Ravenstar Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 O.M.Goodness I didn't do logos that bad in high school…by hand, with Letraset and clipart (yes, I remember the days of paste-up). I've put years of hard work, and education, and constantly learning/upgrading my skills to be a good designer. I.am.speechless. (Do people really still use the bevel filter in PS?) http://www.logomaster.com/logo_design.php It's like that collection of bad logos ( http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/worst-logos-ever-designed/ ), but they are proud of it, and they do websites and SEO as well, ...apparently. Just… no, please don't call yourself a designer. Oh… there's another one. http://southriverdesign.com 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
violetbutterfly Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 My sister is an amazing, talented artist with a graphic design degree that is collecting dust. She works in foreclosure auctions. Because of crap like this. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravenstar Posted March 6, 2015 Author Share Posted March 6, 2015 I hope she does some work on the side.. the world needs good design. I just wish people would look around them and realize that almost everything has the stamp of graphics on it… EVERYTHING. Then we have "mr. I-can-push-the-text-warp-button-aroun-an-MS Word-clipart crap", calling himself a designer while many of us are begging for work. sigh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
violetbutterfly Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 She does do a little work on the side. But I feel like she has so much talent not being put to good use! She used to also paint wall murals and she is amazing. Truly amazing. I'd see "professional" murals that didn't come close to what she could do. But now that she works full time and has a daughter, that's been on the back burner. Plus she started to have neck and back problems from all the ceiling work. But I agree.. it's the same with a lot of industries these days...someone gets a website, calls themself a pro and under charges for services, and it takes business away from the real professionals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owen652 Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 Oh wow, they realise it's 2015, right? I feel your pain, I finished my graphic design diploma in 2012 and since then haven't had much luck finding either a job or freelance work. The job I'm in now employs me as mainly a warehouse bitch with a little graphic design thrown in, plus I do a little freelance here and there.. but yeah designers are really undervalued and people seem to just assume you will do small jobs for free. And with larger jobs it is scope creep that is the problem. I am reconsidering whether I want to pursue design at all now, it has really gotten me down. Anyhow, here's my website if you wanna check me out: http://emeraldcitydesigns.com.au/ Have you seen http://www.websitesthatsuck.com/? That shit is gold.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owen652 Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 btw, your paintings are awesome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator florduh Posted March 6, 2015 Super Moderator Share Posted March 6, 2015 I've been in this game for a long time as well. Art school and apprenticeships go back to the '60s. Cut and paste, manual typesetting, pen and ink, etc. I've used a Compugraphic Editwriter for typesetting and masked, shot and filtered in a wet darkroom. I taught myself computer skills as the times changed. I actually think I have a good design sense and the ability to pull it off; at least I was able to fool everybody for 40 years. Still, "art" in general is bullshit. I remember one museum trip in art school where there was a special display of blank canvases, each with a small razor slit. Another special show was of the "art" of someone who took random Polaroid pictures and mounted a dozen or two in one frame. Museum quality art!!! Fact is, most people don't know good art from bad, they just know what they like. Graphic design has to please a customer who doesn't always have great taste or must choose a design by committee vote. Mediocre is actually good enough for commercial purposes and is the basis of our economy. But yeah, "artists" are everywhere. It's just an attitude one adopts and a declaration to the world of one's special status as one of the few talented, skilled and insightful ones. Most art I see in local galleries or street sales is at best an attempt at a craft, not real art in the sense of Rodin or Matisse or even Warhol. The world of graphic art seems to operate in a similar way. There's no recognition of excellence in the field because excellence in any form of artistic endeavor is no longer necessary if the goal is to sell work to an uninformed and uncaring public. The successful "artist" is not necessarily, or even usually, the best artist. And that goes for painting, sculpture, music, writing and graphic art. