down with design » Interviews

Talented Design Students From Around The World Part4

Gareth — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 00:01:50 +0000

In the final part of the current batch in this series I spoke to talented design students from Brazil, Germany & the United States.

Thiago Monteiro, 26, Brazil

Tools: Photoshop, Illustrator, Paper and a Pen
Studying at: UNESA – Universidade Estácio de Sá
Specialising in: llustration

What do you like and dislike about your design education?

Here in Brazil, design isn´t popular yet, but there are many good professionals to teach, and I had the opportunity to be in contact with good teachers. On the other hand, I think that I had some subjects about exceeded programs.

Can you give us a little background about your featured project?

I love colors, curves and organic forms. Because of this, when is possible, I explore these elements. I always think to do different things, with different creative processes. I love surrealism, and in my illustrations, I leave the subconscious free, and I try to demonstrate this.

Do you feel that your course has fully prepared you for gaining a job in the design industry?

Yes, I think that my course has prepared me very well. It was a hard course, with many works and little time to do it.

In terms of a design career, where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

In 5 years time I intend to be with my own design studio, specialized in illustrations, and maybe with important clients. I’d like that my studio could be included in big events.

You can contact Thiago by visiting his website http://www.behance.net/ThiagoMonteiro or you can follow him on twitter via http://twitter.com/thiagomonteiro_

Susanne Asheuer, 29, Germany

Tools: Illustrator, Indesign, Photoshop
Studying at: htw berlin (Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin)
Specialising in: Illustration

What do you like and dislike about your design education?

I like that we get involved in real life projects, we can also have good contacts with the professors if we want to and we learned a lot of design history and philosophy which is an important basic for creating profound design.

Can you give us a little background about your featured project?

The featured Project is an older one but it is still my favoirite because it has enlarged my enthusiasm for Illustration a lot and it is very simple and full of details at the same time. It originally was a typografic Project and the task was to present a font creating a book with it. The font I got was Angkoon. It has long, almost agressive Serifs and the bows look organic and carved. I decided it would be matching to illustrate a cruel fairytail of the Grimm brothers using a paper carving technique. It took me a long time but I fully envoyed it apart from the last night before the deadline.

Do you feel that your course has fully prepared you for gaining a job in the design industry?

I do, definately.

In terms of a design career, where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

I’m not sure, but I would like to be working with a small circle of regular clients for illustration and corporate design. I also can imagine myself as a freelancer working for companies- or if all else fails…..I will open a bakery store.

You can contact Susanne by emailing her on susanne.asheuer@gmx.de .

John Robinson, 19, United States

Tools: Photoshop
Studying at: Frostburg State University
Specialising in: Illustration

What do you like and dislike about your design education?

I like the many choices in a career in the arts. I don’t like how I have to learn the basics of Photoshop in my current minor Graphic Design, which is why I’m changing it to Journalism. I taught myself how to use Photoshop and I don’t have the time to be treated like I don’t know what I’m doing.

Can you give us a little background about your featured project?

“The Legend of John” is fan art for the recording artist John Legend. I wanted to experiement with a style I’m not used to, and I think the final result came out well; I received plenty of positive comments on it.

Do you feel that your course has fully prepared you for gaining a job in the design industry?

In the design industry? Well I just recently completed my freshman year of college so I haven’t learned much of anything. The only education I could put towards a career in the arts is my completion of the Information Technology (IT) Program at my high school and my 4+ years working with Graphics.

In terms of a design career, where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

I see myself working for a magazine, hopefully having to do with art, writing and maybe publishing my own magazine.

You can contact John by visiting his website http://www.uniqsole.deviantart.com

I am currently seeking talented design students for parts 5-8. If you would like to be featured and you are located in Ireland, Poland, India, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, China, Japan, Spain, France, Croatia, New Zealand, Egypt or Romania please email students [at] downwithdesign.com with a sample of your work.

Talented Design Students From Around The World Part3

Gareth — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 13:52:12 +0000

Followed on from the first and second parts of this article I have tracked down talented designs students from Argentina, the Netherlands & the Phillipenes.

Gisele Jaquenod, 26, Argentina

Tools: Illustrator, Photoshop, Dreamweaver
Studying at: UNLP
Specialising in: Visual Communication Design

What do you like and dislike about your design education?

Well, both parts are tied together. My school is a public school, with almost no resources, so the education is pretty limited regarding technology access. We have no computers at school, and class groups are huge, so you can imagine the feedback is slow. All student works are presented in class in printed format, and are hanged on the walls for the rest of the class to see and comment, which helps our work evolve and improve. There are many negative aspects, like the fact nobody can teach you to use the digital tools (programs and such), so you can imagine the first works were really hard to overcome… Positive aspects are the teachers. They have an awesome technique to work out of almost nothing, and to make us see and understand what needs to be done in each and every project of the class. I think their effort for us to get the best education possible with almost nothing has always been understimated. As class assistant for many years, I have seen this from the other side, and honestly there’s nothing I’d like more than my school to get some economic support at some point, so the education level can rise.

