HE ENDIUM OF SIGN
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
WEB 2.0
01 - 04
05 - 08
WORTH
NICE
09 - 12
13 - 14
MONEY
CENSORSH*T
15 - 16
17 - 18
DO THIS 19 - 20
Take the title of ‘Compendium’ of design with a pinch, or metric tonne of salt. I’m not sure anyone in the world has the credentials to create a compendium of design. I considered naming this ‘tips on design in the new age’ but that just doesn’t have the same commanding authority behind it, does it? Anyway, this publication is my personal plethora of guidelines I’ve come to uphold when it comes to design. This isn’t intended to be a self-help sort’ve thing, more of an ‘I say stuff and you reflect upon it and draw
your own conclusions’ sort’ve thing. After some in-depth research, I feel I have some interesting knowledge for designers just coming into the industry at the most cutthroat time ever. Ease of access to design programs is lower than ever, creating a saturation of designers never seen before. Who wouldn’t want to do what they love for a living? The double-edged sword to this is that the gap between successful and not-sosuccessful designers is becoming larger and larger. This can either be used to your advantage, or you could be designing brochures for that company. You know, the one that insists you should be designing purely for the love of the craft. Who needs to pay rent anyway?
1
HELLO!
HELLO
2
THE WORLD I FASTER THAN Y
3
IS CHANGING YOU THINK
4
5
The design world was never the same after the introduction of Web 2.0. In both good and bad ways, as never before has so much importance been placed on design (arguably for the wrong reasons). Web 2.0 brought about numerous new ways to research a target market. Browsing habits, location clusters, related searches, countless ways to market yourself towards a niche (or general) market. The new services that have been generated through Web 2.0 have also both helped and hindered design. It is definitely possible to become a ‘bedroom designer’ and the barrier of access in becoming a freelance designer has never been lower. The downside to this is every Tom, Dick and Harry have the Adobe Creative Cloud and charge about fifteen times less than the amount required to live.
It’s extremely difficult to become successful purely from websites such as PeoplePerHour, or Upwork. Currency is definitely against you on these websites as a living wage in India is definitely lower than in the U.S or UK. The layman business isn’t going to see the value in hiring you over someone in India that they can pay significantly less for a similar service, unless you can pitch your idea incredibly well (something that is rather difficult through the medium of messaging online). The benefit of this is truly effective design will definitely become noticed among the sea of mediocrity.
WEB2.0
6
Sure, the industry is becoming more and more saturated, that’s not to say you can’t stand out from the crowd. In fact, you could see it as being even easier to do so. I interviewed an employee at the Facebook/Instagram about this very subject. “People will always undervalue design because they just don’t understand the process and they think design is just using Photoshop or even Word and writing something and printing it out. You’ll still get that with low-level clients. The high level clients, agencies and design studios will never go away. Like, you need people that understand the psychology of design like branding, identity, theme.” Where there is low hanging fruit, there is fruit higher on the tree that will survive and thrive. The key is to create work that isn’t just beautifully designed and appropriate for the audience, but to create work that challenges perceptions and strikes your audience as new. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla is currently running his own space program through his funds. Isn’t that insanely cool? That’s something that would strike anyone as innovative and impressive. A SPACE PROGRAM.
7
USE
SATURATION
TO YOUR ADVANTAGE
WEB2.0
8
9
Anyone can become a designer in the age of computers and questionable methods of procuring design software. What separates the average designer from the great designer is the confidence necessary to create original, rule-breaking work. It’s extremely important to build a level of confidence in order to properly own your work. When pitching work to a client, they want to see that you believe in your work as much as you would expect them to. Would you work with a designer that second guessed their design solutions, before adversity even strikes? Probably not.
