I am probably right in saying that not many people would tell a mechanic how to fix your car, or lecture an electrician how to re-wire your house, so why does everyone think they can tell a graphic designer how to design? Friends and family all constantly give me creative advice and critique my work, which I don’t mind at all, but sometimes I do have to grind my teeth and say the classic “That’s a great idea, but perhaps not quite right for this project” line.
Don’t get me wrong I have no problem taking criticism, especially from my clients as I will never understand their markets as well as they do, so creative collaboration and co-operation is fine in that respect. I also fully appreciate that as humans we are all creative beings in our own right and each have an individual sense of style. However I can’t help but think that graphic design as an industry is one that everyone thinks they could dip their toe into if they wished, therefore devaluing the whole industry. So, why do a lot of people think they could be a graphic designer and have the right to hand over golden nuggets of creative advice? Possibly for the following reasons…
Mummy’s little designer…
Everyone is told by their parents as a child (and sometimes as an adult) that their glitter / poster paint /chalk drawings / models / creations are fantastic and that they are ‘ever so clever’. So if you are constantly told this by the people who mean the most to you, you are going to think you have a heightened sense of design which may be hard to shrug off.
24/7 Advertising
Everyone is constantly bombarded by a range of advertising, promotion and branding which unless you head to the hills you cannot escape. We are all media trained from an early age and are subconsciously absorbing design left, right and centre.
“Design” Software
It is very easy for everyone now a days to open up Microsoft office and play around with clip art, word art and various templates to create some sort of design. This in my eyes doesn’t necessarily make that person a ‘designer’, but giving people instant access to this kind of software makes people believe that could hold a graphic design title if they want. Mark Busse from Industrial Brand gives us a great insight in to his experience with this in his article ‘No, I’m Not A Graphic Designer’ in which he states he deserves a better title than ‘Graphic Designer’ to separate him from the wannabe’s.
So if it is true that everyone in the human race is creative what actually defines a graphic designer?
Training
Whether it’s self taught or through University or college, a true graphic designer should be able to navigate through their tools (whatever they maybe) with ease and grace and not rely on cheap and overused filters and effects to create their work.
Constant Creativity
A graphic designer has trouble turning their creativity off! Marnie B has a great list of comical anecdotes about hard core designers, a lot of which ring true. As truly creative beings graphic designers eat sleep and drink design and relish wallowing in this creative lifestyle.
Marketing
Anyone can create a logo or design but will that concept be right for the intended market? Graphic designers are able to choose the right concept and convey those messages in a clear and concise way.
There are probably 100 more points to define graphic designers that I’ve missed! But what are your thoughts on this, what makes a real graphic designer? Do you feel that the creative industry is devalued by the volume of wannabe’s? What do you say to people when they give you creative solutions or suggestions?
Posted by Steve
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Posted
on Monday, September 22nd, 2008 at 11:00 am
Posted In Featured Articles, Freelancing, Graphic Design | Tags: Freelancing, Graphic Design
Help please! This is so true. My clients try to design for me…and it ends up looking bad, and they just waste time by going back and forth!How can I make them realize they are NOT DESIGNERS? They’re always like do this, do that. and when I do it for them they’re just like oh that looks bad change that. It’s horrible! How can I make them stop? Why does everyone think they are masters of design?
I’m having the same issue with my client! She hired me to do design work, but now she is using Microsoft Publisher to create the design to save money. She’s not utilize my skills and I am to only copy her layout. It looks like JUNK. It’s so annoying. If she wants me to duplicate her awful skills, so be it. I can afford to loose her as a client after this job is over. I don’t want my name attached to the piece either!
Too many part time dabblers. They devalue what we do. For some reason, many people want to treat the designer like a waiter instead of a chef. We don’t bring you a ready-made meal you simply order. We wake make it from scratch an do the hard work of cooking, preping, seasoning, etc. If clients want the design they came up with to “look professional” then they shouldn’t design anything and simply call a professional first instead.
Everyone thinks they’re a graphic designer nowadays because design has become insanely accessible. Plop some modern font on a nicely graded tumblr image and voila, you have teens to 20 something year olds designing logos on the weekend for extra income. Don’t get me started on those photoshop filters and all those “tips” people give out for free on youtube so no one ever has to learn how to actually use a camera. The majority of these weekend logo designers take something they “pinterested” and set it in a different color scheme and lo and behold, a creative is born! I do believe that the creative fields should be a mix of self-taught and professionally trained individuals but with design being so accessible, the standard in design is now being “controlled” by the masses. There’s a lot of technical know how and hours spent learning the tools of the craft that keeps design fresh. Good design, doesn’t matter what field (architecture, graphic arts, illustration, industrial design, etc) is a mix of being able to draw, match the visuals with the communication, and then the execution through a computer. An innovative, knowledgeable designer can charge a premium and that’s why the field is now run amuck with self proclaimed designers that decide it’s OK to rip off “styles” or copy previous works and peddle it off as their own so that their clients can get a piece of what is considered “high end designer” branding. You can tell when you go to these people’s portfolios and it fails to have the “WOW” factor. The Wow factor comes from years of study and being passionate about design which I highly doubt any of these so called designers are willing to sacrifice in time and energy to open a book and study or to stay in on the weekends to learn new technical skills.