Can you give us a little background about your featured project?

This project was made for my signage design class (2005)… It was a icon system design for a primary school. Every class and workshop had it’s own icon, that was supossed to be used in the entrances to each classroom. All the students entered in a contest, and my project was selected to be used in the school. Still waiting for that to happen
tho hehe. This project introduced me to vector illustration, and i learnt lots about how to look for the best reference for an icon, how to synthetize, and specially how to draw with nodes. I can say today, I don’t like the resolution of some of the images for this project, but I can say that it definitely was a turning point in my design style.

Do you feel that your course has fully prepared you for gaining a job in the design industry?

Well not really. I studied a career that was aimed to print design, and today I work 100% on web design, so well, I had to learn many extra things along the way. However, I did take in the main aspects of design from school, which do not depend from the medium you work in…

In terms of a design career, where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

Well, my future to me is a mystery. I am moving to Norway in a few months, and will start in someway from zero there. I plan to keep working on blogs if I have the chance, but who knows?

You can contact Gisele by visiting her website http://www.giselejaquenod.com.ar/blog/ or you can follow her on twitter via www.twitter.com/giselejaquenod

Lindsey Grande, 19, Philippines

Tools: Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash
Studying at: University of Santo Tomas
Specialising in: Web Design, Print Design, Branding/Identity

What do you like and dislike about your design education?

We were taught to do design using traditional media. Everything we created and designed for school was hand-rendered for the first 2 years there. It’s only now that we’re doing our designs digitally and we’re already in our junior year. This type of training has really helped train our eyes and hands. There is no formal training, however, on software such as Photoshop or Illustrator. We’ll have to learn that by ourselves. Most of my classmates are at a loss with this. I’m happy I already started learning the software prior to my college education.

Can you give us a little background about your featured project?

This project is for a recording studio based here in the Philippines. Our creative team designed the logo, business card, letterhead and website design for the studio. We also helped design the studio as well.

Do you feel that your course has fully prepared you for gaining a job in the design industry?

Yes, very much. Our curriculum includes a lot of subjects that give us a wide range of career opportunities. We cover everything from advertising design, illustration, corporate identity, fashion design, and photography. I also have a very cool subject right now called ‘Advertising Production.’ We basically discuss how the production process goes. Our professor gives us pointers on what to do in certain situations. It’s all common sense, really, but it helps listening to their own experiences. Other lecture subjects such as ‘Advertising Practice’ are very helpful should we want to find a job in an advertising agency.

In terms of a design career, where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

My best case scenario would be me being a full time freelance designer. I’ve always wanted to do this since I was 10 years old and I don’t see myself doing anything else.

You can contact Lindsey by visiting her website http://www.thecolorcure.com or you can follow her on twitter via www.twitter.com/lindseygrande

Enes Uyar, 19, Netherlands

Tools: Flash, Illustrator , Photoshop, Dreamweaver
Studying at: Grafisch Lyceum Rotterdam
Specialising in: Mediadesign Interactive

What do you like and dislike about your design education?

What i like is that there a lot of creative people, so there is a lot of inspiration. The quality is good because the students are selected before they can follow the design education, next to that there are targets, so its pretty tough. But these things are very important because you notice that this isn’t a game, its very important for your process and future. What I dislike is that some teachers are very soft with the judging and not taking it seriously. .

Can you give us a little background about your featured project?

My featured project is the Branding and Website for “Trajectum – Financiele planning”. Trajectum is a company that takes care for the financial planning of other companies in the Netherlands The website is a combination of Flash, CMS, jQuery, HTML.

Do you feel that your course has fully prepared you for gaining a job in the design industry?

Well i think that it helped me to gain a job in the industry, but 80% is up to yourself.

In terms of a design career, where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

I think i will start my own web & design company, or be active as an art-director or creative director in a team.

You can contact Enes by visiting his website www.enesuyar.com

Talented Design Students From Around The World Part2

Gareth — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:38:42 +0000

Followed on from the first part of this article I have tracked down talented designs students from The USA, Singapore, South Africa & Russia.

Daniel Hunninghake, 21, United States

Tools: Photoshop, Illustrator, TextEdit
Studying at: Saint Louis University
Specialising in: Graphic Design and Sociology

What do you like and dislike about your design education?

