The Brads - How to build a corporate website
January 31st, 2011
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Brad Colbow is an independent web designer and illustrator living in Cleveland Ohio. He is the owner of Colbow Design and creator of the web comic, The Brads. If you’re looking for fun and practical website design Contact Me.
Website © 2010 Brad Colbow. The Brads is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License
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rishi
January 31, 2011 at 11:04 pmhahaha so very true!
Andrew Bleakley
January 31, 2011 at 11:24 pmSo true and so scary
Rachel Nabors
January 31, 2011 at 11:36 pmHappening. Right now.
Stomme poes
February 1, 2011 at 6:00 amThis is considered perfectly normal by businesses… but they wouldn’t DARE tell a crack team of engineers to make a bunch of retarded changes to a JET ENGINE
Mike
February 1, 2011 at 8:49 amso true… so sad…
kyle steed
February 1, 2011 at 11:06 amAnd the cycle continues.
Liz Hunt
February 1, 2011 at 11:14 amWa wa waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
Sandy
February 1, 2011 at 12:22 pmWorks for nonprofit site redesigns, too. Except they’ll start putting random bizarre inside baseball political crap in from the user research part all the way to the end, then complain about the cost.
Alexandre Castonguay
February 1, 2011 at 12:24 pmhahah! sweet dude!
Candi
February 1, 2011 at 12:28 pmI was wondering where the catch was then bam, there it is. Great comic.
Aaron Irizarry
February 1, 2011 at 12:31 pmIf I had a nickel for every time…
Jeff Finley
February 1, 2011 at 12:49 pmHaha, Liz this is you!
Tom Jenkins
February 1, 2011 at 1:12 pmHA! The perfect storm of management interference.
Beth
February 1, 2011 at 1:31 pmIn my experience corporate web design is usually doomed from the get go
Amehaye
February 1, 2011 at 2:23 pmThe last panel should also be the first..
Daniel
February 1, 2011 at 2:25 pmAnd don’t forget the obligatory “There seems to be a bug in the site if i view it in IE6…” during the review.
Yuan Ma
February 1, 2011 at 3:38 pm@Brad, why are these becoming increasingly more depressing? Misery loves company, you’re supposed to trick people into starting careers in web design and development.
Ed
February 1, 2011 at 3:59 pmWhen are posters of this comic going to be available… Must have for department at work!
Michael
February 1, 2011 at 6:59 pmomg yes, so true
Ian
February 1, 2011 at 8:17 pmStomme.. You’ve never worked in defense contracting, I take it. Sadly this *is* a lot like how jet engines, or at least the systems they’re installed in, get designed..
Adrian Diaconescu
February 2, 2011 at 1:02 amWow, this so reminds me of my last 9-5 job! I feel like you were there during those long meetings.
Ryan
February 2, 2011 at 11:51 amWahn wahn! I have seen this happen way too many times.. And half the time it is the client that has a wife that likes orange.
Heather
February 2, 2011 at 4:50 pmReplace “Managers change everything all willy nilly based on personal whims” with “Manager changes everything based on an article he read in an in-flight magazine.” It happened…
Steve Hearn
February 2, 2011 at 4:52 pmSo true… So true!
Jason
February 2, 2011 at 4:53 pmUgh. Yes - I’ve experienced this first hand with a government organisation. Actually going through this process right now - hopefully with a different pre-launch outcome!
Sneh Roy
February 2, 2011 at 4:53 pmSo funny! so true
Cone Bone
February 2, 2011 at 4:54 pmBest comic about this subject I’ve seen in a long time. Take that Smashing Magazine and your lame @ss comics. Take notes! Cause this comic hits home!
Christian Vuong
February 2, 2011 at 4:54 pmI second Heather… so true!!
Ken Wilson
February 2, 2011 at 4:54 pmGoing through this exact scenario right now with our nonprofit. Frightening how accurate this cartoon is. Where’s my Tums™?
Gabe Diaz
February 2, 2011 at 4:57 pmToo funny! This goes hand in hand with “Can you make the logo bigger?! Like almost half the width of the page?”
