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Quote of the Week:

Cost versus Value: Why Your Design Intern Can't do a Designer's Job "for Free"

A colleague in the graphic design world told me the other day his position in an in-house marketing department was being eliminated. In this economy, this is unfortunately not unusual. And even more unfortunately usual, the company decided marketing was the first place to start cutting (because, you know, it makes so much sense to hamper your advertising and outreach efforts when you need to find more revenue).

The thing that was really galling, to him and to me, is that the owner of the company decided that they would be replacing this designer (who is not a newbie, mind you), with an intern who will--wait for it--work for free. Free, as in beer. Now as a business owner, I get all excited whenever I hear that I can get something for nothing. The problem is, you usually get what you pay for.

I'm not here to say all interns are worthless as replacements for designers; some, who are talented, very self-motivated, and have prior experience in both the techniques and application of those techniques--those interns may do a good job. But in my experience, this is a rare occurrence.

Interns can be a valuable addition to your staff. It can take production and some design loads off your design team and allow you to increase your capacity. And I've had good interns that not only helped with production but were creative as well. But the problem with an intern is inherent in what they're there for: to learn. If there's no designer, and the intern is doing all the work, the boss is going to be spending a lot of time training that intern in how to do basic stuff--and not just the finer points of using software, etc. And who will the intern learn from if there's no designer there?

The real learning curve an intern will go through when thrust into a graphic design job is in how to create effective design efficiently. I have yet to see an intern pop out design work that is effective at getting the audience to respond without literally scores of iterations. Seriously, I wanted to throw the computer out of the window when I would come back after an hour and see the intern staring blankly at the screen, with one, maybe two, elements on the screen. And the "tutorial" screen up on the window. (This, by the way, is when the designer steps in and helps the intern with whatever is stymying them.) In the time a designer with even one year of real-world experience would have a dozen variations on a concept completed, and be refining them down to half a dozen or so to present to me, the average intern would typically have three or four ideas completed. It's not a knock against the intern, because as I said, they are there to watch, learn, and practice in a real-world environment. They're not supposed to be banging out stuff super-fast.

Add to the design issues a lot of hand-holding and over-the-shoulder watching the boss will have to do in order to get a product that doesn't make their company look like they just fell off the turnip truck, and you're talking about a Bad Idea. I know in his mind, the boss is thinking "this is great! I just saved all this money by having an intern do the design work!" But in the long run, he'll suffer for it, in time spent managing the intern, and in the loss of revenue poor quality work will bring to the company. Can anybody say "incorrectly preflighted layout file that will result in the company having to pay thousands of dollars for a new press run?"

So: first off, interns take a lot of time and attention to get something approaching a similar result that an experienced designer could return more efficiently. The intern will cost money: your boss's time is money, yes? The revenue lost by creating designs that are less effective can be measured in dollars, yes? An intern "working for free" is not free. It will cost, and cost more than you think.


Secondly, there's the issue of a designer's experience; both at the company and in general. Designers are hired because the company liked their work, thought they could create designs that would resonate with their audience, and make them money. They looked to the designer's past work, and past experience, when making that decision. That's a big part of the value a designer bring to a company: leveraging that experience and know-how to create effective communication materials.


Aside from the experience and training a designer brings to the table, there's the weeks, even months of in-house training and learning once the designer is hired. This time spent learning the company's marketing and advertising strategy and utilizing that knowledge to create effective design for the company is worth a lot, both in the designer's value to the company and to the bottom line. That training is going down the toilet if they let a designer go. They'll have to start from scratch.

Here's the bottom line: interns are great assets to any organization. They help carry the load and learn a lot at the same time. But they are not replacements for experienced, qualified design professionals.

Labels: advice, b2b, graphic design, performance, ROI, small business

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7.09.2009

Butter, coffee, and business

I wanted to let all you designer and branding people know about one of my fave places in Northwest Denver to have coffee: Generous Servings. Not only is the staff unfailingly friendly, and not only is the coffee great (especially the vietnamese iced), you can sit and drink your joe, and work, while watching people cook. There's a large lovely window looking into Generous Servings' classroom, where on any given day you can watch folks get ready for that evenings' class. In the morning the Happy Cakes people from next door put icing on their stock of cupcakes for the day, too. Frankly, the coffee shop part of the operation is a great sales pitch for their cooking classes...after watching everyone prep all this lovely food, who wouldn't want to start cooking, too?