I like how studying graphic design is limitless. Every other class I’ve had is reduced to facts or figures or what you read in textbooks. It’s all spoon-fed information, with little critical thinking or creativity. But graphic design…well, I guess I can sum it up by saying I feel most alive when I’m creating meaningful things. And my graphic design education affords me that opportunity. What I dislike is that, sometimes, design assignments can box me in…restrictions on type, certain colors and ways for creating images. It wrecks my flow!

Can you give us a little background about your featured project?

My featured project was a social awareness poster, where each student had his/her choice of any social issue the world is facing today. I chose child soldiers, a topic that has strong imagery and appeals to emotion. I took finger painting (an innocent children’s activity) and skewed it to communicate a very real message that blood is being shed…children’s blood, nonetheless! I added an extra long drip to lead the eye down to the text, where I paired a bold font for impact with my own handwritten text for a kid-like feel.

Do you feel that your course has fully prepared you for gaining a job in the design industry?

Fully? No, I don’t think any type of education can fully prepare you for a job in the design industry. I’ll discover what that’s all about once I take that step. But I can say that I have learnt important skills that will remain with me throughout my entire design career, especially the ability to conceptualize.

In terms of a design career, where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

In five years I’d like to be running my own studio. I enjoy thinking big, so I also have a business venture stored in the back of my mind that I’d like to pursue eventually. For now, though, it’s all about dragging out my education as long as possible to avoid the real world and doing freelance work to make ends meet.

You can contact Daniel by visiting his website www.danielhunninghake.com or you can follow him on twitter via www.twitter.com/dhunninghake

JJunio Nguyen Gia Hai, 23, Singapore

Tools: Photoshop, Illustrator
Studying at: Lasalle, College of the art
Specialising in: Advertising Communication

What do you like and dislike about your design education?

One thing I have to say is that I love Art & Design, so that is why I chose to study it. I love it, it is my passion. It is about ideas and creative thoughts which is, to me, the most important solution for every porblems in everyday life. The study life of a design student is fun, really. However, there are still a few restrictions that we can freely to express our ideas…nevermind then…i know the life of designer out there is also like that. If u are preparing to go to design school I will advise you prepare your pocket first.

Can you give us a little background about your featured project?

The integrated campaign for MAA 2009 ( MTV Asia Awards 2009 ) is the most effective way to arouse the awareness of the target audience. This type of campaign uses many of the tools and channels to send the message. It increases more chances of reaching the target by the strength of different media. Strategy statement: to provoke the target audience by daring them to strip down their shy ego, unleash their wild side to enjoy the music. Single Minded Proposition: The event unleashes innovative music in style.

Do you feel that your course has fully prepared you for gaining a job in the design industry?

Yup, i do think my course achieves that by giving us challenging assignments and they also teach us how to survive and sustain in this industry, which is helpful.

In terms of a design career, where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

An art director in an advertising firm. I just do not know which firm yet.

Jjunio can be contacted by email via giahai@[at]gmail.com

Reghardt Grobbelaar, 22, South Africa

Tools: Indesign, Illustrator , Photoshop
Studying at: The Open Window – School of Visual Communication
Specialising in: Communication Design

What do you like and dislike about your design education?

The thing I like the most would be the fact that the school focuses on the practical side of things, we only have one theoretical subject; at time this does become one too many. The downside of my education I would have to say is the way in which the lecturers project their styles onto the student, but I suppose its the only way how one can learn in the beginning.

Can you give us a little background about your featured project?

The project I chose was an assignment on the creation of corporate Identity, in my case, the client was an organic deli which hosted live bands. We had to create the name, which had to be approved first, the logo, menu, juice bottle designs along with their corresponding labels. The last object we had to create was some form of promotional Item. The chosen name was Attune Cuisine and the theme was birds and bird watching. The menu was designed so that the food was on one side, and the drinks on the other. The juice bottles were created out of glasses, so that once you have finished the juice, the glass could be kept and reused. The pormotional item was a CD featuring some ofthe songs played by the live bands.

Do you feel that your course has fully prepared you for gaining a job in the design industry?

On the whole, yes. In our country and especially the town, Open Window students are well known for the fact that they have more practical experience than most of the students from the other institutions. Another point in our favor is they fact that we cover most of the software which gives us a broad design knowledge from print to video and everything inbetween. We are also expected to complete a six week Internship before we graduate.

In terms of a design career, where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

In five years I expect to have a steady job, along with completing my honours in Visual Communication and most likely my degree in fine arts.

You can contact Reghardt by visiting his website www.cakesama.com or you can follow him on twitter via www.twitter.com/cake_sama

Olga Balina, 21, Russia

Tools: Fontlab, Illustrator, Photoshop, Indesign
Studying at: British Higher School of Art and Design
Specialising in: Type & Typography

What do you like and dislike about your design education?

