I hear it almost every time I talk to graphic designers. Put simply, they say they don't get the respect they deserve for the work that they do. Sure, we'd all like more recognition for the role we play, but there does seem to be a disconnect between the role designers play and the understanding and appreciation of outsiders. I’d love to hear about your experience as a graphic designer: are your contributions to a project downplayed? How can this perception be changed? Do team members fully understand the impact of your job? Do you think you get enough credit for the work you do? #CreativesOnLinkedin
Something I notice is that when an expert in a particular field walks into a meeting they are automatically deferred to and shown respect for their knowledge. Too often, however, when a designer walks in, their knowledge matters less and is devalued in the face of how the client "feels." It is disheartening for me when a client will kill a great composition in favor of an idea that goes directly against design practices. I think the subjectivity of art gives people the illusion that anyone can do it, even the untrained eye. This is false. I believe we need to make it clear that having a "good eye" is not the same as having actual design experience. Creatives are just as well trained as other professionals and our degrees and knowledge are just as valid.?
I don't think we "get" respect, we earn respect. Our challenge is to make our clients take creative risks in order to make them stand out, be understood and remembered. We must listen carefully, encourage their creativity, be humble, be interested in results. Then we may deliver efficient work and be respected...
Arthur simmons quote is spot on. Design is in everything. I think good design is easy to experience therefore people don't realize that someone put alot of thought and skill into it.
I feel people under value graphics designers because of what i call “visual reference” our works are meant to be displayed so when someone has seen many designs, he or she would have unconsciously had a collection of templates in their minds. Sadly this gives a faules sense of “I can do it too” this picture has robbed many designers of their value. In my society we have had people who just got into graphic designing in a commercial printing environment just to make ends meet, sadly they call themselves graphics designers and this has watered down the value also. I have had to outwork, out design all of them, as a professional I simply make use of the principles of design, colour theory to standout. It is not the software but the person behind the software. We must use our skill to educate our society on our value. We are a creative people and not just a graphic designer, creativity can be applied to almost anything and we will be outstanding.
It doesn't help when other artists stab each other in the back by offering 10 bucks to design a logo on some artist for hire website.
Everything in this article rings true and I've experienced it first-hand, unfortunately.
Art & design degree years ago with a long run working with creatives and production teams. I would not trade that for any other. When the team is flowing things move fast and meet tight deadlines with success and the complete team knows success. So much fractioning of creatives leaving pockets, people left to work in a vacuum. Like all good products, it takes a team to stir in the ingredients for common success. Amazing - we all know it when we see it.
Same is true for Illustrators like my daughter Rachel Vargas and for space planners and interior designers like my husband Angel Vargas.
I feel that most of the time the problem is that designers are not part of, or not viewed as potentially being part of, the overall marketing strategy from the get go...Many managers (MarCom Dirs, VPs, etc) are seen as the drivers par excellence of overall marketing strategy and vision due to their training in more “analytical”, quasi-(social) scientific and macro economic approaches, rather than the make-it-look-cool “artist types”, though anyone who has worked long enough in marketing realizes that both “creativity” and “analysis” are two sides of the same procedural coin whether one is an artsy type or a hard core quant. This is partly a failure of educational training on the design side, as well as a larger cultural issue in general (ie, MBA types “get it” in a deeper way because they can cloak their thinking in proper b-school terminology and wrap it all up with “math”, so to speak).
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5 年Not just graphic design. There’s a perception that every job in the creative industry can be done by anyone. While that is true to some extent, those “everyones” need the right skill set and training. In order to gain the required respect however, certain guidelines have to be followed and appreciation has to be taught to the society. I’ll just stop here before I write a whole textbook ??