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravenstar Posted March 6, 2015 Author Share Posted March 6, 2015 I totally feel ya. I think one of the problems in graphics is that really good design is invisible… the average person does not see the effort put into the packaging on their candy bar, or the ad that got them thinking about buying that car… they see the message - and that's the way it's supposed to be. It's communication art, and the very best communicates the message of the client to the point where the 'art' dissolves. Good design becomes iconic - think IBM, or Apple… or any large company that's been around a while. (McDonalds must have a kick-ass marketing/design team) Clients can be one's worst enemy though - I honestly think a lot of them really do not understand what design does for them, or their business. Larger clients have a better idea… but they will also pay for it without thinking their cousin's kid with MS Paint can do the same thing. Outsourcing is a big problem and with that plagiarism, which is rampant these days. (read: theft) Embarrassing… and many companies are going to have to rebrand when they find out they can't register their identities because of copyright issues. Another issue is there is no standardization in the field - any nitwit with a computer can call themselves a designer. I'd like to see them try to make a (print ready) poster by hand! LOL I am a fine artist, but also a designer - different process… different goal completely. However, I'm a huge fan of the classical artists (though I'm not totally stuck on realism.. Klimt is also one of my favourites, and some video game art is absolutely amazing) and have a hard time calling some of what is out there… art. "Art' suggests some level of skill, or mastery… without it I don't think it's really art. Some people need to just admit they suck at art and go get a real job. Thing is I really love designing… but the upgrading I need now is a bit daunting (designing for mobile/interactive - so much to learn, need to team up with a coder, I think). Right now I do it part time… and have another job to fill in the downtime between clients - so I can eat and afford my flippin' software. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
violetbutterfly Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 RS, agreed totally that the true effort is invisible. Another example is with makeup, which is an art. You aren't supposed to say "your makeup looks pretty" just "you look pretty" (because of all the properly done makeup and subtle shading you have no idea is there). People don't get that. Florduh, I was sitting in a doctor's office waiting room last week that obviously hadn't been redecorated since the 80s. They had the ugliest "abstract art" I've ever seen on the wall. It was a giant canvas that had paint thrown at it. It had paint splatters, marker scribbles and airbrush doodles all willy nilly, in ugly bright colors. It honestly looked like something my 2 year old niece could do. And it said something on the bottom about the San Francisco art museum expo 1987. I was looking at it thinking about those pencil drawings that are so realistic they look like photographs. That is talent. This was...not. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Furball Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 My graphic arts knowledge isn't worth crap today. Where i live, if you are a graphic artist, it's the same as saying your are broke. I know many people who's graphic arts education never really paid off and are now doing other gigs to stay alive. My graphic arts education is what i used to help get me into landscape designs, with out it i would be homeless in the streets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owen652 Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 Thing is I really love designing… but the upgrading I need now is a bit daunting (designing for mobile/interactive - so much to learn, need to team up with a coder, I think). This is also my problem. Coding makes me want to vomit, and I have not the slightest inclination to keep up with mobile/responsive web design. Web in general holds no interest for me, which makes me think perhaps design is not where I should be, because really, designing for mobile devices is where it's at right now. Bluh. If I don't feel passionate about the medium, what's the point? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owen652 Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 I've been in this game for a long time as well. Art school and apprenticeships go back to the '60s. Cut and paste, manual typesetting, pen and ink, etc. I've used a Compugraphic Editwriter for typesetting and masked, shot and filtered in a wet darkroom. I taught myself computer skills as the times changed. I actually think I have a good design sense and the ability to pull it off; at least I was able to fool everybody for 40 years. Still, "art" in general is bullshit. I remember one museum trip in art school where there was a special display of blank canvases, each with a small razor slit. Another special show was of the "art" of someone who took random Polaroid pictures and mounted a dozen or two in one frame. Museum quality art!!! Fact is, most people don't know good art from bad, they just know what they like. Graphic design has to please a customer who doesn't always have great taste or must choose a design by committee vote. Mediocre is actually good enough for commercial purposes and is the basis of our economy. But yeah, "artists" are everywhere. It's just an attitude one adopts and a declaration to the world of one's special status as one of the few talented, skilled and insightful ones. Most art I see in local galleries or street sales is at best an attempt at a craft, not real art in the sense of Rodin or Matisse or even Warhol. The world of graphic art seems to operate in a similar way. There's no recognition of excellence in the field because excellence in any form of artistic endeavor is no longer necessary if the goal is to sell work to an uninformed and uncaring public. The successful "artist" is not necessarily, or even usually, the best artist. And that goes for painting, sculpture, music, writing and graphic art. You reminded me of a museum trip I made myself in art school with our class to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney. Besides the shock of seeing a Mapplethorpe exhibit (!!), in one room the entire floor was covered with used tampons, arranged in neat rows on the floor. That was the exhibit! Bloody awful.