The good side of my education is that I have really professional teachers which is really important for a young designer, because they help you progress much quicker. I’m studying at the best higher school of Moscow and I consider it gives me more and more every day. When I was studing in the Type & Typography course my curator was Ilya Ruderman, who is really good type designer. He helped open my eyes to the world of type design. After this course i’ll study Graphic design and Illustration, I always want to learn more than what I know.

Can you give us a little background about your featured project?

This is a type family for different magazines. I think it’ll be suitable for Another magazine or Dazed magazine. The type is very similar to my own personality .The Meringue family consists of two fonts: Meringue Regular & Meringue Italic. I also implemented Meringue with some particular features, such as old-style figures, alternative characters and ligatures etc.

Do you feel that your course has fully prepared you for gaining a job in the design industry?

Yes, i think so. I want to have a brilliant career and i’ll strive to achieve it, but at the same time I know that it’s only the start and I must do more. Eventually every student must think about their education, because only they know, what they want. I guess it isn’t difficult, if you know your specialisation from the beginning, for other it takes time.

In terms of a design career, where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

I’ll complete my education and i’ll go to London, because I want to work in the Wolff Olins studio.
It is my dream, whether it will happen or not, we’ll see.

You can contact Olga by visiting her website www.behance.net/Ollga/Frame

Talented Design Students From Around The World Part1

Gareth — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:33:22 +0000

Being a design student can be tough but at the same time one of the most important periods in a designers career. Entering formal design education can allow you to decide upon which area you would like to specialise in whilst also learning the skills which will serve you well for years to come. My design education was a bit frustrating as I always felt that I wasn’t properly prepared for the huge jump from being a student to working as a professional in the industry. I wanted to find out if this was the case for the design students of today and tracked down a number of talented individuals from around the world. This 4 part article will showcase the talent of students working in different areas of design and will give an insight into their thoughts on the current state of their education.

Inés Carral, 22, Mexico

Tools: Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, After Effects
Studying at: centro – cine, diseño, televisión
Specialising in: Branding, Illustration and Photography

What do you like and dislike about your design education?

I’ve always been a dreamer and my design career has helped me to bring those ideas into life, into images. Creativity is all about not having limits, making everything possible. So if you mix those two together you get an idea why my passion for design is huge! I love challenges, but most of all bringing in creative solutions – experimenting with the unthinkable. I guess what I dislike is people who just don’t get my philosophy – everything is possible.

Can you give us a little background about your featured project?

This project was for a Caligraphy class in which we had to choose a word and make a logo out of it and the branding. So I decided to go for this ‘arabesque’-warm look, where you get the idea straight away what I’m selling. I wanted a bold, simple but yet elegant look targeted for people who love variety, and like to pamper themselves with a cup of high-quality coffee.

Do you feel that your course has fully prepared you for gaining a job in the design industry?

I don’t believe you get fully prepared because I believe you never stop learning. I consider myself a person who never gets tired of learning new things, and explaining to others what I do know. I believe in learning from my mistakes so I don’t repeat them in the future and above all, I consider myself a very responsible trustable person.

In terms of a design career, where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

Working as a freelancer. I love working on projects not because I have to but because I want to, and that’s why my work has so much passion and dedication even in the smallest detail.

Inés can be contacted by email via inescarral[at]gmail.com

Rachel Shillcock, 19, United Kingdom

Tools: Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, After Effects, Flash, HTML & CSS
Studying at: The Manchester College, Manchester, England, UK
Specialising in: Interactive Media – a mix of graphic design, web design and motion graphics

What do you like and dislike about your design education?

I like that it is possible to experiment in ways you may not be able to in a normal job. Being in education is a time where you can develop and find your own personal style and put your own stamp on your assignments that you complete. What I don’t like about education is that it is extremely easy to feel safe – you have months on end to complete only a few projects when, in reality, you have to work on many at the same time in a much shorter space of time.

Can you give us a little background about your featured project?

My featured project includes two print designs that I completed for my End of Year Show last month, where I chose to complete an exploration of fashion. My idea was to conduct research and create a website to display this information, which also included a showcase of famous fashion photographers and models. I also wanted to try and create some pieces of design that combined fashion photography and illustration. The first piece was simply created to experiment my ideas for this. The second is my favourite piece. This image was created because I wanted to try and step out of my comfort zone and create something different and I am so pleased with the result. I wanted to display the woman’s sense of uniqueness and her beauty. I was particularly inspired by my visit to Athens, Greece in April 2008, because the image reminded me of the statues of Greek goddesses that I saw when I was there.

Do you feel that your course has fully prepared you for gaining a job in the design industry?

