Australian INfront

RE: QVIVO on 07th November 2011 @ 11.08 AM in News

Great job FB. As always.

RE: I'm a lot more than 'just' a graphic designer... on 04th November 2011 @ 1.34 PM in Discussion

Perhaps I was boastful - but so what? Up until I added my 2 cents, there was a lot of moaning about how awful the industry is. From my point of view, it's a pretty darn tootin' great industry. Beats wearing a suit and driving a spreadsheet all day. It's not all doom and gloom, grrr grrr clients, grrr grrr not getting payed.

As far as the old artist vs designer debate, I see a role for artists within our industry, definitely. People who go the extra mile, just for their love of doing a great job, that's one thing. When your work becomes more an expression of who you are, rather than a solution to a client's problems, is where the 'artist' tag gets stigmatised.

I guess within the term itself is a conundrum — Graphic, meaning the visual and aesthetic side of the equation, where I'd nominate the 'artists' live. Design, which is fundamentally a process of accommodating competing sets of priorities and iterating towards an optimal solution.

I read somewhere recently a great way of distinguishing between the artist and the designer;

**Designers** create in order to solve other people's problems.

**Artists** create out of a need to work on their own problems.

Seems a pretty apt explanation of most of the artists I've known in my life ;—)

RE: I'm a lot more than 'just' a graphic designer... on 21st October 2011 @ 1.57 PM in Discussion

Everyone uses a computer - saying being a graphic designer makes you a mac operator doesn't make sense - Architects spend all day in CAD, drawing. Accountants spend all day in spreadsheets, number crunching.

I spend 50% of my time behind the Mac, and 50% of my time in meetings, crits, reviews — talking.

My computer, my eye, my brain are my tools. I use them all the time.

My skill, the service I sell, is Graphic Design.

But at heart, I'm a problem solver. I spend time understanding the right questions to ask (briefing, strategy, research) and then I try to figure out a solution that works (concept development, design exploration).

Then I talk to my colleagues, and clients, to see if I have cracked it (meetings, reviews, presentations).

And once I have an agreed approach, I implement it (mac work, final artwork, working with developers, printers, photographers, copywriters, animators, signage contractors).

I work in a graphic design company, I am one of the best paid in the place, I am treated as an equal by by bosses, I treat my colleagues as equals. We win, we lose, we work, we play, together and enjoy each other's company.

Clients can be good, they can be bad. It's something I can't control, so I don't stress, I just get what them the best I can, and go home satisfied that I did everything I could.

I'm not an artist, and I don't want to be. I want to solve other people's problems, and make their business or life, better. I don't want to just sit colouring in my pretty pictures all day and be left alone, I want to interact, discuss and work with people, so that I can help them.

I live in with a nice apartment, in a nice suburb, in a great city, in a great country, with a great lifestyle.

If you feel this is a low value industry, if you aren't getting paid, if you hate it - either leave the industry, or perhaps consider you may be in the wrong part of the industry. The view's great from where i'm sitting!

Fuck yes I love being a graphic designer, and it's the best word there is to describe what I do, and I wear that badge with pride.

;—)

RE: ...Oh yes, they did. on 21st October 2011 @ 1.44 PM in Discussion

A bit late to this party guys... It was reviewed a couple months ago, not exactly up on the pulse of branding and identity, are we!

I don't know what site you are linking to, it seems to be stealing Brand New's content. Here's the proper link to Armin's review:

http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/fosters_brews_new_image.php

Regarding the work — it's not that bad. So it has some gradients - pffft big deal. It works, and is appropriate for the client. I look at it and I get that it's a beer company. Job done.

Move along...