
A past client of mine recently sent me an email with the subject line
"Option for artists to become kown".
Kown.
I had to laugh before even opening the note, because I knew in a moment
exactly what the email was about. It had to be about begging for free
work under the guise that you'll get "famous" or in this case "kown".
The misspelling is just so perfect in that it embodies the lack of
respect that followed in the body of the email. My past client has so
little regard for designers that even spell checking the email wasn't ..
That was a comment I received regarding a proposal that I prepared for some design work. The cynical side of me wanted to say "oh, thank you. I had to really resist the urge to just scribble it on the back of a used cocktail napkin when I was drunk last night. For you I decided to really class it up and pull out all the stops." But I don't admire that part of my brain. So I reminded myself that people that don't understand the value of design will continue to think of it as a commodity, and the best ..
"...no need to worry about my web site as my girlfriend has begun to create it for me. thanks for your help earlier..."
"Can you just design a quick X...?"
Nothing inspires a group about failure than failing to update it regularly. Oh the biting irony! But "I can't quit you" design failures (did anyone trademark that phrase?). So in 2010 I'll dust off this groupsite and, and... well I'll do something awesome with it. No specifics yet, if I put that down in writing then reading it next December will be really depressing!
If your a design professional you've been hit with this scenario before. You must deliver several creative concepts for something. Concepts that must come from within you. So you take time to reflect and use your proven methods which get you into a creative mindset and help the ideas flow. At first you've got nothing, or something that is not really new or innovative more likely a derivative of something you've done or seen.