Two things that graphic design seems to have over all other industries, is the expectation of speculative work, and to a lesser extent, trading services.

Spec work in my opinion is just a scam, and while I haven’t traded services I can at least appreciate the proposition because something is being offered for your time. The problem is, the person offering usually makes basketballs, sells pickled herring or does any number of things of absolutely no use to you.

I’m working on a project at the moment for a client who produces a range of savoury and sweet nuts, chilli and lime, or honey roasted cashews for example, a 1kg bag of which was kindly sent to me as a little sample of their products.

Let me just say for future reference…

If you make delicious, honey roasted snacks, I’m open to trading services any time.

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When it comes to creativity, the theory that most people subscribe to is that people simply are, or aren’t creative. In her TED speech on nurturing creativity, author Elizabeth Gilbert discusses alternate ideas adopted throughout the ages on the source of creativity.

In past times, some believed we were all equal but for a little outside influence. To the Greeks, philosophers like Socrates had divine daemons whispering in their ear. The Romans had genius’, spirits which inhabited the walls of a studio.

More recently, American poet Ruth Stone, who in her youth was literally chased across the landscape of Virginia by poems, looking for a poet the put them to paper.

What do you think?

Next time I have an idea which doesn’t pan out I can just blame my house spirit, sounds like a plan.

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Like any business, graphic design has its share of good and bad clients. I’m currently discussing a project with a potential client, nothing is set in stone yet so lets call him “Bob”. To sum up a longer conversation with Bob, it went like this;

Q: Typically, what styles or logos do you prefer?
A: Stylish and simple, easy to remember.

Q: Logo concepts would you like?
A: One.

Q: Did you have a budget set for the project at all?
A: Andrew, to tell you the truth I don’t even know how much a project like that should cost. Maybe you can provide me with some levels of pricing and the differences between a $500 or $2000 project. Thank you.

Good design expectations, straight to the point, straightforward and honest with the sometimes awkward subject of money. So far it’s been a pleasure dealing with Bob.

On the flip side of that coin, it was surprising to read a discussion fellow designer Mark Biegel had with a potential client. After missing a call while driving, Mark quickly called back to say “Sorry I missed your call, I was driving”.

Only to have said client say “Don’t ever ring me and say sorry, when I call you I expect you to answer! I have 2 other developers who could work for me so your lucky to get my business.”

Not surprisingly Mark declined the project and 3 months later the clients website is apparently still not started, guess that attitude isn’t working for him.

How about you?

Any stories for better or worse?

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Graphic design is all about ideas, but for every great idea there is just as often something waiting in wings to squash it. Enter the new marketing director…

Created for the independent film group, Show Off!, each illustration depicts an idea personified ( give or take… ) in the form of a popular or infamous figure and their mortal enemy.

Originally in Portuguese, I’ve done my best to translate the captions but I speak precisely zero of it. Feel free to jump in if I’ve gotten something wrong.

Presenting an idea to the accountants.

The clients lawyers.

Budget. Isn’t it always…

Input from your creative director.

International brand guidelines ( I’m pretty sure… ).

Focus group testing.

Changes to the design brief.

Deadline for the advertising campaign to begin.

Insert translation here ( I have no idea what this says… ).

A creative client.

Client wants to save the idea for later. Poor Yoko Ono, she gets blamed for everything.

Great Illustrations, poor translations…

I was going to make a witty joke using the Portuguese word for terrible when explaining my translations. It turns out the Portuguese word for terrible, is “terrible”. So much for that joke.

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As with anything graphic design has it’s ups and downs. Some jobs are unique and interesting, some are not. A colleague and I were discussing jobs recently, one in particular that came to mind was a catalogue for a commercial supplier of sinks, baths, toilets etc.

Designing a decent size catalogue is usually a pretty decent job, I did have an awful time trying not to laugh however as he explained the 30 hours spent doing vector drawings in illustrator of urinals.

Glamorous.

I haven’t been lucky enough to land a job this interesting yet. A man can dream though, a man can dream.

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Like any form of self employment, freelance graphic design has it’s pros and cons. More often than not pro #1 is managing your own time and working the hours that are most productive for you.

We’ve all had bouts of creative block, you can waste hours trying to force an idea with little progress. I often find myself wandering through the day only to turn out my best ideas at 1:00 in the morning. Hardly office hours.