WORTH
10
WORK FOR THOSE OF WHICH YOU BELIEVE IN
11
Just as important as having confidence
“A friend of mine runs Studio Koto,
in your work, designers should work
and Koto just did the rebrand for
with their beliefs and personal ethos in
Gumtree, some Diet Coke stuff, they
mind. Design is about being the change
just launched the Airbnb’s experiences
in the world you want to see, through
concept. They’re about 14 people in
the medium of image and creative
total. They launched two years ago
solution. Not only will you be working to
with two people, so yeah I think it’s just
your beliefs, but you will no doubt come
about connections and who you know,
across designers that share those
and I know that every job I’ve ever got
common beliefs with you. Not to mention
is through my connections and not
the potential job connections you’ll
from websites like LinkedIn. I’ve never
accrue throughout the process. Work for
actually applied for a job which sounds
yourself, and you’ll work with passion.
like me being boastful but it was from my portfolio, I started my blog because I was a bored kid in uni, and my best friend and me started it because we wanted to express what we liked.“ Niran Vinod
WORTH
12
don’t be a dick...
13
this pretty much explains itself.
NICE
14
15
The life of a designer is not one of glamour. It’s one of many hours of trying to figure out what exactly your client is asking of you when they ask for more ‘pizzazz’. It’s the price to pay for an occupation doing what you love, that’s not to say there aren’t extremely well paid positions in the industry, however it shouldn’t be expected.
IF YOU’RE IN DESIGN FOR THE MONEY, I HAVE SOME BAD NEWS
You also have the ability to work completely freelance, working to your own hours and with the opportunity to start your own business. There are few industries that allow such easy
access to starting up a business. As cliche as it sounds, there’s more to life than money, doing something you love to support yourself is often hard to come by in a career.
MONEY
16
FOR SOME REASON, THE INTERNET IS BECO AND MORE ABOUT ADULTERATED CONTENT ONSLAUGHT OF TRACKING COOKIES. IT’S C STAND UP TO THIS THROUGH THE PRACTICE MUCH WE ARE REALISTICALLY BEING TRACK OUR SMARTPHONES SUGGEST CERTAIN APP HAVE THE ABILITY TO RECALL ANY FORM OF ABOUT YOU? WHY IS INFORMATION ABOUT SOLD TO MARKETING FIRMS TO CREATE PRO CHOOSE TO WORK ETHICALLY AND WITHDR THAT HAVE NO QUALMS SELLING YOUR INFO GUISE THAT IT ‘HELPS’ YOU. YOU ARE AN AC DON’T NEED TO BE [CENSORED] SPOON-FE ADVERTS AND SUGGESTIONS TAILORED TO
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OMING LESS ABOUT FREE SPEECH T, SENSATIONAL HEADLINES AND AN CLEAR TO SEE AS DESIGNERS WE HAVE TO E OF EDUCATING THE PUBLIC ON HOW KED AND SURVEYED EVERYDAY. HOW DO PS FOR CERTAIN LOCATIONS? WHY DO MI5 F DIGITAL INFORMATION EVER CREATED OUR INTERESTS, HABITS AND ACTIVITIES ODUCTS THEY REQUIRE US TO NEED? RAW YOUR SUPPORT FROM COMPANIES ORMATION TO THIRD PARTIES UNDER THE CTIVE [CENSORED] CONSUMER, AND WE ED OUR INTERESTS IN THE FORM OF ONLINE US.
CENSORSH*T
18
DESIGN WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN/ DESIGN TO CHANGE THE WORLD, WHETHER BY A LOT OR A LITTLE WORK FOR THE LOVE OF THE CRAFT, BUT DON’T BE UNDERCUT/ FIGHT FOR AN UNADULTERATED INTERNET/ RECOGNISE YOUR WORTH IN THE WORLD/ BE NICE TO EVERYONE YOU MEET, THE DESIGN INDUSTRY IS SMALLER KNIT THAN MOST/ THINK IN WAYS DESIGNERS WOULD USUALLY OVERLOOK ADAPT AND EVOLVE TO CHANGES IN THE DESIGN WORLD/
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WRITTEN & DESIGNED BY CHRISTOPHER MAHONEY
DO THIS
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TH COMPE O DES