We’re Different, Folks
This article could also be very easily named “How to survive as a ________”. You can fill in the title of any graphic arts, design, or media profession you would like in that blank.
The idea is that a career in graphic arts or design has its own unique set of challenges and obstacles that can be quite different from jobs that are considered “standard.”
Your graphic design college may touch upon the client-artist relationship. If so, pay close attention. You may pick up some great information about how to survive as a graphic designer.
It’s All About Being Creative
If someone works in business or sales, it’s pretty easy to figure out how successful they are. You just look at the bottom line on how much they have sold.
If you are a graphic designer or someone who works in illustration or other media, the measure of success is sometimes hazy. You may be a brilliant designer, but that doesn’t necessarily mean instant success.
Why?
Your design has to match the needs of who you are working for. If it doesn’t meet specifications, your design is rejected. Does this mean you are not successful or is it just your design that wasn’t successful? Understanding this important difference can mean a healthy self-image or one of doubt and uncertainty.
You’re a Team, Not Enemies
One way to alleviate this conflict is to see the client as on your team. You have talent that the client wants to utilize. You and the client are a team. Both of you are going after the same results–a successful graphic design.
There may be bumps along the way, but the end result is to produce something that everyone can be happy with.
Protect Your Self-Image, but Be Honest Too
The feeling of self-doubt can come when you hear your design isn’t satisfactory. But not being satisfactory doesn’t mean failure. It just means things have to be adjusted.
Unfortunately, there will be times when a client can make you feel as though you are a failure. But this is really an issue of personality types, and not necessarily a reflection of who you are and what you can do.
This is why a profession in the liberal arts can be challenging and rewarding. The talent you have is a real part of you and the designs you produce are a result of this talent.
When your project is rejected, you can feel partially rejected as well. But if your project is excepted along with praise, it’s a feeling that can’t be topped.
Fully understanding who you are and what you are capable of is essential to a healthy self-image.
The rejection of your work and the rejection of you, as a person, are two entirely different things. Once this distinction is clear, you’ll be able to survive as a graphic designer.
Reggie H
Same can be said about sales at the beginning of the article - you’re product could be amazing you are trying to sell, but you as a seller don’t mesh well with your client and they don’t buy it purely because of your interpersonal skills or lack thereof. Or it could be vice versa. It has to be difficult to design exactly the picture your client has in their mind, you’d think you would have to acquire some mind reading abilities for some clients.
no. 2 pencil
Hi Reggie,
Thanks for your comment and insights. The client-designer dynamic is a very complex one and this topic could probably fill a book.
I don’t think it’s as much about needing mind-reading skills, to determine what the client wants, as it is about communication skills and mutual respect. :D
But the bottom line is that graphic design can be an extremely rewarding career, but it can have its speed bumps due to the nature of the work– artistic interpretation.
Kostas Seremetis
Well, I couldn’t agree more. My perspective on the client-designer relationship is concentrated on the relationship itself. I ‘ve found myself knocking my head on concrete, because I could not realize -then - the importance of interactive communication between the two. In the process, I had to fight my way to communicating with the client, but I know it is rewarding, both for me and the clien. Let me put it this way: “We cannot talk about communicating messages, when we ‘re not able communicating with eachother, there ‘ll be a gap in the final product and both ends are left unsatisfied, client & designer”.
no. 2 pencil
Hi Kostas,
Thanks for your comments. It is truly appreciated. The communication aspect of the client-designer relationship should be a two-way street and in some cases, this important element is missing. But as you have pointed out, trying to open lines of communication is the best way to clarify matters. :D