I understand your concerns, we just went over them (biases), but again it’s amusingly counterintuitive for a person who’s business it is, at least in part, to literally help businesses essentially pigeonhole themselves, be concerned with pigeonholing.
I can see it now, you developing a brief with a client.
Client: My business stands for honesty, perseverance, loyalty, flexibility, and we’re fast, very fast, but we’re also laidback and have a bit of a rascally nature. That probably sounds like a lot but we’re a really dynamic toothpick manufacturer. Oh yeah, the logo needs to reflect our dynamic nature too!
You: Excellent! You don’t want to be pigeonholed into standing for any one thing.
I kid, but still, should we not stand for things? Should I be ashamed of being liberal? I respect conservatism (though he who shall not be named has perhaps tarnished the brand).
I was suggesting that your lack of success in getting a sense of PrintDriver’s “political leanings” was presumptuous in that it’s entirely possible that his views are nuanced and not easily characterized as predominantly leaning one way or the other.
If you extrapolate some presumed hypocritical dichotomy between my supposed personal views and how I reconcile them with clients, you’re drawing erroneous conclusions from your mistaken assumptions.
I was just wondering the same thing, harsh and rude, this happens I think in every forum.You can give a clear but at the same time polite and eloquent answer. Some become lazy when they do not have to show their face and forget to use certain manners. But sometimes I wonder if this is not a typical phenomenon in the field of graphic design. I remember our graphic design teacher saying, " never be at peace with your work, there is always something that can be improved" I found his statement a bit extreme and too perfectionistic. He was anything but friendly once he yelled at one of our students until he cried. Many creative freelancers like web design also say that they don’t offer services to other creatives because they often criticize the work of the service provider and think they can do it better.
If you can’t find anything to improve on in your own work then you won’t improve overall.
And welcome to the world of design, I know someone that was applauded by their boss for a design proposal and they presented to the client - and the client hated it. The boss roared at her in front of the client and brought her to tears.
All the workers used to leave on a Friday through the fireescape so the boss didn’t seem them leave on time on a Friday.
In prepress I would have a shouting match nearly coming to fistycuffs with the managers on a daily basis and by lunchtime sitting down and having a pint and a laugh about it.
Is it normal - sometimes.
I worked with a woman who got a call from a client, broke down in tears on the phone, hung up, left and never came back. Have no idea what the client said to her. But it wasn’t good obviously.
If you can’t take someone shouting at you in this business then you might find it tough.
Then again - you might never encounter the level of agression I have experienced over the last 25 years.
I don’t find this extreme, but perhaps I’m interpreting it differently from you, nor was I there when your instructor said it, so I don’t know the context.
Self-criticism in graphic design is important. That’s how a designer identifies areas to improve. Receiving helpful criticism from others is equally important because they can provide perspectives and observations you might have missed.
However, being at peace with your work is different from perfection, so my view might differ from your instructor’s statement in that regard.
I’ve never designed anything in my life where I’ve been completely happy with the end result, which isn’t to say I haven’t been pleased with some of my work despite finding room for improvement. There are always flaws and things that I could have done better, even when it’s only me who notices them.
Even so, I don’t have any anxiety over those shortcomings. Perfection isn’t possible; it’s simply a goal to pursue that keeps the journey interesting.
I’m completely a peace with always finding something to improve. If I ever completely mastered graphic design and couldn’t identify ways to improve, I’d get bored with it and move on to something else. Fortunately, that hasn’t happened.
Hey @Lolasgraphic We’ve noticed you have two accounts. Everyone is only allowed one account at a time. Which do you prefer to keep this one of SZ-Graphics94?
Hmm, not sure what spurred that, but thanks anyway for bumping this thread. It was great fun to reread; one of the most substantive here ever, I suspect.
@Lolasgraphic - You are confusing me. You just signed up with yet another account. Does that mean you want to deactivate the previous and now keep @Sandy20020? Whatcha up to there Lola
in here so I’ll move along.