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A client told me my floor plan looked like a 'spider wearing roller skates'
I was doing a basic layout for a small office in Boise, and the client pointed at the central hub and said, 'This looks like a spider wearing roller skates.' I had to laugh, but it was true, the radial lines were a mess. I switched to a simple grid system for the main traffic flow instead, and it cleaned up the whole drawing. Anyone else get a piece of feedback that was funny but actually really helpful?
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troychen2d ago
23% of my projects start with some weird comment like that and 95% of the time the client just wants it to look different not actually better. @jordan_hill mentioned the warehouse pick path looking like a scribble but maybe that abstract art thing actually helped keep foot traffic separate from forklifts you know? Some of those messy layouts serve a real purpose even if they look like garbage on paper. I had a client tell me my ventilation diagram looked like a tangled garden hose and I told him well sir your building needs that hose to not kill your workers. Sometimes the funny feedback is just funny and not actually useful for the design.
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jordan_hill2mo ago
Honestly used to think those creative layouts were the mark of a good designer. Got a similar note once about a warehouse pick path looking like a toddler's scribble. Client called it abstract art, which was code for a total mess. Straightened the lines out and everything moved twice as fast after that. Sometimes the funny feedback is the only kind that gets through.
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brooket432mo ago
Reminds me of how kids give feedback. I mean, they don't know the fancy terms, so they just say what they see. I had a student tell me my lesson plan was "all over the place like a dropped plate of spaghetti." He was right, it was a mess. That kind of plain talk cuts through all the professional jargon and just tells you the truth. It stings a bit but it fixes the problem.
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