Design Failures designfailures.com

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..."

Good grief.
I received this email from a client this morning. A client that is starting a new business and needs to create everything, a logo, brand strategy, website, the works. Now I'm sure I've made mistakes with this client, as clearly they're not getting the value of a professional designer, but I'm still mystified by these kind of reactions. The truth is that I should be pleased, as given the quoted thought above this probably would not ..

"Can you just design a quick X...?"

Graphic design, one of those professions where people tend to (perhaps without realizing it) tell you how long something should take. But, as in most problems of this genre, designers should take ownership of why this happens and look to change behaviors. Explanation is a simple and good start. "Are you asking me for something "quick" because you have a tight deadline or because you don't have much of a budget for this project?. If its the latter then you should know that I'll essentially be going with my first idea, there will not ..

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!

But all seriousness aside (my god how old is that joke grandpa?). All kidding aside, I do have some fun ideas for this burgeoning community coming up in the new year. If anyone has suggestions please throw ..

Via: http://freelanceswitch.com/freelance-freedom/freelance-freedom-41/

One thing that I think would be fun to do is to record a video commentary of a design project. The same concept for what is available on most DVDs. The designer gets to do an in-depth breakdown of the what and why of each element on the page. The back room dealings and heated email exchanges that changed one color to another, a rounded corner to a square one, cropped a person out of a photo or removed a major piece of content or functionality. You get to show the initial scribblings that lead to your design, the initial mocks, ..

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.

Then it happens.

Inspiration hits and the ideas start to flow. You grab onto a few of the good ones for support but end up really leaning ..

Today I was reminded of how critical choosing the right paper stock can be. I had a nice meeting with a representative from Monadnock Paper Mills who brought along lovely examples of design pieces printed on the perfect stock. It was easy to see how selecting, or being made to compromise for a lesser grade of paper could degrade the piece severely. But we all know that it goes deeper than that, and that each representation of a companies face has the potential to help or hurt it, at times this can be dramatic as it may expand virally.  ..