How clip-art can create a 'graphic designer'
Niels van Everdinck
http://www.idontwerp.nl/nlintroductie.htm
The 'graphic designer' is selling full color business cards and flyers.
Lamination is his specialty in a pathetic attempt to give his brilliant
stuff a boost. Apparently he is using CorelDraw because it's shipped
with tons of clip-art :-)
--
"Besides, it is always the others who die."
(Marcel Duchamp)
Houdt moed, het komt nooit meer goed...
(Niels van Everdinck)
William F. Adams
insurance company owner who had hired http://www.logoworks.com to do a new logo
--- he wanted feedback.
The really sad thing was all of the logos looked like freshmen design
exercises, w/ scarcely the slightest effort to convey insurance and choices
(the latter was part of their tagline). The one interesting mark lacked _any_
connection.
Unfortunately, graphic design can be mostly about marketing in terms of getting
clients &c., as opposed to doing good, creative, original work. Which is a good
argument for improving art education in the schools so that potential clients
will be better able to make aesthetic judgements.
William
--
William Adams
http://members.aol.com/willadams
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
Stuarrt B. Henlis
"Niels van Everdinck" <ni...@nielsjonas.demon.invalid> wrote in message
news:2004103010032713927%niels@nielsjonasdemoninvalid...
You've posed difficult question. I'll throw in my cents in. The only things
that will make a graphic designer is training, time and training. The
designer must know the art of design, and understand the basics of image
reproduction. The designger must learn about digital typography. In short,
there's much, much more to graphic deign than having loads of clipart.
Mohamed Al-Dabbagh
Hi!
I'd like to say the following:
With time, Graphic Designer, has becoming more and more synonymous to
Graphic Composer. Design is a creative work that can seldom be
attributed to the concept of art. The client comes to you and (s)he
has the desire to come up with something that was in his mind, not the
graphic designer's mind. So, in business and REAL life, designer's
creativity is an elastic concept that has amoebic nature! Many people
who work in the position of graphic designer, are not creative!
The rule is that creative person should have the ability to provide a
design from scratch, that serves to be the basis upon which the client
starts. On the other hand, the client is the one who pays. Now, if the
client sat with you and brought something with him that is much
similar to a certain artwork or clip art, and told you, I want
something like this! Would you tell him that you are going to do
something else better? That would be creative, but also, a foolish
idea. Your objective is to bridge the gap between you and the client…
You should even be able to boost the egoism of that client, such that
(s)he goes out satisfied, and expect that he will someday show off
saying: I did that design!
The experience shows me that there are four kinds of clients:
1- Brand Manager, and this one should be able to provide you with what
is called creative brief. This brief shows the general guidelines such
as the description of the design, dominant colors, targeted audience
and the brand line. Such Brand Managers are typical in large
multinational firms.
2- Company's Owner (or his kids!), so be patient and expect a lot of
revisions. You have to sit with this client a long time, and try to
make some sketches in that meeting. This way you bridge the gap to
some extent.
3- Careless Client: This client will not pay attention to creativity
as much as to the prices. So, you should go the other direction of
economical solutions, and quick fixes!
4- The Artist: The artist could also be a client. The artist could be
a sword of two edges. Artist may torture the designer, in case that
designer is not an artist, and may relief the designer if the designer
is an artist.
What about clip art? Does it make a graphic designer? Actually, clip
art should be considered a time saving design tools. The usage of clip
art to compose a complete work will sometimes do! I believe that
clients No. 1 & 4 will not accept to have ready-made clips or poor
work. However, you are on your own to use clips with the clients 2 &3
above, and they will accept ready-made clips as they feel their
objective is a traditional graphic composition that serves their goals
without infringing other's intellectual properties. On the contrary,
they will even accept to use the same sorts, dings and beans used by
the others (e.g., one client ordered a 2-color NO SMOKING A4 sticker,
quickly you think of a red-slashed black outlined lit cigarette inside
a red polygonal, and uppercase black NO SMOKING nearby on a white
background). On the other hand, if client (1) or (4) where in need of
the same NO SMOKING sticker, they would think of other considerations
such as: How many sides are in the diagonal, and if the top of the
diagonal was the corner or the flat side, how cigarette looks like,
is it slim or fat or looks like a Havana, and if NO SMOKING was typed
with serifs, sans serifs, all uppercase, small caps, or initials
uppercase only, and what background is to be used, and if there are
certain spot colors that better suits corporate ID (in case of client
1) or spots that better suits some lighting conditions (in case of
client 4), etc. The job of designer will even be harder in cases where
calligraphy is important. I believe that graphic designer will not be
qualified unless he or she has a minimum knowledge in calligraphy,
painting and engineering drawing, along with the knowledge of using
computer software..
Mohamed Al-Dabbagh
Senior Graphic Designer
covent...@yahoo.com
overcharges. Never again!