Graphic design is kind of a funny business. A decent designer, generally, will have gone to school for design and been bombarded with all sorts of different art classes in an effort to teach not only the technical and correct processes for doing things, but the ins and outs of making a design look good. It helps even more if the designer has a strong artistic sense already, because it’s not something that can just be instilled in most people, only refined.
The enormous amount of work required even for relatively simple projects was enough to earn designers some respect, but In the last 20 years or so, the actual production process has been made much faster and easier thanks to affordable and intuitive computers and software.
Unfortunately, this gives people the assumption that just because they’re on a Mac with Photoshop they’re the next Saul Bass, or Paula Scher when they don’t even know who those people are. Hell, I barely know who those people are.
The obvious question that arises because of this: how does a real, bona fide designer justify his or her rates as being worthwhile in an attempt to win over the do-it-yourselfers?
cr said:
That’s true. Technology has had that effect. It’s similar to how music sutidos used to be these mysterious places out of reach of the average person. Now anyone with a computer can product music at home and distribute it, regardless of the quality.
13:48 on 06 Dec 2006
PDF said:
There will always be a gap separating the quality of work of the professional and the diy’ers. Either a client gets that or they don’t. If they don’t and aren’t willing to make an effort to understand how that difference in quality will have lasting consequences, it most likely wouldn’t be a very enjoyable project anyway.
00:25 on 07 Dec 2006
raafi said:
As a hack myself, an artistic one mind you, I find that in looking at the class of any artistic field, the very best, quality is always self-evident. The middle classes are always growing, and subject to adulturation from the hacks, but the best work should stand for itself. That said, there is no justification for charging a rate as it relates to the DIYers. There is simply no competition with the DIYers. The rate is the rate, and the second class stuff just doesn’t cut it.
05:10 on 07 Dec 2006
matches said:
Good points, all.
cr, I think you have something there, but it’s more in terms of distribution, which I think in the long run is a good thing.
raafi, don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to pass myself off as anything more than a lucky and reasonably talented hack, but there are plenty (of designers and hacks alike) in that middle class whose skills are still worth a client’s money.
But in the end, PDF is absolutely right. A client more inclined to fire up Publisher or Word because they think they know just as much about design as anybody is seldom going to be a pleasure to do business with.
09:13 on 07 Dec 2006