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Design
Hell Part 2 of 2
21 NOV 07
As
you can see, this design career sounds like a path to a shorter
life. Another point I wanna make is that once you have graduated
as a designer.. you are ironically NOT a designer.. Customers and
bosses sees you as a Photoshop / Dreamweaver / Freehand Operator..
someone that knows how to use the program because he doesn’t.
Let me elaborate. Once
you have designed say an ad, the customer or boss will have the
liberty to change ANYTHING they want even though it does not make
design sense or even common sense. All of your 3 years of training
will have to go down the drain because bosses thinks that they
know more than you and insist that the white text will still be
readable if placed on yellow graphics. Or they would tell you
to squeeze a million words in a small newspaper ad because they
believe that is how to get their money’s worth… Its
like going to the doctor and instead of the doctor prescribing
the exact medication the patient needs, the patient instructs
the doctor what sort of medication he wants because he is a paying
customer. Can you see the messed up logic? |
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| I
have seen a perfectly awesome design being battered into pieces
by these bosses or customers who think they know what they are doing.
And I can say my personal work are far better than the commercial
one because when working on my personal project, I have absolute
creative freedom. I was lucky enough to work for a company that
acknowledge my expertise and they give the freedom 98% of the time
to do whatever design I want. And that company is the time I work
in the US for a year or so. |
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Here is where I met Dan. |
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And
to put salt to the graphic design wound, these changes from customers
and bosses come with a deadly force. This is the one that finally
breaks the designer’s back. Imagine working on an ad for
3 hours and ignorant customers/bosses keep changing it until next
month. From changing the text size to placing graphics from left
to right… they practically mess everything up even though
the design look great to begin with. Now imagine if you have 100
ads in your inbox. That’s right. Welcome to Design Hell.
This analogy is the same as someone who buys a cup of tea from
the coffee shop and wants the tea to be “revised”
millions of times to suit his taste buds. Please don’t attempt
on doing this stunt because not only you will be banned from the
coffeshop, you will also be poured with hot scalding Milo. But
for designers, this vile culture is norm.. they bite the bullet
and keep on going. |
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If
you are still not convinced on how the design career suck and
how it sucked bad is to look at designers themselves. Most of
them are job hopping as I type this and some are opting to work
freelance like as if it’s a better choice.. Its not, but
at least you get sleep. Most of my friends are beginning to
change their line of work. A friend of mine who have truckloads
of Art trophies accumulated since he was a kid, quit his design
job and now in RETAIL. Another guy I know who worked for a design
company and even got promoted as a senior designer is now working
in a BANK. Another guy has shifted to sales. Another girl designer
is contemplating to quit.
So
there you have it folks. You can believe what you want to believe..
you can hear them naysayers say.. “But at my job, I can
go off at 4pm what..” or “My brother is earning
10k as a designer” blah blah.. these are exceptions and
perhaps they can also be lies but bottomline is, the points
I mentioned are hardcore facts many cannot stomach. I know you
like art and I deeply believe YOU ARE TALENTED. But I just wanna
give you a brief look and the crap that awaits you if still
insist on following your passion.
But
then again, some of you may say..
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Haahaha
this statement I have heard numerous times. The sort of people who
comes up with this sort of statement is like a hermit who lives
in a well. Creative jobs creates video games, movies, quality tv
shows, print ads, sets up brands.. We are talking about million
dollar industries here. Who the heck do you think draws Ryu’s
toes when he does his Hadoken? Designers.
Art is not about a painting on the wall anymore. Secondary school
Art should change and get with the times.. instead of shading a
bloody eggplant or make a bloody Batik, they should learn how to
make a logo or have a go at promoting a product etc. Creative job
pays but unfortunately just not in Singapore.. and who is the core
root for this decay? I will write about that soon. |
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| So to
conclude, if you are a Secondary student and you want to get into
the Design school in whatever art college, you must be prepared
for a job that: 1)
Makes you do OT without OT pay.
2) No Time Offs.
3) Must be okay to sleep in the office.
4) Be aware that you will have to do A LOT
of changes/ revisions to your work.
5) Must constantly keep up and learn new
graphic software.
6) Art school is expensive. You have to
buy A LOT of mounting boards which cost about $3 each, Airguns,
PCs. Etc.
And
if you are already neck deep in an Art college, I just gotta wish
you guys the very best and if ANY better opportunity comes along
the way, you better grab it and make the switch!
Last
designer standing,
Evil Bunny
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