Thursday, October 1, 2009

Sometimes I wonder if I am the only designer who cares. I have a few fellow designers who don't mind handing out work they aren't proud of. Their excuses for their selves, and their peer pressure on me, is shameful. They claim that if a redesign is better than the original, even by a small percent, then its a job well done--even if the new design is obviously sub-par. I also hear that if you're not getting paid, to not put effort, heart, time, and thought into it. I wonder if these individuals can sleep at night. Sure that thought seems severe, but the must not love what they do... that'd keep me up all night. Fortunately, art, design, creativity, solving problems, opening communication where it was a jumbled mess before--that is one of my great passions. I love what I do. I will put in extra time, not just to help the client, but also because I am invested in their success. I hope I'm not alone in this. I hope than most designers get to enjoy and become immersed in their professions as well.

On another note, I began to understand the drama around the ikea logo. Yesterday, I bought the first grape juice I spotted in the school store. It wasn't until I settled down into my office and was halfway through my tasty drink did I realize this was my usual brand of juice: dole. They changed their packaging! It looks more like the off brand orange juices with a white background and a super thin stroke for their logo. Was this the brand of orange juice everyone talked about last class? I'm still uncertain if the redesign was for financial reasons, or for a more organic clean feeling. In either case, I wouldn't have guessed it to be a brand I trusted and loved for so long... in a way I felt betrayed. Such quality orange juiced should be backed by a quality label. I wanted to show it on here, but i through the bottle away with out thinking about it... the fact that I didn't give it a second though says something about the product. So take a look and see if you see it in the stores. If you don't then hopefully its a sign that they rethought the bland look and amended the error in their ways.

2 comments:

Bobby G said...

Andrea, my mom always says, "show me your friends and I'll tell you who you are." You need to find better friends and not associate with half-bit hacks. Trust me, you won't feel that way any longer.

drestarr said...

I think people have the right to put in as much hard work they want no matter what project, and whether they're getting paid. but i have mixed feelings, because i have handed in work that could have definitely used some more revisions. Sometimes time is factor. But as for gratis vs. full pay, and the effort i put in, i think it depends on the job. Many people don't understand the revision process, that think we create these designs off-top. If we share the process with our clients, it seems to work smoother.