Are You an Indifferent Designer?
| Are you guilty of designs "created from a combination of templates and clichés by an indifferent designer?" That's part of the problem with graphic design today according to the creators of this video statement titled "Generic Ad."
Templates and clichés are easy to understand. But what is an indifferent designer? Is indifference something akin to laziness? Is it someone who can't get excited enough about their work to do something new, different, original? |  Photo © Sarah Bear; Lazy Cat |
About a month ago we discussed the issue of whether or not it is real design when you're using templates. Is it being lazy to start with a template -- or is that being efficient with one's time? Is it being lazy to use visual clichés or are you just using familiar icons to get a point across to an audience that doesn't have the time or patience to try to decipher something deeper or more abstract? "Hopelessly Dead: The Lightbulb
"Clichés wouldn't be so popular if they didn't 'say it in a nutshell'." -- Purple Owl: Using the power of symbols - or visual clichés What do you think? Talk about the pros and cons of design clichés and designer indifference. | |
Comments
Most of the time, it’s the clients who demand cliched work. They’ll often provide me with an example of what they like and demand something very similar. I’ve had cases where I’ve tried to do something innovative, only to have the client get back to me and say “why don’t you use a lightbulb?”. Being innnovative is all well and good, but at the end of the day, you have to make a living. The biggest cliche that I adhere to is “the customer is always right”!
Lightbulbs (great idea!)…
puzzle pieces (to solve the problem!)..
keys (to unlock the future!)…
The problem with cliches like these is that they often distract from the message instead of enhance it. But in avoiding cliches sometimes designers end up in the land of hopelessly generic! Well executed, creative solutions are rare and worth a client’s time and money.
Cliche? Hmmmm…Corny? Done-to-death? Unoriginal? Hankneyed? Whatever the case may be, I believe the world of desktop publishing to be successful only when it is “original and unique”. We are individuals and the more individual we can be in our approach to our work, the more successful we will all be.
I am a former fine artist whose lack of imagination lead me to graphic design as a means to steady income. Yes, I am indifferent. However I try to do the best I can within those limitations (all of those already mentioned). Our culture does not respect or support creativity. A creative person is transgressive and can can re-invent cliches. If a cliche is taboo for me, that may tempt me to find an unexpected way to use or subvert it, or maybe there isn’t enough time some days.
How about that word icon??? It used to be an object for spiritual devotion… now it is a dingbat on the screen. Someone subverted it. Where are we headed? Does it matter?
Do cliches spark creativity? A cliche is a heartfelt daily truth, expressed without proper gravity and respect. It is this glibness about the real matters of our lives that makes a cliche offensive, not the subject matter.
Pretending that the glibness doesn’t matter, isn’t real, or is not offensive, is an offense to humanity.
You left out fat… She’s lazy AND fat. =]