mock-up design is finalized, then we go into pasting in the copy, schedule of events, pricing, presenters... etc. Then the piece goes into draft where people check spelling, adjust wording, and tweak the brochure.

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So! I work out a mock-up for a small brochure (letter size, folded in half). It has the title, what the schedule layout will look like, where the description goes, and the dates. I chose pretty blue and pretty lime green. n.n

They like the design (surprise, surprise) and suggest imagery. I put in a picture of people talking at a table--because that's all our brochures are ever about: people talking. Super-exciting, I know.

But that imagery isn't good enough and Einstein suggests comic-strip pictures on the cover of the brochure. Instantly I'm put off. Not only do you have to discern what the image is, what they're saying, what the joke is, but THEN we have to relate the image/joke to the course. All in a space slightly larger than a business card.

Step-on-me, after seeing my disgruntled reaction, says, "Well, just slap the image in there. We'll just humor him. CEO-lady won't agree with him, so don't lose your original design."

Riiight. So I'm supposed to redesign this brochure to fit this stupid comic (IE, waste time) just to humor him and go back to the original design. Already I'm muttering 'stupid-stupid' under my breath.

So, 7 MOCK-UP drafts later, I've changed all the text on two different brochures, adjusted the schedule on two different brochures, adjusted the layout on two different brochures, added the pricing and all the anal details on two different brochures... JUST IN MOCK-UP.

On the most-recent brochure lying in-front of me, Einstein's changed the description copy 17 times!! What the heck?? Two paragraphs don't NEED to be changed 17 times on 7 different brochures on TWO DIFFERENT COPIES. That's 238 changes just in the copy alone!!!

AND WE'RE STILL IN MOCK-UP!!!!

Finally, CEO-lady sees Einstein's brilliant idea of having a comic strip on the front cover of a brochure designed for lawyer education and she sends him a nasty email. (woohoo! score one for CEO-lady--I really want a copy of that email) So I'm back to the original design.

Step-on-me runs down the list of duties for today and gets to my brochure. She says to make the changes (copy changes) and then she's going to show it to CEO-lady, who's already seen it before, so she can approve it. I butt in and ask, can't we just start the draft process.

:No. CEO-lady needs to approve it first:

I'm about half ready to throw everything on my desk across the room. Fuckin-A, CEO-lady has already SEEN the damned mock-up! Why the hell does she have to see it again?? She's just going to make 50 more changes to the brochure and have to see it AGAIN before it even goes into draft.

The worst part is that Step-on-me keeps pushing this stupid lame late-as-hell brochure to the top of my priority list when I have OTHER things that are more important to do... like rant for an hour on my blog...