Work

30 June 2007, 20:16 | ,

Somewhere I’ve dropped the ball, because as soon as I say I don’t want to work, tonnes of job opportunities come up.

I’ve started part (READ: Whenever I want to go in) time at a print shop, because I know almost nothing about print. There super busy in the summer trying to finish a bunch of big projects, and they needed more help.

It’s nice not having to deal with clients all the time, and just go to work and have work thrown in front of you. It’s also nice because this way, there isn’t that 2-4 week gap between ending a project and starting another one. However, its all Photoshop/Illustrator work, no after effects here.

I was having a big problem to begin with, I felt that I was taking to long on some things, and not designing to a high enough caliber. I got really worried that perhaps I shouldn’t have taken the job, paid more attention in art class, gone to graphic design instead ect. ect. I talked to one of the graphic designers. One of the things he said, was that none of the work he’s put out has been as good as the stuff he put out a year ago when he was a student.

The question I ask is, why? The only reason we could come up with is that when you’re in school, you’re putting out work that you like, while at the same time fitting the requirements of the assignment (which are usually really open). In the studio, the client usually has there own design ideas that they bring with them, and they will also make the final yes or no. In some of my own personal freelance cases, I’ve had clients come to me with the full design done in a word document, and they just want me to take that and turn it into a website. It’s good if the client has an idea of what they want, but more often than not, this isn’t the best solution for the client.

But what about studios that produce great work? Are they just getting great clients that trust the designers they’ve hired to do the designing? Or are they making there creative control agreements at the start of the projects, and just not taking on clients that have there designs done up in paint and won’t yield?

I should be going to Toronto in the fall to intern (for lack of a better word) at a large (for Winnipeg) studio in Toronto. One of the things I want to take away from the experience is how they deal with clients who flat out have bad design ideas (Read: flashing/spinning/flaming anything on a webpage). For the most part, because I’m new and just want the work, I’ve been more lenient towards clients who really want thier body font to be papyrus. Where does one draw the line? I can’t use projects like that as portfolio work, because I didn’t really design anything, I just took there misinformed ideas and transfered it as best I could to the web. Thats not to say every project I’ve done has turned out bad, but for clients who come to me with there design drawn on a napkin, I’m not sure how, when, and where to step in. Email me if you have an answer. I have a few bigger projects lined up, and I’m really eager to do the best work I can produce for them.

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