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“Wow. Okay. I take it my work will follow me home this weekend then?”
“Unfortunately, it might. But you won’t be alone. Your notes will give me direction on where to take their advertisements. So the sooner you get started—”
“The sooner we can both have our weekends. Got it.”
I shut my office door and took the folder to my desk. The second I flipped it open, I grimaced. The advertisement was all over the place. So many colors and shapes. I had no idea where my eye was supposed to be. I could hardly read the text on the page, so I had to flip over to the application to figure out what the company was about.
And I laughed at the irony of it.
“Save the Date,” I said to myself.
I scanned the description of the business, and the tagline—“Where novice meets nimble”—told me exactly what I was looking at. I flipped through the mounds of pages outlining everything from a redesign of the company’s website to a billboard over the highway they had commissioned that looked like shit. I slid my hand down my face and drew in a deep breath.
This new company specialized in helping people out with dates, but not just any dates. It helped inexperienced daters and lovers find experienced daters and lovers.
“Where novice meets nimble,” I said, giggling.
That was a hell of a tagline. I didn’t really want to change it. It was silly, but playful enough to plaster all over a billboard and not ruffle the tail feathers of the conservative community. But the colors they used on their website and their ad made it look as if the business was tailored to children, and that would ruffle some feathers. I began jotting down notes for my boss and making basic sketches for him to mull over. All the colors had to go. For something like this, two colors that complimented one another on a grayscale background with a bit of black was plenty. And the logo? Scrapped. We would have to start fresh with that.
I did make sure to jot down the website address before turning my first round of official notes over to my boss.
“You’re a star. You know that?” my boss said.
“Keep that in mind when promotion time comes around,” I said, winking.
“Trust me. I always do.”
“And yet I’m still project manager.”
“I can’t afford to lose you! But you’re about to outgrow your seat anyway. And what’s this about redesigning the website first?”
“Yeah. The logo is terrible. It can’t be salvaged at all. If we redesign the website and try out a few logos, we’ll only have to do the billboard once.”
“I love it when you buckle down while in stress mode,” he said.
I sighed. “It’s a blessing and a curse.”
“Clock out for lunch. You deserve an early shot at the weekend. Keep feeding me these notes. These are brilliant, and with them we should be able to nail this client—no pun intended.”
I giggled at his joke and shook my head.
“I’ll be in my office if you need anything!”
“Clock out for lunch, Ava!”
I nestled back in my office before going over to my miniature fridge. I pulled out my lunch and sat down, then clocked out and got to work. I pulled out my phone and went straight to the website to sign up for their services. They had an online dating service, but for those who wanted to meet face to face with an advisor first, they did have programs in both Los Angeles and downtown Manhattan.
I scheduled a face-to-face session to go over my options for three thirty that afternoon, then got myself back to work.
As the day wore on, I grew more and more nervous. A couple times, I even pulled out my phone to check their cancellation policy. But I had already paid for the one-time session, and that fee was non-refundable. When I found myself trying to talk myself out of it, the money was the only thing that kept me hanging in. As I went back and forth with my boss on color schemes and possible logo designs, I found my heart thumping loudly in my chest as the minutes wore on.
By the time my boss dismissed me at three in the afternoon, my hands shook with a vengeance.
I slid into my car and drove to my appointment with the finalized notes in my purse. I had a little bit of work to do this weekend, but not much. More of a back-and-forth with my boss to finalize designs before the design team and the coders got to work.
I clutched my purse tightly against my stomach as I headed into the Save the Date headquarters. I rode up the elevator before it dumped me out on the fourth floor of a generic office building, and right away I was assaulted by colors.