I think in some ways my course has prepared me for gaining a job, but in many ways I think that I have helped myself. Although I have learnt many essential techniques and skills in my time studying on my course, I think I have also helped myself develop in a lot of ways – for example I have taught myself everything I know in After Effects and Flash.

In terms of a design career, where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

I have a good idea of what I want to accomplish in the next few years – I’ve already completed some freelance work and I’m hoping for some more soon and have a couple of potential jobs coming up. In five years time I’ll have just turned 24 – to me, that’s plenty of time to get where I want to! I want to get a job as a web designer that has some print or corporate identity responsibilities if that is at all possible. I really want to continue with my freelance work – although I have now only completed a couple of freelance projects, I have found that I have a real hunger and thirst for what I do
and can only hope to get better and do more work as time passes. I also have big visions such as setting up my own online shop and my own business, but whether this will happen in the next five years I don’t know!

Rachel can be contacted by email via rachillipepper[at]live.co.uk or you can follow her on twitter at www.twitter.com/missrachilli

Andrew Creelman, 20, Australia

Tools: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Notepad++
Studying at: UWS – Werrington South Campus
Specialising in: Print/Web Design

What do you like and dislike about your design education?

I really like all the open ended assignments where its “make a poster using this as subject matter” or “make a web site for this” with minimal instructions so we can really work on broadening our talents. The facilites, especially the library, are really good as well and that always helps. The odd specific brief with very strict specifications have been thrown in but the learning in those is nowhere near as satisfying as the open-ended ones. One of my dislikes is, not trying to sound too snobby here, how slow the course feels. By slow I mean that the difficulty and breadth of learning really feels like its holding us back. Some of the courses and what we were meant to learn in them were far too basic and didn’t really scratch the surface of what we thought we’d learn about. I would’ve really liked in depth courses on typography and web design but what we were given really felt lacking in any depth. Starting next semester though, they’ve implemented an extra typography course for the younger years so I’m pleased they’ve listened and acted on our feedback.

Can you give us a little background about your featured project?

This was a 3rd year course where the year was split into 7 groups with each one making their own magazines, half in print and half online. In each group, we all got given specific jobs with mini-competitions deciding things like logos, grid systems and the typefaces we used. This project was my entry for the cover of the magazine and my class voted it in. The magazine was called ‘Customise’ and we decided to make it a double cover issue, half themed towards mutate and the other as evolve. The magazine flipped orientation at the center and came with a poster. The Mutate side was more negative and was symbolised with an M and a – sign. Evolve was positive and had an E and a + sign. The original cover design and concept was selected about 4 weeks prior to launch and was worked on consistently till the final day. The Evolve side is the lion/astronaut. It was based off a quote from someone I’ve never been able to find again that “the proof we have evolved further than any animal is the fact we made it into space”. I decided to spin it so that it was as if the lion had evolved not dissimilar to a Planet of the Apes scenario. The Mutate side was really the opposite of that, especially with the negative connotations of mutate in genetics. I put subtle references to death into the image to relate to that.

Do you feel that your course has fully prepared you for gaining a job in the design industry?

I’m currently in the holiday period between the 2 semesters of the year and at this point in time, I honestly don’t know if I’d cope. To this point the course has been all about the technical and theoretical abilities and very little about practical, real world kinda stuff. The last semester this year and the following final two sessions in 2010 are all geared towards that transition into real world applications and job hunting so I think any definitive answer about “how ready the course has made me” would be to premature.

In terms of a design career, where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

I ask myself this question a lot and I really have no idea where I’d be. If all goes well, I hope I am in a small design studio anywhere in the world or a crack freelancer with a bevvy of clients. My ideal scenario would be owning my own studio but I don’t know whether I could get there in 5 years time, still too much to learn, see and do. As long as I am in the design world, I’ll be happy.

You can contact Andrew by visiting his website www.futurematic.tumblr.com or you can follow him on twitter via www.twitter.com/futurematic

Design or Decline? – Evolving as a designer in the current economic climate

Gareth — Fri, 29 May 2009 11:41:09 +0000

What I love about design and working within a creative industry the most is that it is constantly changing. From trends, software, clients to working practices, the design world in which we, as designers, live is a great place to be. But is everything really that peachy? Or are we at the peak, waiting to fall?

Competition (literally)

Graphic design is an over-saturated market, no doubt about it. The lure of what seems (from the outside at least), an attractive lifestyle, along with a misconceived acclaim to fame, means that more students are enrolling in design-related courses than ever. Eventually, a percentage will graduate and seek design-related jobs. Also, don’t forget the uneducated hobbyists who claim to be ‘Graphic Designers’ & then, of course, there’s those already established within the industry. With service providers multiplying at a rapid rate & the current economic climate limiting the number of new start-up businesses, is there enough work to go around? I asked 4 top designers for their opinions:

Nathan Sarlow of www.cobaltcow.com thinks design is going down-hill:

I think overall, the design industry is in a state of decline, and the difference between the high and low end of the industry is widening. The industry is flooded with incompetent designers, and businesses cashing in on the ‘tough economic times’ by facilitating the ability for a company to see hundreds of custom designs for only a few hundred bucks.

