compromise, thy name is design
i am designer. this may be a well-known fact to many of you, a new bit of information to others. i have been a professional designer (in that i get paid to make things pretty) for about 11 years now. in those 11 years, i have developed a style, as many artists do. i like neat, clean designs. i like (to break out a design term) negative space. i like order. this is how i design. as much as i liked "hypergraphics" in their day (about 10-15 years ago), i found i could not design like that. i never could come up wtih the ideas, but i could copy them from others, which isn't as fun. i have designed many things on my own, many things for friends, and many things for professional reasons. it is with the professional work that i find i must compromise the most. and the most compromise comes down from people who have no design sense.
i realize that everyone thinks they have a design sense. they think "design sense" means that because they like the way something looks, that means they can voice an opinion. and if their opinion can make things happen, they'll open their mouths for any little thing. they saw something somewhere with a 5 degree tilt, so let's make it have that. hey, i saw that cool typeface, Hobo! let's use that! hey, i want a line there. what are those called? rules? let's put that there. and hey, let's put a background in on some pages. no, there doesn't need to be any rhyme or reason. i just like it. you know, i know that you've worked 80 hours on this book, but you know what? i don't like the color pink. can we take it out?
it doesn't matter that i have more experience with these things than they do. they are often above me on the professional food chain, but yet, less qualified than i am to be making the final decision. here is where marketing comes into play. they are often NOT designers, but somehow have the final say on what covers look like, what catalogs look like, what pages look like. and often, marketing has NOT their fingers on the design pulse on the nation. "what's flashy? that'll get people's attention." oh, is that what we're doing? are we not trying to make our product look sophisticated and professional enough to have people purchase it? enough with the "bursts." enough with the gradients. enough with the exclaimation points and the bright colors. listen to the designers. go do your focus groups and then you'll know what your customers really want.
and here i wonder if i'll ever be satisfied. will i ever be able to silence that voice in my head that says, "i can do this better." be it design, management, organization, i always think i have a better way. and when people do things that seem to go against the grain, i get this knot in my chest. yet i have to perservere. i have to do bad designs handed down by marketing. i have to let outside designers get job that i want to do. compromise, compromise, compromise.
i realize that everyone thinks they have a design sense. they think "design sense" means that because they like the way something looks, that means they can voice an opinion. and if their opinion can make things happen, they'll open their mouths for any little thing. they saw something somewhere with a 5 degree tilt, so let's make it have that. hey, i saw that cool typeface, Hobo! let's use that! hey, i want a line there. what are those called? rules? let's put that there. and hey, let's put a background in on some pages. no, there doesn't need to be any rhyme or reason. i just like it. you know, i know that you've worked 80 hours on this book, but you know what? i don't like the color pink. can we take it out?
it doesn't matter that i have more experience with these things than they do. they are often above me on the professional food chain, but yet, less qualified than i am to be making the final decision. here is where marketing comes into play. they are often NOT designers, but somehow have the final say on what covers look like, what catalogs look like, what pages look like. and often, marketing has NOT their fingers on the design pulse on the nation. "what's flashy? that'll get people's attention." oh, is that what we're doing? are we not trying to make our product look sophisticated and professional enough to have people purchase it? enough with the "bursts." enough with the gradients. enough with the exclaimation points and the bright colors. listen to the designers. go do your focus groups and then you'll know what your customers really want.
and here i wonder if i'll ever be satisfied. will i ever be able to silence that voice in my head that says, "i can do this better." be it design, management, organization, i always think i have a better way. and when people do things that seem to go against the grain, i get this knot in my chest. yet i have to perservere. i have to do bad designs handed down by marketing. i have to let outside designers get job that i want to do. compromise, compromise, compromise.
posted by mikraas at 9:41 PM
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