Obviously some work has to get done during conventional hours, I doubt too many clients would be as excited as I am about a design idea if I were to call them at 1:00 in the morning for feedback. But hey, you’ve got to work when your muse is willing.

When’s your “9 to 5″?

Do you try and work to a conventional time table? Or are you a night owl like me?

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Now I know everyone in the world has seen the movie Crocodile Dundee and that it’s the greatest movie ever. However I thought I’d take this opportunity to answer a few questions I’ve been asked more than once when speaking with people overseas.

Believe it or not…

• I have never ridden a Kangaroo.
• Nor has anyone else, and they do not have parking spots.
• I do not have a pet Koala.
• Wild Koalas, a.k.a. drop bears, do not dive from trees to attack people.
• Yes I like vegemite. No you probably won’t.

I have never used the following phrases;

• Lets throw another shrimp on the barbie.
• G’day Mate! ( without having a laugh … )
• She’ll be apples.

Good old television.

It’s disappointing I know, but TV and movies do exaggerate some times.
Oh well, until next time, hooroo*.

*Hooroo means see you later. No I’ve never said it.

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When it comes down to it, graphic design is all about business. Crafting an image and/or message which distinguishes your brand, sells your products and achieves your goals, but what are your goals?

It wouldn’t be for the first time that a client had something designed, then a month later when business hasn’t increased 10 fold came and blamed the designer for the suddenly unsatisfactory design.

The S.M.A.R.T marketing principle dictates your goals meet the following criteria, they are;

Specific: What exactly do you want to achieve? more sales? more exposure? more web traffic?

Measurable: How will you know when you’ve reach your goal? Having it seem like a little extra business coming your way is hardly definitive. Have measures in place to accurately see your projects success ( or lack thereof ).

Achievable: There’s the old saying aim low and succeed which couldn’t be more true. On the flip side of that coin, setting fantasy goals you’re unlikely to achieve is going to somewhat defeat the purpose of the exercise.

Realistic: O.k. So this is much the same as achievable, but this wouldn’t be an acronym without it :P

Timely: The problem with setting a rough finish line is you will never reach it. If your happy to have something finished in about 6 months time you’ll be just as content with it taking 7 months. Then 8, then 9, 10, 12, 18, then your so far past your deadline you’ve accomplished nothing.

So what are your goals?

Have you recently begun or finish a project of some kind? How successful was it and how do you know?

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“How much does a logo design cost?” is a question many clients ask and every designer has heard. Obviously the answer varies wildly depending on the clients needs and expectations.

An individual or small business will likely spend anywhere from $500 to a few thousand dollars on their logo or brand identity, a medium to large business might break into the tens of thousands while a multinational brand easily spends hundreds of thousands developing their brands mark.

Below are a handful of logos and the development costs of each, these figures are more just for points of interest rather than a buyers guide, obviously your needs and budget will determine the cost of your particular project, be it higher or lower than these examples. But enough of that, on with the article…

Starting with my personal logo design. Obviously I didn’t pay myself to do this, but a lot of time and effort went into getting the design right.

All things considered I expect the development to be worth around $2000 of time and effort. This is, in my opinion, around the high range of what an individual such as myself or a small business might spend to develop their mark.

East Lindey District Council, $16,000. ( It’s not a great design I know, just focus on the price point. )

The University of Southampton, $590,000, no wonder an education is so expensive.

Once you reach this point you’ll inevitably find people saying “wow! half a million dollars for a logo!” All manner of “designers” also come out of the woodwork saying they could have delivered the same result for a mere $50.00.

The reality of course, is that the final mark didn’t cost half a million dollars, the months of research and development did. While this is a serious amount of money to be sure, if a company is netting tens of millions, hundreds of million or possibly billions of dollars a year, spending half a million to get your branding right suddenly doesn’t seem so much.

The London 2012 Olympic Games, $660,000, which despite being a fairly horrible logo seems about on par price wise, for an international event of this scale.

The latest in a long line of Pepsi rebrands, $1 million. Their total roll out of the new brand apparently costing $300 million.

Edinburgh, $1.65 million.

The current Starz logo mark and accompanying campaign supposedly totalled around $25 million.