The businesses/websites that Nathan refers to, I’m not going to link to them as you probably have already visited if you’re reading this, are also multiplying. By offering “design competitions” for measly prize amounts, you would think that this would harm our beloved profession. Well, in a sense, it does, but let’s look a little deeper. I believe there are two types of “clients” that use these design competition sites, 1) those which have a very limited budget & 2) those looking to save money by taking the cheapest option available. If a business only had $250 dollars to spend on a logo or website design before these sites existed then chances are they would have acquired the service by another means for the same price. For example, via a local printers, a friend who knows a little photoshop or illustrator, or maybe they would have had a crack at the design themselves. Of course, this still happens today, and let’s remember that there will ALWAYS be someone out there willing to work for next to nothing.

Mike Rock also known as @kaimere on Twitter, stays optimistic:

Ultimately the design industry has followed the trends of recession, feeling the impact as business’ decline or prosper. It’s easy to jump on the bandwagon and say we are in decline when in effect we should counter the effects and re look/ rebrand ourselves to make ourselves viable propositions. Some may say crowdsourcing hurts the industry however in actual fact it caters for a CERTAIN market who’s brand is moulded around a logo rather than having a logo crafted to their needs, so one may hope as their product grows – as do their aspirations as they try to gain more of your market share and they look for credible sources.

Some have said that the recent influx of crowdsourcing increases workflow and helps designers improve their skills.

Sean O’Grady also known as Fogra on Logopond said:

The design industry is now reduced to which designer can offer the lowest price for design work. In fact, I have seen some prospective clients offering only $10 to anyone who can design a logo for their company or even NOTHING in some cases to gain a portfolio piece. I have set-up a search on my Tweetdeck with the keywords, ‘looking for logo’ and it brings up results from people looking for logo design to other people promoting CrowdSpring, Elance, etc. It really is a buyer’s market right now but ‘if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys’.

Realistically, these crowdsourcing sites only directly affect you if you charge similar prices to the prizes on offer in the competitions. The problem comes when clients instantly believe the best way to get ‘good’ design is by seeking as many concepts as possible. The key is to educate the client that quantity doesn’t necessarily mean quality.

Educate.

The biggest stumbling block a business faces when seeking design work, is where to look? There are thousands of designers online, all with similar strategies, looks & styles, but most portfolios do not include a set price list for fear of exposing themselves to peers. Fair enough. A designer shouldn’t have to public display their going rate, but by setting up a design competition a client can decide how much they want to pay THEMSELVES. Why should a client go with the more expensive option anyway?

We all get frustrated when we don’t hear back from an enquiry. Was the price too high? Did they go with someone else? Wasn’t my work good enough? Nine times out of ten, if a company has taken the time to get in touch then that means they like your work, if they don’t reply then we could be to blame for not justifying the price of services.

Mike Rock thinks designers need to adopt new strategies:

The role of the designer amidst the plethora of home dtp solutions is becoming more cloudy and itself is in decline for those who choose not to adapt. The process and strategy is being lost among the other resources available so much so the title/role of designer is viewed as an unnecessary expense in relation. I could rant on and on but the main point is we need to adapt, educate and be dependable and as credible as the logos/ brands which we create.

I said at the start of this article that the designer industry is constantly changing, so why aren’t designers? Why are we waiting for the phone to ring and getting disgruntled when we don’t land a job? Never before has a designer had to be so dynamic:

Trish Scheafer-Montgomery of www.contemporary-native.com backs this view

Graphic designers not only have to know their own business, industry and market, but they have to learn and understand their clients’ in order to create the right design for them. Not just a great design, but a design that works.
Graphic designers also have to be personable and educators. An educated client makes for a more loyal and appreciative client.
I offer a lot of “Free” support services to clients. None of which are a hindrance to me, but are a good value to the client. I provide the logo in various formats and sizes for almost any media and I a logo guide. The formats and guide are both emailed and burned to disc to be snail mailed to them. For the first six months from the full purchase of the final logo I offer free production support and minor updating of the logo (such as changing the slogan). Part of my job as a graphic designer is to educate, design and provide enough upfront support to help the client become successful. This minor investment is a large investment in myself as well as the client. Happy clients mean they’ll come back and they’ll probably bring friends.

