Do you remember that morning when I turned up late at the café with eyes smaller than a pea? Well… it wasn’t a night out at the club or a film marathon… actually, I was earning a bit of pocket money – though perhaps that’s not the best way to put it, let’s take it step by step: I was sitting at the computer with my back hunched and a splitting headache, my eyes almost shut, a glass (or a bottle) of Coca-Cola beside me and some crisps; I was designing a flyer to bring an event to life and add some colour! In fact, I was already on my fifth layout proposal because the client wasn’t happy (he didn’t even know what he wanted), I was running out of ideas and getting more and more sleepy… But! I managed it! After several hours of really pushing my creativity, I finally produced the much-desired flyer; the client was very pleased and I was doubly so – absolutely chuffed! All those hours spent sitting all twisted up in my chair were worth it, and during the few hours I did sleep, I slept with a completely clear conscience, proud to have made yet another client happy. We must never give up.
We’re not nerds or computer geeks!
After drinking my long-awaited coffee this morning, I went to work; I’d barely got up from my chair when my hands were already frozen stiff from sitting at the keyboard and mouse. After all those hours at work, just when I thought I was finally heading home… along comes the client asking for a thousand and one changes! Here come the dozens of files: “project1.ai”, “project2-almostfinished.ai”, “project3-maybefinal.ai”, “project4-almostandalmostfinished.ai”…What a nightmare we’re in for… But client satisfaction is more important (even if they aren’t always right); after all, we’re the professionals, aren’t we? We’re here for a reason!
A day of creativity, innovation and appreciation!!!
Designer’s Day is on 5 November! It’s the most important day of the year (for us). The day when we want to show the world how our world works – that we’re not robots, and that the ideas clients give us don’t just pop out automatically, like, ‘Can you do that in five minutes?’ Noooo! It doesn’t work like that! Many people see Photoshop and Illustrator (our best workmates) as simply ‘start’, ‘do’ and ‘finish’, but these little words are made up of dozens of tools, comprising hundreds of functions – and each function is etched into our minds, so we have to draw on our creativity to make each one work as well as possible! Each function sparks an idea, and each idea brings to life a flyer, a logo, a business card… It sounds rather mechanical, doesn’t it? But it isn’t. Our creativity is something rare; anyone can learn to use the software, but not everyone has the gift of creating and innovating. It’s not something you’ll find just round the corner or for sale at the shopping centre, which is why it really should be valued – and highly so!
“Graphic design is the ability to create something streamlined based on various considerations, and the skill to strip away the superfluous and distil the essential, finding satisfaction when you succeed in translating the client’s vision and achieving full engagement with the audience” – Ikko Tanaka
Our dilemma… with the programmer.
We’re certainly not short of ideas! Our minds are racing at 300 km/h; the very moment a client puts forward an idea, we’ve already come up with a thousand and one projects in our heads. We’re always one step ahead, and that’s fantastic! Great for us, but a real headache for, say… the programmers! Poor things – it really is a nightmare when they work with us! They can’t always put our crazy ideas into practice or keep up with what we’re saying. Nobody’s good at everything (I wish I were) and certainly not perfect, but there are plenty of projects where it’s 50/50, and the programmer’s part (however brilliant the idea may be) isn’t always (never is) completed in the way the designer ‘programmed’ it. That makes us very sad… and (utterly) annoyed! But as we’re good-natured, we understand the effort that goes into their web development and we accept it…
We are what we do!
This text was written by someone who is absolutely passionate about what they do! They give it 100 per cent and are truly dedicated to the cause!
It’s not intended to offend or criticise anyone; it was simply written in a light-hearted yet serious way to capture what our day-to-day life is like. It sounds like fun to sit in a little chair and stay there all day… but it isn’t; the chair’s position is uncomfortable and often all we really want is to get a bit of fresh air and take our minds off things for a while. Our world turns in a different way to other people’s; our ironic take on life at times is part of the job, given how used to dealing with the illusion of our creations we are. We’re criticised by many and appreciated by few; being a designer is a profession, but above all it’s done with passion, determination and a lot of hard work to reach a certain level.
Next time you feel like criticising us, remember how many times we’ve given up going out with friends and family (sometimes even forgetting to eat) to stay at home, creating and innovating for your company, which is now successful thanks to the image we’ve built for it. Be professional too – show some appreciation for a designer!