Mark
February 2, 2011 at 5:01 pmHaha! That’s so true! Very funny
Zach
February 2, 2011 at 5:01 pmI fail to see the problem as long as the checks keep flowing. That, in the end, is the point of corporations…flowing checks.
Fzn
February 2, 2011 at 5:31 pmIn México is the same process… but made by just 1 people: ME!!!!!!!!!!!
:S
Dima
February 2, 2011 at 5:50 pmVery nicely done and very true.
chrisjarvis01
February 2, 2011 at 6:09 pmreally good job on the comic and really funny and really true!
Rebecca
February 2, 2011 at 6:11 pmHaaaaahahaha hilarious! I have to agree with adding orange though… I am from Syracuse
Matthias
February 2, 2011 at 6:20 pmI think this comic is funny because it is so true.
Will Merydith
February 2, 2011 at 8:17 pmYou worked at Disney too?
Patrick Béland
February 2, 2011 at 9:00 pmNot sure if it’s funny or sad… Been there. Done that. And there again today. Ah bitter sweet world of design…
William Fernandez
February 2, 2011 at 9:09 pmBeen there. Great illustration!
Ranzie
February 3, 2011 at 3:10 amVery funny and sadly all to often true.
Andy Paddock
February 3, 2011 at 4:26 amThis looks like a version of the Oatmeal cartoon that you could show to a customer http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell
Paul
February 3, 2011 at 4:58 amSo true! Great illustration ! We have often the case in our agency, and the most difficult part wehn we build a website is to convince client he is wrong for changes he requests !
Al Stevens
February 3, 2011 at 5:53 amGreat truths, and maybe a lesson to involve stakeholders much earlier in the design process?
Seb
February 3, 2011 at 8:01 amAbsolutely spot on…!
Ioana
February 3, 2011 at 9:12 amBrilliant. I got through the first half and I was thinking “Wow, so there ARE corporate sites built like this, it’s not just a crazy dream, this can actually be true!”... and then I saw the other half. Back to reality (sigh).
Jim B.
February 3, 2011 at 3:45 pmSad but so true. I can’t tell you how many times this has been the story…
Megan
February 4, 2011 at 1:39 amThat is SPOT ON!
Bruno Marsala
February 5, 2011 at 10:39 amGospel truth…!
Bostjan
February 7, 2011 at 3:43 amHaha, nice! I like the jet engine line :D Time to start doing something about it!
David Hancock
February 7, 2011 at 6:27 pmHaha very funny! Shame it’s very accurate lol!
Matt
February 7, 2011 at 7:23 pmAnother great comic! Any ideas for how to end (or at least stymie) this vicious cycle?
Ramin
February 8, 2011 at 2:58 amHaha so true. I’ve been wondering what would be a nice solution to it. Everyone knows water fall life cycle for a project is doomed against requirement changes but what would be a good solution to accept changes and at the same time to make customer understand and accept the required extra development time and expenses without freaking him out???
Amy Hendrix
February 8, 2011 at 3:21 pmOw. owowowow. ow.
Rob Busby
February 8, 2011 at 4:46 pmWOW! This is the most accurate portrayal of Web Design / Development in a corporate setting I have ever seen. It’s so uncanny how you are dead on! Great illustration, but an even better story line.
Frank Fabian
February 8, 2011 at 8:34 pmhehe. I’ve been on that project!
ev4n
February 8, 2011 at 9:25 pmShould have been:
“My cat likes orange.”
Ahmad Ali
February 9, 2011 at 3:45 amIts Funny !! wkwkwkwkwk , its common issue when creating a web for a company !!
Donna Vitan
February 9, 2011 at 5:07 amAmazeballs! And so frightening full of truth!
omsin3z
February 9, 2011 at 9:56 amGreat comic. Very true.
RCA
February 9, 2011 at 10:37 amThat’s my day-to-day life at work, I hate to design by commitment.
bob
February 9, 2011 at 11:25 amIf you want to see this in motion, just check OfficeArrow.com
Alex Royo
February 9, 2011 at 3:09 pmMatrix Day.
