I recent came in contact with and on going pet peeve on mine when it comes to clients’ views of Graphic Designers and the work/talent or there lack of it takes to be creative. I want to first establish that I am in no way unhappy with the industry or my clients, just desiring to educate individuals on what is involved in designing those pretty logos, brochures, publications, etc.
Halogen Designs agrees with Jarrett Horne http://www.jhornet.com/# from EP Graphics http://www.epgraphics.com/ there are quite misconceptions of graphic designers.
Lets review just a few misconceptions…
1. “Can you use the image from the website for our brochure?” (via David Airey)
Sourcing images can be very time-consuming. Many clients will believe that an image they find online is perfect for their print job. However, in order to look clear, web images must have a resolution of 72 dots per inch (dpi). Print work, on the other hand, requires images to have a resolution of at least 300 dpi. Anyone responsible for marketing material / printed promotions should be familiar with a design guide for print.
2. Why does it take X amount of time?
Many clients have the notion that designing a brochure for example should only take a few minutes, after all this is your skill and talent. It is true that our knowledge, experience, skills and creative ideas help us to strategically execute and produce our work better and faster. There are many more factors as well that go into designing a quality peice. We need to research the clients’ needs, target audience and overall business model… This will help ensure consistent branding and messaging. We also face time hurdles in researching and locating quality imagery whether via stock art or customized photo shoots and development.
3. “Why does it cost that much? My neighbor only charged only ($X) for a logo.” (via David Airey)
The client doesn’t often see the process involved when a graphic designer takes on a logo project. In fact, on most occasions the client will only see a few computer-generated designs. A designer will only use a computer at the end of the logo design process. Beforehand comes clarifying the design brief, research, brainstorming and logo sketching (yes, lots of sketching).
4. Can’t you just come up with the copy (content) for us?
The misconception that clients may think copy development and editing fall in the same criteria as graphic designers is not always the case. Many times we certainly can develop copy, catch phrases, repeated themes, etc. but many times there is a completely separate process in developing content for a brochure or publication that is outside of a graphic designers scope of creating attractive pieces. A designer may have these abilities, but still would take additional time to develop, research with the client and execute on a different level than the actual time it takes to design graphically. This is certainly a process that will need to be executed with some time from the client, because of course, who knows their business better than the ones doing it?
Posted by Alex Shaffer
Creative Props to Jarrett Horne & David Airey
