Australian INfront

And part of a design professional's business expertise is to be able to assess and recognise this, not stubbornly insist that they can make a difference to each and every business.

This. I've got huge respect for designers who advise clients that their budget would be better directed elsewhere.

Everyone knows the best chip shops have the worst design. It's how you know where to go.

so true.

Think about it like this, if there were 2 chip shops next to each other, 1 was fully branded, store front signage, menu boards and takeaway info all to the highest quality / no expense spared. The other one was the bog standard chip shop with texta crossing out old prices and bits of paper over items they no longer sell and no takeaway menus or anything.

I'd be thinking that I'm going to pay a premium at the "designer" chip shop.

Sometimes it right and good design for things to look erm "cheap as chips"

Oh yeah, I got a pun in.

This is getting so off topic...but a brand is an identifier. It's about creating a memorable association. So if the logo is great, and the chips are shit...I'm not going to forget!

So basically to sum up:

Graphic design in and of itself is utterly useless.

You still have to make great chips.

http://www.webmenu.com.au/menus/TAS/flathead/images/Front-of-the-restaurant/#image

nice place

Thanks for the replies.

Design is a bit of a luxury that not everyone can afford and it can be quite difficult to assess its actual value to a small business.

Totally agree and I guess that's the crux of what I'd like to get at. Is it a luxury and how do you assess its actual value to a small business?

Take IKEA, good design done cheaply. Basically making a interior design approach affordable for low income earns such as students and young families. Could the same be done for Graphic Design? Could our hypothetical fish and chip shop be a model for a high turn over design studio, that can handle small budgets quickly and retain a reasonable profit margin?

Anyway- pointless speculation from a naive design graduate whose only days away from starting his first real design job. But I guess I feel like there could be some interesting ways to cater to small business with small budgets. And I guess I feel like there's a big discussion behind how valuable small budget business is to the design industry.

I think IKEA is a good example of good design done cheaply, however it's a pre-packaged product that is in response to the designers own set brief to then sell to a market place.

Compare it with a Design Studio who created pre-set design branding solutions for small business ( using the example that seems to be running so far fish & chip shops). Then fish & chip shop owner's would go to the studio and buy the pre-set designs and add there own details of there business and out the door back to there shop to make it all happen.

Could be a viable business model for a studio but not sure how satisfying it would be creating off the shelf generic brand concepts for high turnover design work.

It's a good question. I avoid small business like the plague as there's often a poor understanding of the role design can play. Usually it's more about fulfilling a checklist items rather than creating something unique.

I know if I see 2 fish and chip stores and one has a fun design whereas the other is the run of the mill, I'll go for the nicely designed one. Often the place that puts more effort into their appearance make better food as well. In my experience anyway.

The IKEA analogy might apply to template sites, in that there are some nice ones that are designed well, but at the end of the day you're buying something that thousands of others have already bought.

I'd like to be able to convince people/businesses about the value of design but I start feeling like a used car salesman whenever I do. Maybe with a bit more experience I'll feel more comfortable in doing so.

This. I've got huge respect for designers who advise clients that their budget would be better directed elsewhere.

...which doesn't seem so common reading the discussion going on... :(

Graphic design in and of itself is utterly useless.

You still have to make great chips.::

I was talking specifically about branding...and yes if you create shitty products then no amount of good branding will disguise that. Marketing will help you in the short term but branding won't...

On the other hand if you make a great product, then a great brand will help you...