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26 Comments
- michaelpinto, on 04/11/2009, -4/+13Here's another good one: "The best way to learn how to become a better graphic designer is to become a client. On the few occasions that I’ve been a paying commissioner of graphic design, I’ve learned more about being a designer than by anything else I’ve done. It’s only by commissioning graphic designers that we discover that most of us are not very good at articulating what we do and how we work."
- non00b, on 04/11/2009, -0/+8agreed sir, I nearly spit my soy cappuccino on my macbook pro while simultaneously soiling my black turtleneck when I read this list.
- ElectricNZ, on 04/11/2009, -1/+9The title says ten, yet there are eleven paradoxes. Ironically I find that the eleventh is the only one which isn't complete *****.
- studiopenguin, on 04/11/2009, -0/+8B.S. from top to bottom.
"There’s no such thing as bad clients: only bad designers." -- so when a guy told my firm he wasn't paying us because "design is a service industry, like hair cutters. If you don't like the haircut, you don't pay", that was my fault, because I'm a bad designer. Right.
"The best way to learn how to become a better graphic designer is to become a client." -- Here I thought the best way to become a better graphic designer is to constantly study your craft. No, turns out once I realize how inarticulate I am, ALL WILL BE CLEAR!
"When I hear designers say that “we must educate our clients”, I want to break out in hives." -- So wait, back it up. If our clients suck, it's our fault for not educating them. When we educate them, we're *****.
"Whenever I’ve taken on design projects “just for the money,” disaster has invariably ensued. When we put money first and work second, we end up with bad work and an even worse balance sheet." -- This is pretentious lib-art crap. If you can't grind out consistently good work from one day to the next, it's your own damn fault. The principles of typography, grid systems, color theory, and composition don't somehow magically change when your heart isn't in a project.
"For designers, verbal skills are as important as visual skills." -- Gosh, you think that communication skills are important for practitioners of [i]a method of communication[/i]? Revolutionary!
"For clients, commissioning design is like going into a furniture showroom to buy a sofa and being told by the salesperson, 'Sure, I can sell you a sofa. But I can’t show it to you.'" -- No, it's like going into a furniture showroom and saying "I want a sofa that seats three comfortably, is black, and has a contemporary design (here are some examples!)". If your clients feel like they're buying something "sight unseen", you've completely failed at establishing a work agreement.
“'I’m a professional: I know best.' The only designers who use this argument are unprofessional designers." -- Right, because you've already clearly explained to us that clients are never wrong (point 1), only being a client can make you a better designer (point 2), and professional designers know less about design that clients (point 3).
"'All the good jobs go to other designers.' Not true." -- Clearly, this joker gets work!
"The best way to run a studio is to be domineering and forceful." -- WHO THE HELL EVER SAID THAT?! EVER?! What a ridiculous strawman, that's like saying that, paradoxically, it's better to wear shoes on your feet than on your hands.
"If we believe in nothing, we shouldn’t wonder why no one believes in us." -- Instead, we need to have a bunch of contradictory, cryptic, ill-informed, Yoda-like principles that guide our decision-making.
"When a client says the words — 'you have complete creative freedom,' they never mean complete creative freedom." -- Unless you have it in writing.
What a stupid list. - Licurgo, on 04/11/2009, -1/+8im gonna make a site called, "the best of digg", so i can steal the content they steal, and then someone is gonna steal what i steal from digg, and then is gonna frontpage on digg, and the im gonna steal it again meh too lazy
- ertz, on 04/11/2009, -0/+4#11 is so true... I get that all the time.
- alx1507, on 04/11/2009, -1/+4Paul Rand, one of the greatest graphic designers of our time, said something that I keep in mind while doing my work. He said, "Don't try to be original, just try to be good." I know most people who are entering any form of art want to try and push the creative limits and redefine their field of art, but I feel that this can be a distraction and waste of effort when you're trying to make a living off of what you do. I'm not saying that you shouldn't think outside the box, but you shouldn't let trying to be different dictate what path you take on your designs.
- Mtown, on 04/11/2009, -0/+2Exactly what I was gonna say. Pretty much any job that has a client of some sort, these points work for.