Sean O’Grady believes good communication is more important than ever:

There is no value put on good quality, professional design services. The trick is to work with the client closely on discussing their business, getting involved in it and informing them of all aspects of media available to them. After a meeting you should know as much as they do about their product or service. This will not only help your client appreciate their position but more importantly it will help you the designer create a more effective and meaningful brand identity. I just feel that clients don’t get a meaningful brand identity when they approach the likes of these spec work sites for example. There is also a bigger danger of a client being sued for using a logo which may conflict with an already existing logo all because it either wasn’t researched properly or the designer plagiarised the design. This seems to be more and more prevalent lately, in my opinion.

It’s not just clients that need guiding; it’s budding students too. Some leave education thinking that the only way to make a living through design is to enter competitions and progress from there. That may be the case for a lucky few but not all.

Nathan Sarlow thinks the education system could help:

It seems that the majority of people that graduate from design school come out with the same knowledge and a similar style. I personally feel that the education part of the design industry needs to be guided more by active designers and less by teachers (that used to be designers). This way, the students would be learning more about current ‘real world’ design and not theoretical design that will only aid to give them a false sense of their worth to the industry. With hundreds of competitions running every week across dozens of spec-work sites, more and more companies are re-inforcing the spec stye of sourcing work is acceptable. Regardless of the quality of the end result, very few of these companies will ever be convinced that paying a designer for their time is of any inherant value.

Unfortunately, I believe spec work will always exist within the design industry, as long as there are people willing to take it on. It doesn’t effect me directly though, and it shouldn’t effect you either, but that doesn’t mean I am saying what these crowd-sourcing sites are doing is right. Fortunately, there are still clients out there wise enough to know that they have to pay for quality, we just need to justify our own positions in the market & our services. As has been said above, being a designer is more than just drawing a pretty picture and sending an invoice, it’s about sellling yourself too. Theres a big difference between selling yourself and selling your soul though.

We could all take the easy option & light our stakes, pick up our pitchforks and run to the crowd-sourcers to point the finger of blame or we could just take a look at ourselves, and look at how we can be improved. After all isn’t that the role of a designer anyway?

LOGO DESIGN EXCLUSIVE: Who is Nido?

Gareth — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:43:03 +0000

On Thursday 21st May 2009, I was lucky enough to arrange a meeting with one of the most sought after creative designers in the industry, Nido of www.thisisnido.com. He only agreed to the interview if I met him in person rather than send over a list of questions via email so we arranged to meet up. Running late for the scheduled time of 5:30pm, I panicked & phoned to check that he was still at the meeting place, Waterstones in Birmingham, England. “Just meet me by the bull when you get here, the shopping centre is closed due to a chemical leak.” he said before hanging up. I didn’t even know what or where the bull is so I instantly felt that this wasn’t going to be the normal run-of-the-mill interview.

I get to a deserted Waterstones at about 5:45pm, and approach what appears to be a smartly dressed character standing outside the doors of the building. As the guy is on the phone I give him the nod as if to say “you’re Nido, yeah?”, but all I get back is a confused if not polite nod back. So I turn around to find a casually dressed character of average height laughing in my face. “I thought you’d be taller” he says as he shakes my hand (i already stood a few inches above him). So this must be Nido…. and he’d set me up to greet the wrong person. Great.

After a small disagreement, we decide to go into Waterstones for a coffee (which I was made to pay for) and a chat about his career in design. Somewhat confusingly, Nido spends the first hour of the conversation asking ME questions, even when I tried to ask him one myself. At that point I knew this was going to be a lot more difficult than I thought, but eventually, I start to get the response I’m looking for.

DWD: i get the feeling you dont like to be interviewed. Is there a reason why?

Nido: You know… it’s not so much… well first off I don’t like that word “interview” you know?… it’s so… Ive been asked in the past to do “interviews” and, as a logo designer that is… ive read a few… I can never read through an entire interview… you seem to get the same questions… same answers… it’s very… I don’t mind talking… I don’t know. I may be wrong in saying it’s all about seo’s and… I don’t know…

[nido begins to stare out the window]

DWD: So why did you agree to this then?

Nido: You’re paying for coffee… haha… no… Seriously…

DWD: Seriously, you’re that cheap haha

Nido: Buy me a cheesecake and you’ll see…no, really we’ve chatted before, in the past, logopond etc… I liked the idea of actually getting to meet a fellow designer with whom ive only chatted online with.. I was beginning to think ‘what if this is all some kind of joke on me!’.. you know.. like something out of the movie Truman Show… haha

DWD: Haha, so apart from being very paranoid can you give us a little bit about your background?

Nido: This is beginning to sound like an interview now haha

DWD: It is! The coffee confirmed it.

Nido: You mean design background?

DWD: Yes, unless, you care to share more?

