Do your designs make you unhappy?
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- flashbender
If you feel as janne and Witt do, that your design is not appreciated by your clients and design is not worth the headache... allow me to share with you a short passage from Lost Illusions by Honore Balzac.
"Do you care so very much for what you have written?" said Vernou with a satirical air.
"We salesmen of phrases live by our trade. When you want to do a fine work and make a book that will last, you can put your thoughts and your soul into it, cling to it and fight for it; but as for these little articles, read today and forgotten tomorrow, they are worth nothing more than the money they bring."
I'm sure you are all capable of applying that to whatever design you do and see the truth in it.
As a good friend of mine is fond of saying "Do what you have to do to get paid, do awesome design at home for your own projects"
I mean really, I love design. Am I super proud of all the projects I have done? No, I am not, but I get paid for it, and that money allows me to lead a life of comfort and more or less do whatever I wish. And when I have to do a ridiculous project that I know is not going to go in my portfolio or even be shown to anyone other than the client... so what?
I work on that, do the best job I can within the constraints placed on me and use whatever creative power that *should* have been used on that silly, throw away design to make something that I enjoy - whether it is a t-shirt design a self promotional poster or really anything that I l can print and hang on the wall and smile when I walk by it and say to myself "that's badass and I made it"
Not every job is going to be a fabulous design that you are going to be proud of. Once you realize that, you'll be a lot happier. If you can't get over that fact, then yeah, you should probably not be a designer.
That being said I should point out that there are some designers that have reached a pinnacle in their career where it seems everything they do is top notch, some of them are right here on QBN, but I'm not naming any names so it doesn't look like I'm pandering.
Anyway, that's about it. I read that passage last night and it struck me how applicable it is to the design industry 150 years after Balzac wrote it referring the state of journalism and literature in 1830s Paris.
Also I learned that Parisian book publishers invented the concept of the poster.
That's all I have for now.
- applepirate0
yes.
- janne760
wise words. cheers..
yet i think photography is more my thing somehow..
but i will work for moamoa in the future.. he'll drop nice type on my images, all the way over there, down south, in
.
Ludwigsburg, Germany.
- not for moamoa, with moamoa. we are in holland, here counts the collective :)moamoa
- And when you join the faith, I will be waiting in the wings to design your church's logo. ;)gramme
- oh yes, the collective.. ok. good... hmmm... :O ...sorry..janne76
- I heard you fell in love with I heard you fell in love with that townflashbender
- we are not in holland of course, awwwmoamoa
- i may even do that, gramme, who knows....janne76
- wow, look at me not being able to type.flashbender
- i heard you heard i fell in love with that town..janne76
- is moamoa like the borg? There's more than one of you?flashbender
- borg? what it that?moamoa
- star trek nerd reference.
http://en.wikipedia.…)flashbender - oh noes!janne76
- moamoa0
when I work for industry. sometimes, yes.
when I work for beauty&fashion. NO, because they appreciate the work, and are really a part of the complete prozess.
- gramme0
When I work for something I believe in, I absolutely love my job.
Doing the logo for my church was probably the most enjoyable project for me thus far. Now the application process has been a nightmare with them at times, but that's because of this embedded DIY, untrained self-publishing culture in churches that makes people think it's a good idea to go ape-shit with the clip art.
Been working on an ID package for a French restaurant (will extend to website, menus, the whole shebang), collaborating with people in my office who are doing the signage and advising on the interior design. The client is savvy and easy-going. Been great so far.
Times like these I enjoy design, expecially when I look back over the past couple years and see how I've grown tremendously in my craft.
Hang in there Janne, you'll find your niche.
- hallelujah0
many times... sometimes...
- ukit0
Unhappiness, happiness, love, hate, fear, triumph, elation, boredom, satisfaction, physical sickness, hatred, joy....all of it.
- janne760
i have hated every single pixel i moved last few months.. :(
hence the serious change plans..
- stop moving pixels, start moving bricks...CONSTRUCTIO... SHIT DOG!studderine
- studderine0
design the packaging for a beauty product. its revolutionary!
- that is good or isn't itjanne76
- i dont know im just fucking aroundstudderine
- studderine0
i don't contribute shit anyways :)
- cannonball0
Really... web design changing the world? The only good that comes form doing that well for me is getting paid more to do faster/shittier work.
I have my secret projects at home and thats where they stay till i feel like theyre ready to be let out into the world. And that's what I turn to when too many idiots stand in the way of great thinking.