I read a great article posted on istockphoto, which unfortunately has been relocated/removed since. But the article describes, in soft and funny quips, their take on what it means to be a designer. I laughed, out loud, at the author’s musings. Here is a summary of their findings, as well as my personal assessment on each point.
Graphic Designers…
Spend the majority of time in:
A. Our Own World or B. Lala Land.
TRUTH. (We) have the courage and desire, to be everywhere simultaneously. For clients, this is a bonus because we can take you or your audience to places you and they haven’t imagined yet.
We see green.
TRUTH.
(Most of us care for the environment relentlessly.) In certain sectors, paper is still our lifeblood. We love this planet and I’ve not yet met another designer that isn’t voraciously protective of it.
Finding the right image for a project is like finding a million dollars.
FALSE.
Finding the perfect image for a project is like finding a trillion dollars. And, if we can’t find it, we will create it.
We have the attention of a goldfish…
OH! Sorry, I lost my place…oh yes, the attention of a goldfish.(Apologies for that over-used and tired clichéd time-stop.) If we do, in fact, have more on our mind, it is spaced evenly between “command-z” aka “undo,” and “I need a bigger monitor;” or “Bacon,” (in my case, Veggie Thai Rolls).
SEMI-TRUTH.
I admit that when I work hours-on-end on the same project, I do check the “before” and “after,” constantly analyzing which works best. And, yes, ingest a roll or two, in the process.
We’ve trained our brains to think rectangularly.
NOTSOMUCH.
Granted, many of us do, but I would surmise that these days, at least half of us (obviously and especially, package designers) think in 3D — and rectangularly, squarely, cylindrically, etc.
We pray for a “Unicorn Deathmatch.”
NO COMMENT.
I’m climbing off of the Unicorn wagon right now.
We see the world in fonts.
TRUTH.
Admittedly, my ego grins just a bit when I see the font, “Anastasia” — albeit mostly on diner menus or marquees….and yes, I audibly cringe with too much papyrus or comic sans out in the world. At the same time lauding those designers that create their own fonts.
Our schedule is like a that of a night club.
SEMITRUTH.
Only when it absolutely needs to be. And, one reason it is: we work well internationally. Actually, most of us are ever-accommodating. That, or perfectionists, usually one of the two.
For all that we designers are, we love what we do and most of us do it well.
I’ve made a lot of comments on behalf of designers everywhere. If you are a designer (or a member of the general audience) and have more to say, or share, please do!