Nido: No… errr.. designing.. ive been designing for a while… you know… about.. over 10 years for sure…

DWD: How did you get into it?

Nido: Purely by accident.

[nido pauses as he begins to watch an elderly Chinese couple take their seats next to our table]

DWD: Ok… do you enjoy it?

Nido: Designing?… yes.

DWD: So what have you been up to recently?

[He continues to stare at the elderly Chinese couple]

Nido: Nothing.

DWD: Interesting… so, tell me, how do you prepare for an upcoming logo project?

Nido: I wrestle… with alligators.

DWD: Haha… ok…

Nido: you know…I enjoy learning new languages, its this thing ive got into… I have some friends… the opportunity is there… why not? Do you speak any other languages?

DWD: I’m learning to speak Spanish at the moment

Nido: That’s fantastic… I want to learn Spanish too… at the moment im learning to speak French & mandarin… I have a Chinese friend… I always pick his brain… he must hate me…

[nido continues staring at the old couple and I get the feeling he wants the opportunity to show off his mandarin with them]

DWD: Going back to logo designing…

Nido: Yes…

DWD: Where do you get your inspiration from?

Nido: Well… I have this little box under my bed… it’s magical… you will hear designers say they do this & that.. buy one of these boxes.. got it from a market place in India…

DWD: Haha.. ok.. I will. So what would your advice be to young designers who may be reading this interview?

Nido: Have lots of sex while you can… it’s harder to get when you are older.

[nido finally gets to make contact with the Chinese couple and begins speaking with them in mandarin. My initial feelings that this interview wont be “run-of-mill” are now being confirmed. About 20 minutes pass before we get back on course]

Nido: It’s very important… not just for business… but for life that you make real relationships with whoever you come in contact with… as a logo designer I get the opportunity to speak to many people from around the world… im amazed by this… somebody on the other side of the world.. and we are talking… albeit that they require a service.. its business… but its very important to build real friendships that last beyond “work”… really get to know them and don’t be afraid to share who you are either… I don’t want to cheapen it by saying that it leads to a very successful logo and great for business… but lets face it.. in any business… in order to know what your client wants and likes you must know their sensibilities and all… but the extended hand of friendship has to be genuine. It really does… like.. there is this one guy.. I did a logo for… New Yorker… fantastic fella… great sense of humor… wonderful guy and id go so far as to say a real friend! Make real contact with your clients… they are real people, treat them like real people.

[At this point nido excuses himself from the table telling me he’ll be back in one moment. Several minutes later he returns and begins to talk about how he is partial to watching bull fighting, sumo wrestling and how he has taken up smoking cigars, he then proceeds to tell me how a cigar is rolled and the correct manner in which it should be smoked.]

DWD: Do you find it awkward to talk about design?

Nido: Haha… I do much more prefer designing than talking about designing…

DWD: Can we talk about some of your logos then?

Nido: How lame…

DWD: Let’s start with your Talkmore logo…

Nido: This is the truth… that idea… that whole concept… came to me in a dream… no joke… I was working on the logo for a friend… I hadn’t even begin to sketch out ideas and bam!… one night… so I get up at 3am and put it together… the way you see it now… that’s the way I saw it in my dream… true story.

DWD: Cool. What about the candeo logo, what can you tell me about that?

Nido: Not much… I can’t remember what happened there.

DWD: What’s your favorite logo?

Nido: I like yours… I like the name too… very clever… It can really go places…good for you.

DWD: Thanks.

Nido: You’re welcome.

DWD: Any other interesting logo stories you wish to share?

Nido: Not with you.

DWD: Haha… fine. Tell me about boldfrog.

Nido: I really need to pick that up again… it needs a push… but I wanted to be able to do something with the amount of people I was able to connect with while just sitting at my desk… I thought if we could all get together… who knows… but I do need to pick that up again.

DWD: So what’s next for nido?

Nido: Well there’s the movie…

DWD: Haha… ok, want to tell me about that?

Nido: No.

DWD: So how do you see yourself in 10 years from now?

Nido: Even older.

DWD: Did you cause the chemical leakage?

Nido: Haha… probably, by accident.

DWD: Ok, thanks for the interview; it’s been very… interesting to say the least.

Nido: Yeah… I don’t like the coffee here much.

We spent the following hour or so talking about quantum physics, or at least what nido thought it actually was. That and little pranks concocted by nido, one which included asking waterstone’s members of staff to search out the availability of books that were completely made up by nido, he would then proceed to get frustrated when none of his requests were obtainable. The evening concluded with nido coaxing his bus fare home out of me… and me… I was left driving home up the M6 motorway wondering if the person I had actually met was nido… or was the whole thing a big joke on me!… I wouldn’t put it past him.