How to be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul…(forward, intro, and chapter 1)
“Graphic design is a visual language uniting harmony and balance, color and light, scale and tension, form and content. But it is also an idiomatic language, a language of cues and puns and symbols and allusions, of cultural references and perceptual inferences that challenge both the intellect and the eye” – Jessica Helfand
So far I love this book and find myself relating to something on every page. They are several things that stand out in the first chapter for me, the quote above being the first. I thought the definition was perfect and as the book says, the first sentence is somewhat logical and not many people would argue with it, but the second sentence touches on all the aspects of graphic design that we have been studying this term and all that graphic design can be. The book is really dedicated to creating an overall definition for graphic design, one that is honest, culturally aware, communicative, and meaningful. The graphic design industry is huge and competitive these days and it’s so easy to be sucked into the money hungry, clawing to the top mentality that so many designers share and that is what this book is trying to prevent. “Every who tells the truth is interesting” -Quentin Crisp. The key to being a good graphic designer is to be “open and forthright.”
The three key attributes that the book finds most important for an successful designer are cultural awareness, communication, and integrity. As far as cultural awareness is concerned, the book states that “without constantly scanning, scrutinizing and absorbing what goes on around you, you cannot become a successful designer.” Good designers are open and educated beyond their own world of design and this becomes important in client relations as well. The book is adamant about being open and receptive with clients in showing that you know about their world as well. When meeting with a potential client, a designer should never sell themselves or abilities or past work.
The second attribute is communication which deals mostly with the communication between client and designer. This involves communicating your ideas and listening to your clients needs. It’s important that the designer is able to express their visions to a client, even if the work is not present. This is actually an exercise that book recommends…”tell but don’t show.” How well can you present a project or idea without any physical materials? Allowing the client to have an opinion is also important. “You have to listen very carefully to what the client wants…and be careful not to approach the project with a preconceived idea of what it should look like…”-Rudy VanderLans.
Integrity is a big one and a lot of what this book is about and a lot of which I haven’t thought about before. Integrity doesn’t involve just designer laws and regulations such as copyright or malpractice, but also integrity in the sense of “not losing your soul.” The book brought a few “rules” that aren’t really legal but sort of in the handbook of “designer courtesies.” These involve things like not working with a client in which a fellow designer has or is currently working on or don’t fall for business asking for pitches. As the book states, “no matter how good the pitch, the designer is not addressing the client’s requirements: he or she is merely taking part in a beauty parade” and “by saying no to pitching, studios and individuals are taking a principled stance- they might also be missing out on opportunities, but the respect they get from taking such a stance outweighs the occasional loss of business.”
