The value in quality design
At the risk of sounding like a card-carrying, ‘in my day’, curmudgeon, I fear that due to prevailing financial pressures and other industry circumstances we are suffering a pronounced loss of skill and mastery of craft in graphic design and typography in New Zealand. And sadly, I’m not sure enough people either notice or care.
Tragedy abounds – six stories up pitted kerning yawns its erratic spacing at us, our newspapers crawl with jarring widows, our magazines with clumsy clear-cuts and god knows what other crimes. I often wonder “How can this rubbish appear in a national newspaper/magazine?” Are other designers the only ones who care or notice? If it doesn’t matter to the layperson on the street, should it matter to us? Are we being precious?
I have to emphatically say NO. It should matter. It does matter. Graphic design is at its core communication and if you master the tools you have a darn site better chance at effectively communicating the message.
Although education (or lack thereof) may be to blame in some circumstances, there are other factors that certainly contribute to this dearth of detail, such as the prevalence of and accessibility to software and computers and the lack of real opportunities to understand what good practice is and looks like.
In my experience, an amalgamation of reasons has led us to a pool of relatively inexperienced senior designers and art directors who have had little opportunity or time being mentored and grow as creatives. We can blame this to some degree on lack of resources (less experienced = cheaper labour) but perhaps there’s also an ignorance in the upper ranks that perpetuates this quality drain.
Cost may be the imperative for some individuals but I have found that many clients welcome the opportunity to have an honest consultation and are often happy to devote more funds to their project when you explain how you can deliver an effective solution and openly answer their questions and concerns. The more they understand the more they will value your skills and the less willing they’ll be to accept crap – win-win!
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Sep 29th
2010
June 21st, 2010 at 2:38 am
“In my experience…” best paragraph written this year. great work.
June 27th, 2010 at 1:49 am
Yes yes and YES.This article gave reinforcement to my own business philosophys as a Builder of 27yrs.I refer to the 2nd to last paragraph and sentences in such as asking if clients would know the difference between $5
0 logos and well crafted, researched…I to find that I need to explain to clients (and sometimes in more detail than I can actually be bothered as it is time that could be used to just get on with the task in hand)anyhow my metorphoric $50 logos are the butchering handyman types who may carve the proverbial shit out of your sticking doors or windows when the root of the problem in my experience is 99.9999% hinge related the other.00001% is usually the paint has become to thick.What has all this builder stuff have to do with Designers you may ask ,and if you did my answer is for you to thourghly believe in the experiance and knowledge you have hard earned in the pursuit of your chosen PROFESSION and to not have your integrity questioned by ignorance.Oh and yes I have layperson issues with designs one very important one it being the super city logo .that is a classic example of a butcherd window.Another more important example of handypersons with $50 logos is the potential of the past, present,and future mayor;s of Auckland to have anything to do with the overall past present future architechtual design of this great city,and leave it in the hands of Pete Bossely and the likes of.Thankyou Tamara Nyholt for your positive article I hope my comments provide you with at least a little positive reinforcement (we all need it from time to time eh?)
June 27th, 2010 at 1:59 am
ps I could do with some dictionary skills I know poor spelling does undermine my convictions somewhat making me seem less professional sorry,but I am a good builder truely I am I mean truly…
June 27th, 2010 at 2:22 am
pps.And yes actually there are other reasons windows and doors sticking eg house subsidence,swelling due to absorbtion of moisture,incorrect installation initially.anyhow you get my drift.
June 27th, 2010 at 2:26 am
ppps,and I do drift.
June 28th, 2010 at 12:11 am
Pete Bossley not Pete Bossely
August 7th, 2010 at 5:01 am
I will always agree with article because it is and always will be at the core of my design philosophy.Trying to deliver quality typography
at a low cost does not work because clients will always try to drive prices down. It is a coninuous battle between standards and cost.