Make It Pretty

I want to tirade against three words, three words that can make anybody in the creative field of design cringe with a sense of disgust and loathing for the obviously ignorant individual that utters them. “Make it Pretty”

Don’t get me wrong, I am all for creating aesthetically pleasing designs get the point across while pleasing the eyes of the viewer. In fact that is one of the best way to get people to look at what is being advertised. Bringing a sense of beauty to a product by creating a look and feel that makes customers want to buy it, or find out more about it, is what graphic advertising is all about. While some people like to look at hideous things continually, I myself do not. So it makes sense that people pay and want designers to make the designs they create look good.

All that being said, why then am I so against that phrase “Make It Pretty”. Quite simply, it cheapens design. It likens all the work that a creative person does to putting a paint job on a rusty car. I find it quite offensive, but for those who are un-aware of the intense work that goes into design, it is a catch phrase that can be uttered time and time again.

Being an in-house designer, a person is more likely to be confronted with this diabolical missile into the ethos of design itself, then say, someone who works with freelance clients. There is something about working for the same company all of the time that makes them seem to think that good designs are cheep and easy to create. Like putting a quarter into a toy machine, and out pops a shiny new design. As any creative professional knows, that is not the case. The mental and creative energy that goes into design is no laughing matter. It is a skill that not everyone has, and even those with rudimentary knowledge of some programs cannot be easily mastered.

I once had to point out to an employer the utter silliness of that phrase, and say, if it were so easy to do, then you would not have to pay a designer. While that was a bit foolish on my part, after all they were paying my salary, the point I was trying to make, is one that needed to be made. The work of a designer is no less important then that of the person who creates the product. I know, and have heard of many brilliant products, and companies, that go un-noticed because of poor marketing, design, and promotion.

So, how does an in-house creative professional go about making the Distinction that turns that despised term into an obsolete phrase in the vocabulary of their management? Several ways come to mind. Some of them are not so nice.

One is, a designer can ugly up their work for a while. Make an expensive ad look like something out of a used car flyer. If they like it, you might have discovered the problem. They have no taste. Be sure and design the real ad on the side, just in case they hate it, and consider finding an alternative designer.

Where a shirt that has a bold type print on it, saying, “ I Do More Then Just Make Stuff Pretty!!” If you are more bold then that you could always have the phrase, “I Do More Then Just Make Your S**t Look Good” I am not that bold, and would rather not offend my boss.

All kidding aside, I have found that the best ways to deal with employers that don’t understand the work that goes into design is to be honest with them. If they are willing, the designer can ask them to go through the process. Show them how you take the design job they give you, and work through it from start to finish. Most employers will have a much greater respect for their designer if they new how complicated design can be. The reason this would work is that it would take some of the mystery out of the process and show them that a designer doesn’t just sprinkler magic fairy dust over blank pieces of paper to make awesome designs.

Just a little warning, unless the next words out of your mouth are, “I Quit”, never, ever, under any circumstances, look your employers straight in the eye and say, “If it is so-o-o-o easy to make this crap look good, then why don’t you do it”.

In just about any creative design field, the designer is going to be faced with people who don’t understand the work, think that it is a snap to do, and seek to undermine the importance how the design effects the overall appearance of the company or the product. The main thing is not to stress too much about it. If a designer knows that they are producing quality work, then the work will speak for itself, and their employer will thank them, for making them look good.

Stuck in a BOX

Do you ever get the feeling that you are stuck in a never-ending cycle of clichés and stereotypes?  If you do, then you might be an In-house Graphic Designer.  

 Yes that's right, If you, like me, once dreamed of that awesome job in the creative world, where you and high end magazine publishers would rub shoulders, and have the ability to tell some of the best photographers in the industry that there shot doesn't look quite right for the ad for Nike, you too would have been struck with a large dose of reality upon graduation from the creative school of your choice.

 Reality hit me, and it hit hard.  I graduated in early October of 2001, literally three weeks after September 11th, and one of our nations biggest tragedies.  The only people that showed up to our portfolio review were parents, crickets, and priest.  The priest were there to give us the last rights to the new careers that hundreds of bright eyed, and hopeful creative had just dropped many thousands of dollars on.  It was dismal.  Advertising budgets were slashed, and those fancy design firms were firing designers right and left.

 Thus I began my journey, with my overly large portfolio case, filled to the brim with all of the exciting things I had managed to create...and some things I wish I had not. I went to marketing firms, and magazine printers, to local publishers, and marketing sweet shops.  Finally I found myself trying just to get a job.  Both the grocery store and Blockbuster thought that the portfolio case was a little strange.  

 After a year of stomping the ground in the south Florida Metropolises, I ended up in a small town in Central Florida.  I interviewed, they liked my stuff, and I was commissioned, "A In-house Designer".  And that is where I stepped into the box.  

 In art school a person is told that the possibilities are endless, at a company, they are told to get it done, fast, and exactly how we want it.  I didn't mind pleasing clients when I did freelance, but now I was forced to please one client, the same way, all of the time.  My first introduction to this world of design was a business card that had so much information on it and about 6 logos.  I was told they wanted all of the same stuff on the new card, and that I had to make it look good.  I went home and cried.  Not because it was so hard to do, but because I knew, at that moment, that I would be doing things like this for the rest of my life.... troubling.

 If they need a photo, I am the photographer.  If they need copy, I am writing it.  If they need a coffee, oh wait, that's not my job.

 Now I have been doing Creative work as an in-house designer for six years and two international companies.  Don't get me wrong.  The work is good, it pays well, and you get the benefit of a more solid environment.  The only thing it lacks is the ability to be spontaneously and genuinely creative.

 To beet this "in the box" mentality, I have come up with some interesting ways to remain creative, fresh, and sane.  Some of these things are quite simple, like I buy and look at magazines.  I try and get the most popular magazine I can find, in what ever I am interested in at the time, and then I peruse it for ads.  I tag the designs I like, and if I have time, I create a way to sell any product using that style. It can be quite difficult.  Try selling soda using a wedding themed background.

 Another technique I use to keep me fresh is to work on freelance projects as much as my time allows.  By doing projects for other companies I get to branch out and give unique companies, unique designs that match their style.

 One of the things that I do to keep myself fresh in the box at work is to design ads that they would never use in a million years.  Yup.  Ads that are pure concept, beautiful designs, great art, unique approach to the subject, and so out of their character that they would never use them.  

 So, If you are an in-house designer, or the Creative director of a company, with only one creative person in it...you, then cheer up.  There is light at the end of the tunnel, and hope for your artistic mind.  Just remember not to settle, sit still, or let your creativity stagnate and you will always be sharp, in or out of the box.