Mary, half of the duo of sisters who run the place, has a blog on cooking and running a small business, and her post on making your own butter caught my eye. If you're a foodie, and like to experiment, check out her blog. And stop in for some coffee, too. It's a great example of a place that takes its craft seriously, and also seems to be full of people who are happy. A nice combination.

Some of her butter post follows below:


"Butter is my new favorite food. Not ingredient, food. Generous Servings now uses only homemade butter in all our cooking, which gives you another reason to have one of our croissants or scones--they are more homemade than almost anything you'll ever eat.

It is very fun to have a bowl full of ten pounds of butter, as you can see:



And it is very good for moisturizing one's hands. This is not to say that my butter recipe development has been without frustrations. There has been a lot of cream thrown out of the mixer onto the floor. One time the cream never turned into butter, although I mixed it for about an hour and a half (usually it takes 15 minutes). That evening our cleaners happened to be working in the kitchen, and they asked me several times what I was making. I kept saying that I was making butter, and they would look dubiously at the bowl full of cream, which never looked remotely like butter. The next time they came, I was making cultured butter, which requires me to sterilize all the implements I use, so I had an array of big pots of boiling water, alcohol swabs, thermometers, and spoons balanced precariously to prevent their bowls from touching the counter, and a whole area of the kitchen blocked off. Again, the cleaners asked what I was doing, and I said I was making butter. At this point, they think I'm delusional.

"

(Via The Cooking Doctor.)

Labels: craftsmanship, small business

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4.28.2009

Initial design sketches of our future studio, and musings about "home-working"

Alex over at the Shedworking blog has posted a link to some initial sketches I did when we started thinking about building a separate studio space for Notchcode. He's tracking the progress of our work, which I'll admit motivates us even more to keep things rolling forward.

I wanted to mention that for graphic designers working from your home (or in our case, from just behind it) makes a lot of sense; any creative professional needs to craft a space for working that suits their creative process and methodology. Every creative is different, and is motivated differently; it's hard to get that same vibe in any kind of a structured office, no matter how creative-friendly the organization is (although I've seen it done well at some agencies and in-house divisions). That being said, Alex's blog is a great resource for people looking to relocate their work (creative or otherwise) closer to home. I'd also recommend the Unclutterer blog as a nice companion read to Shedworking, too.

Labels: advice, architecture, creativity, process, productivity, small business

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4.13.2009

Twitter enables the self-assembling group

From a nice summary of how Twitter is more than a tool for inanity:

"Twitter reverses the notion of the group," said Paul Saffo, the Silicon Valley futurist. "Instead of creating the group you want, you send it and the group self-assembles."

I have used Twitter recently to help me brainstorm concepts, get feedback on ideas, and see where a client's market (or competition) is heading. Before you dismiss it as just seeing what your friends had for breakfast this morning, see what it can do for you as a business.

Labels: creativity, marketing, small business, social networking, twitter

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4.06.2009

What's in a good design proposal

I've been writing a heck of a lot of proposals this month, and probably have written hundreds over the last ten years. Regardless of the scope of work, the type of project, or the size of the client or client's budget, there are some key things that you should look for in any design proposal, and they're all based on setting expectations--on both sides of the table.

What are you doing?

Spell out broadly, then specifically, then in excruciating detail, exactly what you're doing for the client.

How are you going to do it?

Discuss the process; how are you going to get from step one to step three?

When will it get done?

List a specific schedule for each step, including things the client is responsible for. Make sure they know they are an important part of the process by including them in the planning process for a schedule.

How much will it cost?

I'm of the opinion that the client likes to see the project fees broken down in some way, whether it's by job function (design/production/copywriting/etc.) or by project phase (research/conceptualization/layout/revisions/etc.). This helps them--and those above them who have to approve budgets, perhaps--to get a handle on where all the money (read:effort and time) is going.

