Wednesday, August 18, 2010
For sometime now I've been wanting to write something about graphic design, but I haven't found a good subject. That is until this past Friday at my part-time job. This article is just an observation from my time working as a freelance artist and an employee in the restaurant & bar business. This article is by no means trying to be condescending or judgemental to anybody.
To all the non-designers, the title of this article speaks for itself. Just because you can open up photoshop doesn't mean you should. Being able to open up software, adding type and some colorful pictures doesn't mean you should be designing advertisements for your business or the one you work for. The only reason you should be doing this is for your latest house party or some random event you decided to throw. As an artist bad design and advertisement stick out to me very easily. So when I see them, I'm not looking at what your advertising, but what you wasted your time and/or money on. I think of different ways to make it better and try not to get a headache in the process of doing so. Anyways, this article isn't here to tear you down, make fun of you or trash you business; I'm writing this to help you understand graphic design and why good design, not a pretty picture and text, will help your business.
First thing is, you never go straight to the computer. NEVER. An artist always sketches out his idea before going to his medium of choice (i.e. paint, sculpture, computer, etc.). Whether its one doodle after another, a full sketched picture or even a block with multiple shape to create the layout; sketch it out first. And create multiple images/ideas. The first might work, but you could discover something better. Any artist will tell you that, the final image is never created right away, it takes a lot of work and time.
Time is one thing we always have on our minds. And sometimes people put aside things they think can be done quicker than others task; in other words, they work on the more difficult tasks first. This usually happens with design work (in small local businesses). Mainly because everyone thinks it doesn't take a long time to create a flyer. Well they're right! If you want something someone will look at one second and then throw it away in 5 seconds, then by all means wait to the last minute. But if you want something that will catch someones eye, hold their attention and maybe even want to hold on to it for a while, then take more than 10 minutes to design it. You may think its just something stupid like a handout, coaster or even a match book; but sometimes that's the one thing that people like and keep, and even remember your business by. A perfect example of this is, about 3 weeks ago I was staying at a hotel, and the service and the room were both great. Now the only reason why I remember the hotel isn't because of the service, but because of room key holders they had. You could tell a lot of thought went into it. Slogan on the front, contact on the back, and info about them in the inside and sleeve of the key holder. Short and clear and two colors. Looked simple, but it caught my eye and I kept it. All because it looked clean and I new that they spent more than 5 minutes on it. With that said, isn't that the job of an advertisement? To make someone remember your company. So no matter what your designing take your time, and take pride in not just your business but also your design work.
As an artist it always hard to take pride in your work, when your always looking for the flaws in your design or having to create something your ashamed of. Working in an industry where the average ad consist of women that are barely clothed and text is thrown all over the place, its hard to per sway your client to approach the design in another direction. The main reason this happens, I believe, is because people always say and think that "sex sells." Whenever I hear this I always quote Madmen."Says who? Just so you know, the people who talk that way think that monkeys can do this. They take all this monkey crap and just stick it in a briefcase completely unaware that their success depends on something more than their shoeshine. YOU are the product. You- FEELING something. That's what sells. Not them. Not sex. They can't do what we do, and they hate us for it." Now I'm not saying I won't create something with a sexy dressed woman on it, but I'll work it into my design creatively and not just throw it in there. But sadly that what happens, someone opens up a program, types out words and then throws a few sexy pictures on the sheet of paper. I could probably talk about this for a while, but I'll save this topic for another day. In the end if you don't want to sketch out the ideas, take the time to plan it and take some pride in what your creating, well then you only have one choice...out source it!
Running your own business I'm sure gets frustrating, why add to the stress with trying to save a few bucks and create your own advertisements. You don't have to pay an arm and a leg for design work, but don't be to cheap, always remember you get what you pay for. If you don't have a lot of funds, you can always look for an artist trying to build up his portfolio. He will always work hard to create a great ad, mainly because he wants to get in with a well known studio or just get some experience (I've done this before). With out sourcing you can always find that one artist who not only wants his design to succeed, but your business as well. The better you do means there's a large chance you'll continue to work with him. Taking the advertisement stress off of you and letting someone you has training and experience in design work create your ads, will only benefit you in the long run.
So to conclude, if you want your business advertisements to work either take pride in what your creating, I mean you already take pride in your business, why not take pride in the ads. Or you can hire someone to do the work for you, and they actually know what to do with the software when they open it!
Once again I want to apologize if I have offended anybody. That was not the goal of this article.Feel free to leave a comment, your opinion on this topic, or even discuss why I'm wrong or right! Thanks for reading.
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