Finally Posten’s recent rebranding, weighing in at a whopping $55 million dollars. This obviously includes roll out costs, but what a bill for a postal service.

Had a logo designed?

Was the quote/bill what you expected for your level of business? Do the feel the end result was appropriate value for money? I’d love to know.

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Gathered from around the internet, here are 40 quotes from graphic designers, a few artists, a scientist or two and some odds and ends.

A little inspirations for your creative career.

Paul Rand

Simplicity is not the goal. It is the by-product of a good idea and modest expectations.

Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that’s why it is so complicated.

Without aesthetic, design is either the humdrum repetition of familiar clichés or a wild scramble for novelty.

Without the aesthetic, the computer is but a mindless speed machine, producing effects without substance.

Form without relevant content, or content without meaningful form.

The designer does not, as a rule, begin with a preconceived idea. His idea is the result of subjective and objective thought, and the design a product of the idea.

In order, therefore, to achieve an honest and effective solution he necessarily passes thought some sort of mental process … Consciously or not, he analyzes, interprets, translates … He improvises, invents new techniques and combinations.

He coordinates and integrates his material so that he may restate his problem in terms of ideas, pictures, forms, and shapes. He unifies, simplifies, eliminates superfluities. He symbolizes … abstract from his material by association and analogy.

He intensifies and reinforces his symbol with appropriate accessories to achieve clarity and interest. He draws upon instinct and intuition. He considers the spectator, his feelings and predilections.

Sol Sender.

The strongest logos tell simple stories.

Sol was also the head creative behind the Obama 08 logo development, check out this post for a 15 minute video interview with Sol and some great insight into the project.

Milton Glaser

To design is to communicate clearly by whatever means you can control or master.

The real issue is not talent as an independent element, but talent in relationship to will, desire, and persistence. Talent without these things vanishes and even modest talent with those characteristics grows.

Computers are to design as microwaves are to cooking.

Scott Adams

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Design is knowing which ones to keep.

Daniel Boorstin

An image… is not simply a trademark, a design, a slogan or an easily remembered picture. It is a studiously crafted personality profile of an individual, institution, corporation, product or service.

Emil Ruder

Typography has one plain duty before it and that is to convey information in writing. No argument or consideration can absolve typography from this duty.

Primo Angeli

A great trademark is appropriate, dynamic, distinctive, memorable and unique.

George Santayana

Graphic design is the paradise of individuality, eccentricity, heresy, abnormality, hobbies and humors.

William Bernbach

Advertising doesn¹t create a product advantage. It can only convey it.

John Ruskin

It’s unwise to pay too much, but is worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little – that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do.

The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot, it can’t be done! If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run. And if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better.

Salvador Dali

Mistakes are almost always of a sacred nature. Never try to correct them. On the contrary: rationalize them, understand them thoroughly. After that, it will be possible for you to sublimate them.

Freeman Thomas

Good design begins with honesty, asks tough questions, comes from collaboration and from trusting your intuition.

Albert Einstein

I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.

The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction.

I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.

Roy H. Williams

In marketing you must choose between boredom, shouting and seduction. Which do you want?

Vincent Van Gogh

Great things are not done by impulse, but a series of small things brought together.

General George S. Patton

If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn¹t thinking.

George-Louis De Buffon

Genius is nothing but a great aptitude for patience.

Samuel Butler

Think of and look at your work as though it were done by your enemy. If you look at it to admire it, you are lost.

Charles Brower

A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a joke or worried to death by a frown on the right person’s brow.

Bernice Fitz-Gibbon

Creativity often consists merely turning up what is already there. Did you know that right and left shoes were thought up only a little more than a century ago?

Michelangelo

I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.

Douglas Adams

A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

John Updike

Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right or better.

Picasso

Picasso was in a park when a woman approached him and asked him to draw a portrait of her. Picasso agreed and quickly sketches her. After handing the sketch to her, she is pleased with the likeness and asks how much she owed to him.

Picasso replies: “$5,000.”

The woman screamed, “but it took you only five minutes.”

“No, madam, it took me all my life,” replied Picasso.

Unknown

The creative ‘act’ is a process, not a moment.

Got any more?

If you know any other interesting quotes I’d like to hear them.

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