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themonkeyman Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 Think a guy in my work is leaving and hes a web designer + graphic designer ud have to want to live in Ireland though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♦ Fuego ♦ Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 What are some examples of great design work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravenstar Posted March 7, 2015 Author Share Posted March 7, 2015 hmmm.. that's a big question… and a somewhat subjective one. It completely depends on the message and the target audience. I'll have to get back to you on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traveller2 Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 I feel for anyone whose expertise is being undercut so easily in today's less than secure circumstances but in truth this has been happening to blue collar workers,IT workers,folks that were just glad to get a job in a call centre for at least a couple of decades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themonkeyman Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 My job is on the line every 10 years lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravenstar Posted March 9, 2015 Author Share Posted March 9, 2015 Okay… found a few examples. This stuff is pretty high end but the concepts and layouts can be used in any level. Good design is getting the message across, simply, quickly and memorably. The logos are the best example of this - because the entire point of a logo, which is a single image with maybe some text is to encapsulate the person/company/product in one glance.It's a very demanding art form, and there are some designers that are amazing at it. Not every designer is good at logos. One of my pet peeves is how a designer today is supposed to be good at EVERYTHING, but graphics is a field with many sub-specialties. I probably wouldn't hire a web designer to make a logo, or an illustrator to create a website. I wouldn't go to a packaging designer to put together my interactive mobile site… or a desktop publisher to make my signage. I'm a layout/print specialist and an illustrator… I don't do Excel, or code websites (other than some basic html and css) and I don't do high end branding… often. Some designers are also artists and/or illustrators and some can't draw themselves out of a wet paper bag, but excel at typography and layout. New designers right out of college… I wouldn't trust them to make a press-ready file… because most of their education has been in web applications. ENJOY!; http://www.fromupnorth.com/best-graphic-design-of-2014/ http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2013/6/23/the-dieline-package-design-awards-2013-winners.html http://getmarvia.com/press/150-best-logos-2014/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owen652 Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Luscious...I love the illustration of that first one with the car wheel, it's beautiful to look at, but actually I think it's bad design cos it's really difficult to read. I want to buy that art deco ship poster tho, looooove it.. and the popcorn poster is very clever. As usual, the simplest ideas are the most effective and memorable. Thanks for posting that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravenstar Posted March 12, 2015 Author Share Posted March 12, 2015 You are welcome. There are some very clever concepts there. I agree - legibility/readability is key in most graphics. Nothing like a billboard that you can only read up close or a business card in 4pt type and no phone number, kind of defeats the purpose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moanareina Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Oh...every time I consider to try again with graphic design I think about all that ugly stuff out there and the customers actually wanting it this way and not willing to pay for something real...and all the restriction clients put on your design so you can't really do anything that would be outstanding anyways. And those who would let you do what you love, good design, think this is some kind of example work for you to get more clients and this would be pay enough...means they get it for free. Sometimes I thought to do a project just for fun but somehow I could never make this happen...because without a deadline nothing is going to happen...maybe this might change once I am on ritalin, but I don't want to be too positive about it...I am happy when I manage to get my house clean...but that's off topic, sorry . Since everyone can download any open source design program everyone thinks he is a designer. Why spend money when you can do it yourself. It is a sad fact that many people have no sense for style. I always thought most people know what looks good and what does not. Until I had a flatmate who was the nicest girl ever but she had absolutely no sense for style. Good thing she had to wear a uniform for work...because the way she dressed was just awkward. It did not help to tell her what looked good on her...she loved her style... Or when I see what people post on Facebook...like photos of their trips or whatever...many people really can't tell a good picture from a bad one. So how can we expect them to recognize good design? As sad as it sounds, I gave up on this, and I feel like not even bothering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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