Life Imitating Design

The story goes something like this (and is subject to the rules of Chinese Whispers, but the idea remains the same):

Pablo Picasso is dining at a restaurant when a passer by recognizes him and asks the artist for a favor: a quick sketch. The aging Picasso finds some paper and a pencil and spends a few minutes drawing something to please his fan. He hands over the finished piece and says ‘That will be $10,000 please’. The passer-by, stunned by the high price tag exclaims ‘But it only took you five minutes’, to which the painter replied ‘No, it took me 25 years’.

While not all graphic design jobs can be undertaken in just a couple of minutes (most jobs will take a lot longer than expected or often budgeted for), it is not necessarily the time you are paying for, but the expertise. Pablo Picasso had spent many years honing his craft, making mistakes and discovering what worked and what didn’t. Graphic designers too spend many years, that you will not have seen, in training and developing skills.

The flip side to this story is that many jobs require much more time than expected. Design is not an event, but a process. To correctly create a commercial piece (print design, web design, multimedia, etc) requires research, time and space. Research of the customer’s field or industry; time to work through all the wrong answers and ill fitting solutions; and space to process the research and other data to produce something truly creative.

Most graphic designers charge a little less than $120,000 an hour, but they will still have many years of experience that they will put to work for you and your business.

*Photo credits: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pablo_picasso_1.jpg

Looks like we're all out of scope. Better get some more.

Scope creep is not the close talker in the office you avoid at all costs unless you can offer him gum. Scope creep is way more dangerous (and costly) than that.

Imagine you are out for a meal and you ask the waiter how much a meal costs (silly question, but just go with me here). His reply? “Entrees are $15″. Great, you think, I can eat for $15. So you order the salmon with rice pilaff and sauteed asparagus. Delicious. Of course, you have to have a glass of wine with that, follow it with dessert and round it off with an espresso. When you get the bill, you are somewhat surprised to see the final figure is $28, not the $15 you expected.

You ask the waiter why your $15 meal is now $28. “Well,” he replies, “you asked how much a meal costs, and the entrees are $15. But you also ordered the Sauvignon Blanc, cherry cheesecake and coffee.” Did you really think they were all included with the entree?

Of course they weren’t included in the entree. There’s a menu in plain site, whether you read it or not, and common sense really would prevail. What if the waiter asked you if you wanted dessert, would you take that to mean he would be buying? Of course not.

Asking your service provider (whether it’s web design, print design, marketing consulting or any other service) to add services on without the expectation of paying for them is theft. Continually adding ‘one more thing’ to the project is asking them to work for free. Whether that’s an hour or six hours, that’s time that could have been spent on another project that would have been billed.

You don’t ask others to do ‘just one more thing’, so why would you ask your graphic designer to add ‘just’ a logo, flash animation or another form?

Most designers and consultants are very flexible. They would be more than happy to accommodate what you need and come to some kind of arrangement. This doesn’t mean constant freebies, but it may mean that they could spread out payments, subtract another service in exchange for what you are requesting or trade services.

Not only does scope creep rob the service provider, it also taints the project, leads to an inferior product and hurts a potentially long term relationship.

So is the relationship really worth that little extra add-on? Or can it wait until next time?

Who is responsible for the internet?

That’s right folks, the new version of the internet will be released very soon. Version 3.0 will be better, bigger, smaller, faster, easier, more intricate, scalable, portable, renewable and usable.

Actually, it won’t be.

The problem is that there is no version 3.0. There really wasn’t a Web 2.0 either. Yes, there have been advancements in markup languages, online applications and design styles, but this numbering system and promise of a Next Generation internet (yes, I know Gene Roddenberry invented the internet, not Al Gore) is simply reverse theorising, looking back at technological advances and seeing where things will lead in the future.

Cisco decided to set themselves up as the prophets of a new internet, the connectivity that will create greater value for businesses and personal users. Perhaps their 23% increase in profits went to their head and they thought it was a Sign. A sign that Somebody out there wanted Cisco to tell the good news to all, and to forge the way for the common folk.

I’ve never liked Kool Aid. And perhaps this was just one over-eager blog post that was trying to reach further ahead than necessary. But there are easier ways to make sure the internet (if you think anyone at all has any sought of control over it, Google aside) easier to use, more accessible and just happier for everyone.

But like any revolution, the best way to start is with your own small corner of the world. Here are some tips:

1. Stop spam. If you think you have to reach thousands of people at a time, start a newspaper. Then close it down, and start a blog.
2. Be real. If your marketing message, your website and everything else you say is not the utter truth, give it a rest. We’re all way too smart to be duped. Ok, most of us are.
3. Be honest. If you are not an expert in web design, SEO, web usability, interface design and copywriting, leave it alone. Back AWAY from Dreamweaver, and call someone who studies these fields, understands the way websites need to be built and designed, and get on with doing what you’re good at. Your job.
4. Do your job. If you’re a plumber, plumb. If you’re a cook, cook. I don’t want to be waiting for my meal while you finish reading a chapter from ‘HTML for Dummies’. Perhaps you aren’t literally studying in the kitchen, but if you’re going to hone skills, make sure it’s ones people expect of you.

Don’t wait for the new version to be released. Just make sure your web designer knows what they are doing.

By the way – why is it that nobody talks about Print Design 2.0, or Business Cards 3.1 ? Perhaps people ought to be just as critical of print materials as they of the web.

Not every male is impressed by sex in advertising.

Yesterday afternoon (Sunday 7 February), your television was taken over by an advertising event of enormous proportions!
Unfortunately, those commercials and other forms of entertainment were regularly interrupted by some sport or other, but that’s not important.

The problem was that there were a few ads by a hosting company, GoDaddy, that were anything but appropriate family viewing. GoDaddy is in fact known for their sexist commercials, both online and on television, and this is the reason for my stand.

GoDaddy insults thinking males everywhere. Not every guy is lured to buy from a vendor because they use women as advertising bait. Think about it. Does it really make sense to think that because you use GoDaddy that you are part of a group of playboys that become more attractive to women? I understand that beer commercials are not implying that by drinking Brand-X that you will be surrounded by single females, but the implication is that the brand belongs to the more attractive type of man.

Yea. Right.

Netfirms do not have any such ridiculous advertising, so they get my domain business. Not GoDaddy. For the same reason, I refuse to play Dean Markley strings.I doubt the company will suffer because of my loyalty to any company except them, and neither will you see D’Addario stock prices shoot through the roof, but it’s my money, and I vote with my wallet.

So when it comes to domain and hosting companies and others who decide to tempt their customers with a thin veil of sexism, vote like a man.

And in good news, the Google Ad was just about perfect. Search for it on YouTube!