- RuyGuy, on 04/11/2009, -0/+2"11. When a client says the words — “you have complete creative freedom,” they never mean complete creative freedom. Whatever you show them, they will find a problem with. Happens every time. "
Couldn't be more true! I laugh when people tell me that. - maz2331, on 04/11/2009, -1/+3Every single point also applies to programming, consulting, medicine, legal representation, or a myriad of other fields.
Basically, be honest, don't be a jerk, and listen to the client. It works. - theberlindoctor, on 04/11/2009, -0/+2I couldnt agree with you more. Post this somewhere, this is much more reasonable and valuable advice for designers.
- erostar, on 04/11/2009, -0/+2Yeah, because what the hell does Adrian Shaughnessy know?
- RuyGuy, on 04/11/2009, -0/+2That's already in there.
- sodoh, on 04/11/2009, -0/+1website reminds me of..
"Okay, am I the onIy one who finds these sayings a littIe bit formulaic? If you wanna push something down, you have to pull it up.' 'If you wanna go Ieft, you have to right.''
"Your temper is very quick, my friend. But until you Iearn to master your rage--"
"Your rage wliI become your master?That's what you were gonna say, right? Right?"
"Not necessarily."
"You know what? That's it. I'm out of here."
- Mystery men. - studiopenguin, on 04/11/2009, -0/+1Wim frickin' Crouwel could have written this, and I'd still call it masturbatory B.S.. Just because the guy co-founded Intro (who's up there with Wolff Olins for "biggest all time pretentious d-bag design firm") doesn't make him an authority on anything. Shaughnessy is a self-taught designer who's best known book, "How to be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul", is itself best known for its hideously poor typography and self-aggrandizing interviews. What *does* he know, exactly?
- blacktriangle, on 04/23/2009, -0/+1This writer is not a graphic artist, because the experience of a graphic artist is nothing like he explains. Total BS.
- blacktriangle, on 04/23/2009, -0/+1"There’s no such thing as bad clients: only bad designers."
There are absolutely horrible clients, fantastic client and those in between. Maybe you should try to operate in the real world instead of your moms basement. - werkerholic, on 04/11/2009, -0/+1So many good points, period.
- inactive, on 04/13/2009, -0/+1In general these points are valid, but in practice they won't always work. I've had some clients totally convinced that their idea will work only to get to the end and look at me like "oh *****!" I can only voice my opinions and give advice, but in the end they are paying the bill and you have to make them happy. This is one of the reasons I don't freelance anymore. Too much work for little reward.
- macdesigner, on 08/20/2009, -0/+0Lost of good points, totally agree. Now finding the right printer after I have done the design. Go to my guy I use, they are on the web www.k2printstudio.com they can get you cheap prices with high quality and shipping is standard.
Go use them and let me know what you think? http://www.k2printstudio.com/ - Avenir, on 04/11/2009, -0/+0The entire article is a mess of contradictory half-wisdoms, almost none of which are 'paradoxes'. Maybe there's a meta-joke going on, but if so, at best it's a facetious one. Number 5 is the most ironic of the lot.
Mumbo-jumbo, as hackneyed and jargonised in thought as the very worst of the 'monolithic super-graphic' spouting design pseuds of the 90s. "Good leaders of design teams lead from behind." *rollseyes* - kidkash19, on 07/03/2009, -0/+0Great article, learned quite a bit from it as i am a starting freelance designer :)
Kevin
http://www.smart-designs.nl - inactive, on 04/11/2009, -3/+4It still is a hit to the site, gets registered by indexers, can be turned off by websites, and still notes the url in the diggbar. Now shut the ***** up.
- theberlindoctor, on 04/11/2009, -2/+1Designers are not artists. They are visual information architects. Many designers I meet/talk to seem to forget this obvious fact.
- VeIocity, on 04/11/2009, -2/+0I totally agree
- anagoge, on 04/11/2009, -4/+1Although I do see what you're saying, koft, the Digg Bar can be turned off. It's up to the individual user how they link to an article and besides, on a purely design-related point, anyone wishing to read and be interested in that article will already know and read Design Observer.
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