I have been informed that the people of the AIGA have been addressing the issue of educating people of the value of design and of lowballing in the industry for a while. I will join them and focus my efforts there. I’m definitely going to do my part in this cause.
Archive for August, 2007
as it turns out
August 22, 2007what is the value of graphic design?
August 5, 2007I love what I do. Graphic design is a passion for me. I think in design. I am constantly viewing and admiring other people’s work. Always taking in inspiration. It has been this way for me from a very early age. Because of this I keep up on the industry, reading other designer’s blogs and articles, not only on the creative side of things but on the business side as well. In my studies, I have discovered an issue that I was ignorant to just weeks ago. This is an issue that is slowly eating away at the industry like a plague. The design industry is being raped of its value.
We are seeing designers working on speculation, creating artwork in hopes that the people they are submitting it to will choose them for the job or promises of future paying work. We wouldn’t ask our doctor to perform surgery on us with the promise that if we like his work he’ll get paid. We are seeing designers severely low-balling fair industry pricing and transferring all rights of usage for nothing in order to guarantee they secure a project. On freelance forums where people post projects I see designers fighting for jobs. It makes me think of somebody dropping a small piece of food in the middle of the floor and a thousand rats rushing in to try and get it. It’s not a pretty picture and this is in the forefront of what people see. People who buy design see this and get a tainted view of the value of design and therefore form their budgets around a false value. Design is now viewed as a commodity rather than a service. A logo for a hundred bucks. Not an identity system or a brand that involves research and time to develop. That is a service.
At this point I can see two main factors of why this is happening. The first is that with the coming of computers and great design software, people think that there is no effort involved in creating good design. They think that if you have a photo manipulating program and a page layout program that it makes you an instant designer. There is no apparent value in design principals, typography and color theory. Concept doesn’t matter. Just click here, there and push a couple buttons and there you have it! The programs that we use are tools. We use them as a construction worker uses a saw and a hammer. It would be ridiculous to let your 14-year-old nephew build your house just because he has a saw and a hammer.
The second factor is that people fresh into the industry and people who buy design don’t know the true value of this craft. I was guilty of this just a few weeks ago and probably never would have known if I hadn’t looked further than my first glance. What’s on the internet right now is very deceiving. This part of the industry isn’t taught in the schools. Or at least I didn’t learn about it. I think it should be. How are people supposed to know about the value of what they’re providing if they are not taught?
I am not going to sit back and watch the industry I am a part of diminish in value before my eyes. Something needs to be done about this. I will post more on my efforts on this issue.
New Challenges from the Lowballers…and What to Do
August 2, 2007While we all want to think that a freelance creative professional is chosen for his/her abilities, often the reality is that a client can find good creative for an incredibly low price…thanks to lowballers who are ruining the industry.
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kris sheppard — design that rocks 