Emre
February 9, 2011 at 8:31 pmActually a designer can prevent managers from doing this. Before managers tells their ideas on your final work, convince them that they are just ignorant, cocky bastards, and make them think you are the master. Smash them with your personality first, then they will approve whatever you present…
Lex trezn
February 10, 2011 at 12:40 amit’s okeeeeeeeeeeee…..
wall art
February 10, 2011 at 12:55 pmGreat graphic - having just been through the whole process I can honestly say it’s funny cos it’s true! Great blog!
Get In Nepal
February 10, 2011 at 2:51 pmHaha, Nice one and True!!
ginanjar
February 11, 2011 at 6:32 amis this your experience? how can you solve it?
First Timer
February 11, 2011 at 8:18 amHaha, so true! Management teams need to find this link in their inbox!
Vaishali
February 14, 2011 at 2:09 amHaha….Good one…and its so True :D
Remy
February 15, 2011 at 4:14 pmAnyway to get this in a poster format?
Cedric
February 15, 2011 at 10:54 pmThis is my life! Bang on!
Caleb
February 16, 2011 at 11:01 amWHY GOD, WHY?
Dwight
February 16, 2011 at 11:58 pmPut a Facebook like button on this because I LIKE IT!
Dan
February 17, 2011 at 9:27 amIf this process is so universal to everyone, then why don’t you change it?
Pixelbot
February 22, 2011 at 6:13 amhahahah lol!
Jirka Stencek
February 28, 2011 at 9:29 amManagement is always right! :D
Alf
March 2, 2011 at 9:19 amSpot on!
kRISHNA
March 3, 2011 at 10:44 pmvery very very true, this is what happens and finally designers and developers like us get fucked after doing so much of valuable work .
lol great exp[erience bro
Vijay
March 11, 2011 at 10:43 amthats a messy SDLC and Agile process
Luis Abarca
March 18, 2011 at 1:02 pmvery true, it happens to me a week ago haha
Diseño web panamá - Dreamcatcher Studio
March 29, 2011 at 3:15 pmThis is our daily fight man, so sad :o(
Iain Davenport
May 4, 2011 at 9:14 amThis is SO true it hurts. Great post put a smile on a tired face - Thanks.
y2kemo
May 12, 2011 at 12:20 pmTruer words (and pictures) have never been spoken (and drawn).
cap seal
May 16, 2011 at 10:45 pmnice site, never saw so good posting
Bayden
May 19, 2011 at 10:53 pmhahahaha…T.T
Clients want to do something more and more..
Felipe
June 22, 2011 at 2:24 pmThe comedy of life.
Who has not experienced it?
Sergio Almeida
June 22, 2011 at 3:12 pmI love it. I learned to have fun with it.
It has a client that requires that, when passing the mouse over any image, the same would go with a lightbox in order to view the bigger picture, a zoom effect. The client said: “Click for what? We are in the 21st century! My clients do not need to click.” I know someone might think, “click is relative” and it is! Really! Clicks are not necessary, since you do not have a gallery with 9 pictures in a mosaic, distributed in 3 of 3 per line! You know? 3x3? Please, explains how you zoom the picture in the middle?”
Jean Carlos
June 27, 2011 at 4:16 pmStory of my life.
web design
August 2, 2011 at 3:25 amIt’s true. It’s all true.
Global News
August 2, 2011 at 4:28 amThis is just so hilarious !! Its common issue when creating a web for a company! Henry
freelance webdesign
September 23, 2011 at 7:43 pmNice illustration. and so hilarious but ture
Joe
September 29, 2011 at 9:22 am@Stomme poes
<< they wouldn’t DARE tell a crack team of engineers to make a bunch of retarded changes to a JET ENGINE >>
I can see you have not worked in industry as an engineer. Managers do the same thing. The engine works ... but is it inefficient, more expensive, technologically backwards, ... and management played a role? You bet!
Solicitors Slough
October 9, 2011 at 7:48 amA very good resource for everybody that wants to read a good blog.
Motamindi
December 30, 2011 at 7:02 amMay be it´s not hilarious at all. Everybody assumes that the site had performed well with the original design by the professionals. But how do we know that? They could not convince the management. So their design did not work for all people.
Roopesh Caricatures
January 25, 2012 at 7:06 pmGreat method of putting the message across. You’ve inspired me to make a similar comic strip
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