AWKWARD

I had a very sensitive subject with someone today. I bumped into an old schoolmate, not an oldskool mate, but a person I used to go to school with. Anyway she has just finished her degree in multimedia and had a hard time finding a job.

For those of you who don't know; we, the graphic designers look down our noses at multimedia people because of their inferior graphic design skills and knowledge base confined solely to the use of programs and not what to do with them. Simply knowing photoshop doesn't make you a graphic designer, despite what your cousin who downloaded it from Kazaa and made a logo for your company tells you. Long before photoshop was invented there was graphic design, and it's the principles used in these days that makes you a designer. Of course the industry has changed a lot, but you still need to know the principles not just the tools. Knowing how to paint doesn't make you an artist.

Anyway we were talking. And every time she tells me that she is a graphic designer I wince. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not bad mouthing multimedia for the sake of it, I know that multimedia is crap. It doesn not teach design. I know this for a fact. i spent 2 years of my life doing the course and learning nothing. So when she tells me she's doing the same job that I'm doing I tend to be insulted. What she does is the same as your cousin does; use programs.

In fact it gets worse. I asked her if she had any knowledge in print design because it's a lot easier to get a job doing that since the industry was saturated back in 99 with web designers. "No, I do graphic design". WHAT??! So apparently multimedia kids see us as something else, and they are practising the true graphic design. I think not.

Throughout the conversation I had the feeling that she was attaching herself to a name of which she doesn't belong. I don't call myself an artist, I am not an artist, we share different basic principles, different morals, it's just a completely different beast. Same with multimedia, it's not graphic design. She may do some web design, I completely acknowledge THAT is graphic design, and I have no qualms about her referring to that as graphic design, but when she talks, nay BRAGS to me about some corporate ID she did for her brothers wedding business I start to get a bit annoyed.

SO in conclusion: To all you desktop publishers, multimedia-ers, and cousins who download software: You are not graphic designers. I'm sorry guys but you're just not. You need so much more than being able to use programs (which by the way you don't do very well usually, do you even know about color settings or resolutions? This girl didnt. RGB 72dpi images and wonder why they don't print properly!) you need the knowledge. You need to know about color, about type about semiotics about understanding clients, about printing, about arrangement of elements on pages and a multitude of other aspects in order to be a designer.

Yes, a good ol' rant but I KNOW all my GD'er friends will totally back me up on this one.

IESSO

PS. I got an email from my evil twin* His name is Elliott Scott. I don't know where he's from or anything like that, but he emailed me because he found my blog when he was googling himself. Good onya dude!

* He is probably not my twin. But is most likely evil and is nearly certainly hatching a scheme in which he murders me and assumes my identity.

PPS. I posted a question on iLounge.com which unfortunately relates quite strongly to this topic. Here is the extract:


A baby sized iPod shirt thingo they're talking about

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Ok, this is kinda a dumb question but here it goes: HOW CAN THIS BE LEGAL? I’m a t-shirt designer who is about to enter the big, bad, scary world of post-college life and am terribly unsure of copyrights.

The company who produced this surely got permission from apple right? or because its an entirely different product from the iPod and it doesnt show the entire image or the product they can sidestep that whole thing?

Anyone know? Jeremy, you’re a smart switched-on sorta guy, can ya help me out on this one?

By Mondayne on 08.03.05 at 09:15 AM

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Mondayne

You had to go to college to be a t-shirt designer?

By Mtvkilledusall on 08.03.05 at 08:33 PM

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Mtvkilledusall

Yeah, of course!

I’ve had countless conversations/arguements about this topic, but simply making shirts doesn’t make you a designer. Anyone can produce a shirt, but it takes some knowledge and skill to produce a GOOD shirt.

By Mondayne on 08.04.05 at 02:40 AM

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I guess EVERYONE thinks they're a designer. It really pisses me off at times, and this is one of those times.