design.news

The trick to most design, is knowing when to stop. To rip-off a quote, Design is like morality - it consists of drawing the line somewhere.

I see it all the time when I’m out driving. It might be a pretty fancy car to begin with, and probably more than able to leave my family-approved mode of transportation in the proverbial dust with little effort, but the guy sitting next to me at the lights has probably gone a little too far. That little extra chrome, the further up the range rims and California beach approved tail fins may look cool, but they aren’t exactly going to improve performance too much. Not in proportion to what they all cost.

Sometimes I see it onstage or at a music store. A prettier piece of maple or shinier tuners may look cool on any guitar, but when the rubber hits the road (or pick hits the strings) what are you really gaining?

With design, I like to call it Design ROI, or Design Return On Investment. You could spend twice as much on a business card so that you have a little foil stamping on it, or spend the money trying out fourteen different typefaces, but what are you really gaining? Is that foil REALLY going to persuade business card holders to make that phone call? And is a typeface with 10% higher x-height really going to make you look 10% more professional?

Now, I don’t mind if someone wants to spend twice as long on a project if I’m getting paid for it, but I’m not about to rip off anybody or make them pay for their indecision. Sometimes, it comes down to trust.

Trust your designer to know what they are doing. When you get one or two choices, believe that these are the best choices available, and not the first two that popped into someone head. Make sure that the extra time and effort put into a design truly is an investment and the cost of which can be recovered by the added professionalism and functionality of the product.

I’m interested in efficient design, design that gets the job done and is accurate, exactly what the clients needs and wants, and is going to go out there and show off a business for what and who it truly is.

I just want your clients to notice when you’ve gone the extra mile. If it’s effective, they will. And they will be calling.

Sometimes all I have is a question …

I haven’t really been convinced whether Telus is faster than Shaw or vice versa, there is one thing of which I am convinced - FREE can be suspicious.

When it comes to service, I have to admit that I have been rather more pleased with Shaw. There’s no contract to sign (people do move, you know) and Shaw does have a better handling on their billing. That’s a long story. Maybe another day …

But one thing that irks me, is how Telus can (or should) give away stuff so freely. How much money are they really making if they can afford to give away large computer screens, desktop PCs and laptops? $44.95 for a laptop AND ADSL? Does that seem a little odd to anyone else? Why should I have to be bribed to use their service? And why should I be locked in for so many years just to get a low grade computer that I don’t need anyhow?

If you subtract the cost of the freebies from the price you pay over 36 months, your service is costing $23.59/month. While I don’t want to pay too much, I don’t expect a decent internet connection to be so cheap either!

I don’t know. Something doesn’t smell right, and it’s not one of the friendly critters from the Telus commercials.

I tried working from a park bench, but it didn’t work out too well. I could never find a suitable plug to run my extension cord from, and my monitor won’t run on batteries.

Now I have an office.

My office, however, is in my home. Rather than renting a nice, glass and brushed aluminum space that will make any meeting feel as though you are in a stock photo shoot, I decided to save my money, charge less for my services, and make great design available to smaller businesses and larger businesses who just don’t like being ripped off.

That I thought was just common sense.

When it comes to meeting, I am more than happy to frequent a local coffee shop, or your own office. Just make sure you have good coffee!