he other day an ecademy member showed me an article about how creative workers (designers) should follow and learn from financial workers to become more business acute. The overall theme suggested that designers are creative but not natural business people and struggle with running a real business. They should get help from the specialists with a financial background to succeed.

There is much to learn from financial specialists and it would certainly help any business not just a creative one but IMHO it’ the financiers who should be learning from us (the designer). Here it comes, a very bold statement.

Designers make the best business men/women.

The idea of a designer dressed in baggy jeans and a t-shirt, drinking copulas amounts of coffee combined with quick microwave snacks whilst sitting on their Mac listening to music and creating brilliant but irrelevant pieces of work for personal purposes is still very real and vivid BUT there are also the alternative versions. Designers today come in many forms and they have moved up a step, capitalizing on technology, knowledge and ambition.

What other business sector do you know (including financial) who can use their professional background to generate a business idea, research it, conceptualise it, utilse modern technology, brand it, market it, sell it and make it a reality whilst keeping it all in house.

Todays designer takes on a varied selection of roles which intertwine with each other and expand into other sectors. This builds the experience that the designer needs to contend as a great business person. A designer can learn how to do the job of others but not just anyone can learn to be a designer.

Right now you may be saying “If you’re so good why aren’t you a millionaire?”
Well, I am, thanks very muchsmile I’m a gazzillionaire ( gazzilionaire???, maybe I do need financial help)

“okay why aren’t all designers millionaires?”

Businesses revolve around their assets, some have a shop, some a product, some have tools. A designer on the other hand has nothing just them self, the possibility of an idea and a cultured skill set.

People walk into shops without being invited, people buy products on a daily basis but who will pay for an idea. Forget buying it, can you sell it?
Why designers are the best business people but not necessarily millionaires, because they take hardest job. They make a sale out of pure trust, they sell you something thats not physical, they sell ideas which you don’t even know about, they sell the making of a business.

You may well now ask is that really a great person, one who chooses to sell something which doesn’t sell. It’s a good point and raises the question, “what makes a good business person, one whose a millionaire or one who does the impossible?”

Designers are good business people but you can’t define a good business person by their industry whether it be design, finance or anything else. The human character has too many variables to make a generic stereotype of anyone. The best business people are not designers or financial experts but people who do the impossible.

In the olden days artists were considered as scholars, forward thinkers and highly respectable members of the community, often admired for their combination of knowledge, wisdom and unique characteristics.
Today the constant demeaning approach of:

” You do a good job and if we like it, we’ll pay you” or “We only have $25 to spend but we want a top job”

has become a common approach to hiring a designer. So whose fault is it? It’s probably our own.

More and more new businesses are opening and there’s an all time high of self employed people, especially via the internet. Likewise the design industry has grown over the years and become cluttered. Applications like contract bidding websites made it possible for designers all over the world to compete for the same client, generating a “cross currency problem.” The Great British Pound has always been strong but we do pay double the price for having it. Unlike the US and other weaker currencies, their money goes along way further then ours. With this in mind other countries were able to offer their services to the UK successfully, undercutting prices to make irresistible deals.

The UK also took part in the bidding war but not boldly as others such as India and the US who cashed in, stooping down to $25 a logo because they could. They undercut the professional approach by hundreds and still made a profit on there services (software is universally cheaper then in the UK). In essence it’s actually a good business strategy; sell one logo for $200 or 10 for $25. Financially it made some kind of sense like the pound shop but it didn’t do anything for the design industry apart from degrade it. $25 is a highly appealing price for a startup business but what are you really getting for $25.

Why not to pay $25 for a logo.

1.) Research

A logo is used to communicate a message, a worthy message at that of who you are as a business. In order to do it successfully you need to take time to figure out who the client is, what they do, how they differ and who their competitors are. You need to research the past, present and future for each of these. For 25 dollars you’re getting zero research, just a generalization from the designers head. Your business means nothing to them.

2.) Concepts

After research a professional designer can begin to conceptualise designs. They will likely go through several designs more than once during the concept stage and refine them to workable ideas. For $25 the designer is going to take one shot at one concept. Magically conjured from the designers head it goes from the brain to the computer instantly. Not thinking about whats right for the business but really what just looks good to the wandering eye, after all it’s a quick sale.

3.) Technology

Believe it or not there is a vast range of technology and techniques used to perfect a logo. Probably the most important being vector software. Vector software is an application which uses mathematical equations to create shapes. In doing so it allows the shape to be resized to any size, in proportion, with minimal distortion to the shape. Using vector software for a logo means that you can resize your logo and have it displayed on a matchbox or a van door in pristine condition.
For $25 you probably won’t get a selection of files optmised for both web and print, you’ll just get the rasterised jpg file which will only work on a website and if you’re lucky, maybe on your stationery as well.

4.) Expertise

Along with technology comes techniques, experience and quality. What makes a good logo? A quality designer knows their business and has to charge for the pleasure of utilizing their expertise. Its more then drawing pretty pictures, it requires instinct in design, particularly layout, colour, and type. I’ve seen plenty of $25 logos which were just horrible in every way because there was no restraint on the design.

Overall I guess you can say that you get what you paid for. If you buy a car for $25, expect to get a banger which breaks down, eventually costing you more to fix. Spend a reasonable amount and you’ll get something which lasts. With age it may even become a classic.