From the course: The Value of Professional Graphic Design
Welcome
- I'm Sean Adams and I want you to understand the value of professional graphic design. The intent of this course is to provide corporate clients, professionals, and small business owners with the tools to work successfully with a graphic designer. The course also is geared toward designers, helping them to collaborate with a client, and articulate the value of a professional designer. 30 years ago graphic design was a niche profession. The skills to produce work for printing were technical and labor intensive. To the outside world graphic design was a mysterious job done by odd people who liked typefaces or could draw. In 1984 Apple released the Macintosh, and over the next three decades design was democratized. Today children create work with images and words. They know what a font is by age five. It seems as though anyone can be a graphic designer with little or no professional education. In this course we'll explore what defines a graphic designer, why it makes sense in business to hire a professional designer rather than the kid next door with Photoshop, how graphic design can help your business move to the next level, and why designing your own logo, website, or collateral can be a disaster. As a client you'll also learn how to find the right designer, how to work with him or her, and what you should contribute, and how to understand fees for a project. We'll also look at things not to do during the process in order to keep everything sailing smoothly. If you're a graphic designer, I want to give you the tools to articulate why professional graphic design is an important and valuable contribution. I'll explain why a design education is more than a diploma, and in fact, is as necessary as a surgeon going to medical school. I'll talk about what the designer's role is versus the client's, and where the two intersect. I'll outline how to justify your fees so you aren't working for free. Of course, I'll discuss what not to ever do during the process. Finally I'll explain how to define the success of a project, to reinforce your value to the client and future clients. There are people who will argue until the cows come home that nobody needs a design education, or designing a logo is easy. So why not make your own? There are people who believe cutting their own hair with a knife and small mirror will work. This course dispels those myths. It makes clear why, how, and when to hire a designer, and it clarifies for the designer how to recognize and articulate the true power of professional design. So join me in this discussion about the value of professional graphic design.
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