Questions about the general opinion of YP Designers

[Abyssinian1]

Hi. I have some questions for the freelance and agency designers here on their perceptions regarding yellow pages designers, specifically those who work for the publishers as in-house designers.

I have worked as a yellow pages ad designer for over 15 years, for one of the larger YP publishers, so I can't really name the company I work for. I took the job out of college in the very early ninties because I needed health insurance and over more than a decade and after witnessing the technological changes that have ensued in the industry, I have come to regret that career move. At the time I joined up, I did not realize just what would happen to the entire 'search' industry (the transition of local search from print to search engine) and because it's a somewhat insular specialty, I have found myself pigeonholed as far as a graphic design career (can't use anything I've designed in the portfolio because it belongs to the company and because as a matter of work processes more than one designer ends up working on a logo or piece of advertising). I also did not realize just what a low opinion most designers trained in the last six years or so have of this particular medium - While most of the feelancers I speak with are professional in their interactions, there are occasions when I can detect an attitude that is openly condescending (more of a 'you aren't REAL designers or artists - you're simply production hacks).

What is the general consensus about artists who work for these kinds of corporations? What little there is on the web, in designer blogs and in books related to yellow pages advertising is overwhelmingly negative regarding the designers that work in that specialty, especially if they actually work for the publisher. I realize that the authors of these books have products to sell and axes to grind, but I wanted to know if the rest of the graphic design community (some of whom might create these as freelance work) at large felt the same way about what we do.

The second question I had was how the freelance designers who do yellow pages ads for their clients decided to go about the work, what they coose to emphasise in the ad, what their mindset is going into the work, etc. What are the complaints about working with these phone book publishers as far as specs, as far as publishing standards and content criteria, etc. I seriously want to know what some of the perceptions out there are. Please don't worry about offending me with opinions. I've been at this for a very long time and I have very, very VERY thick skin when it comes to my work.

My attitude toward my profession is that it is one of the most challenging graphic design specialties out there. As a rule, we really don't use a 'template' approach to design the way the books say we do - we create and edit each ad from scratch, unless it's provided by the customer. I am very aware of how much what I do affects the customer purchasing the ad - sometimes this is the only advertising a small business purchases and I am very mindful of the accuracy and the quality of the ads as I build them.
I also do upwards of twelve ads per day (not just quick line changes) but concept-to finished product.

Any answers to the above questions and opinion with thought-out commentary will be gratefully and humbly received.

[Drazan]

Our YP book has the distinct impression of "who has the biggest phone number" rather than actually showing what the company's business really is. I've also seen numberous YP ads that are not done well at all.

There's also two YP books here. Not a freaking clue why, because all it does is double up the advertizing costs of the businesses that publish in both books.

I think it is really up to the designer to do well or bad for the client.

I can't say about any predujice here, I've been in graphics and fine arts for nearly 20 years myself. Speculating that with all the new technology and color that perhaps many feel the YP book is outdated. I for one use my YP books to prop up a third monitor everybso often, and have used it for every other purpose other than to look up a number. I use the net for that.

Are you freelancing as an ad creator? Or are you expanding into a much broader range of graphics and design?

[PrintDriver]

Our YP do stress the phone number (I think that's what they are for ;)) but most of the larger ads do seem to do fairly well about describing the business they represent. And I gotta say, rarely is a typo seen, which is more than I can say for web pages.

I don't think it is entirely the ad artist's fault if the clients' logos come across poorly. I blame the clients' designers for that issue. Or the clients themselves for choosing poorly. LOL!

I'm in production, not design so much, so maybe my opinion is skewed, but I've always been of the opinion that production is just as skilled as any other design job. It just a different skill set in just as productive a career. There is more to production than just plopping text and images into a template and there are ways to use these programs that designers never have the 'time' to figure out.

[Abyssinian1]

Drazen... the reason for multiple print directories in any given market (Boston, Albuquerque, Rochester, Chicago, et. al) is economics. You have two types of YP directories: ones that were once part of the telephone company and that have been spun off or purchased and now have to stand on their own feet, and independent YP books like Yellow Book, which have never been part of a telephone company. I think Yellow book is based out of the UK. If one book is making a sizeable profit, then other directory publishers will move into the territory.

I have tried expanding into other areas, but because of the nature of the company I work for, I have to be EXTREMELY careful about the kind of art I do - anything that can be constituted as 'competing with' my employer I have to turn down as a 'conflict of interest'. This includes logo design for businesses, web design for businesses, designing banner ads, etc. I'm supposed to steer that stuff to my company. Illustration seems to be okay to do as long as it isn't for these high-spending customers. My company offers graphic design services for free to any customer that spends over a certain amount of money with us, and though none of those businesses have ever utilized the service in the thirteen years we've offered it, it effectively ties our hands as far as the kind of freelance jobs we can accept without being fired.:(

Then, I've found, that after a 60 hour week (sometimes for months on end), I really don't have the energy to muster up the desire to put pen to paper (or Wacom to tablet, in my case) at home.