Of course, this method is value-based vs. hourly-rate agnostic; you can place the full value of your concept work in the "Concept" row, or you can simply list a number based on your hourly rate multiplied by the number of hours you plan on spending on that task. I won't go nto detail here, as I've posted about it before, but design is a value-adding process, and I would advocate charging based on the value the client will get out of a certain function of your work, as opposed to merely the hourly rate you value your time at.

What will the client get?

List explicitly what the client will receive at the end of the project. In my case, it's the right to use a certain design for a certain application for a certain amount of time, for example. That, and the physical or electronic deliverables they receive comprise the total deliverable package they pay for.

Terms

Make sure you use a good, vetted set of terms. The AIGA and the Graphic Artists' Guild are good places to start; your lawyer is a good place to end.

Sign on the dotted line

Make sure you and your client sign the agreement. It is a contract, after all.


Photo via flickr by A National Acrobat

Labels: advice, b2b, graphic design, process, small business, work

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3.18.2009

Our (future) studio featured at Shedworking

Alex at Shedworking has taken note of the studio that architect Liz Biondi is planning for the backyard. Once built, it will house the Notchcode Studio, allowing for expansion of the practice, if needed, and provide a calmer arena in which to create. There are a lot of advantages of a garden studio, most notably being able to watch my kids run around the backyard, and the smell of herbs and flowers wafting into the studio from the plots around the space. We also plan on making it energy-efficient with passive and (if the price works out) active solar, and using green construction materials when possible.

Alex will be posting about our experience in planning, building, and eventually inhabiting the studio on his blog and in his forthcoming book on shedworking (or as we sometimes call it in the US, "telecommuting", "working from home", or "not having to drive two hours to and from work every day." Stay tuned to his blog for updates.

Labels: architecture, blogs, small business, work

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12.10.2008

Six marketing ideas for a recession

Now that the recession is "official", why not use it as an excuse to tighten things up?

Not tighten your belt, necessarily, but tighten up the way you use your marketing? What serves you well in a recession will serve you well when times are good, too. So, to that end, I bring you:

Six marketing ideas for use in a recession (and when things bounce back):

The amuse-bouche.

Give your clients a little something extra, that you enjoy doing and also benefits them.

Nontraditional uses of traditional marketing pathways

Forget about the coupon in direct mail. What about a "secret word" that brings your customers a discount or access to special services...that only "select" people receive via your permission-based email blasts...or getting your clients involved in an online dialog that benefits all of them (on your site, of course)...none of these suggestions are groundbreaking, but think about how much they cost, compared to traditional direct mail, etc....

Redefine what "essential" is, in relation to marketing and brand expressions

What's more important: meeting someone face-to-face, or sending ten people a direct mail piece talking about your services? Getting new clients, or strengthening ties with existing ones? Or both? Having that nice rounded die-cut corner on your letterhead, or spending that extra $250 on overhead for an informational seminar for your clients?

Now is the time to think hard about what you really need, and why you are using the marketing strategy you currently employ.

Less is more, and now's your chance to prove it

Do you really need a fax machine? Need a fax number on your business card? When was the last time you actually sent a fax versus an e-mail? Use cost-trimming as an excuse to streamline your communication pathways, clearing out the chaff of old technology and ways of thinking and replacing them with methods and channels that are relevant to your audience.

An opportunity to enter new markets or new marketing channels

How about an iPhone app that pushes relevant info to your target market? Outdoor advertising to get someone's attention focused on your issue? Permission-based e-mail campaigns to build brand impressions? If you haven't thought about these options, now is a good time to do so. Why? Because approaching people from another angle allows you to catch them off guard, and hopefully even give them information or motivation that they really need in order to get your company in their life.

Redefine your brand

Why not? If things are really going down the tubes, take a hard look at your existing brand. Is it reflective of your organization, your product, and your culture? Does it address the relationship between your organization and the public at this moment? What about in five years? Time and money spent refining your brand right now, when things are down, will get paid back in spades down the road, as other organizations play catch-up.

What are some ideas you have? Let's hear about them in the comments!

photo by jtloweryphotography

Labels: advertising, advice, b2b, b2c, branding, clients, creativity, design, graphic design, marketing, nonprofits, process, productivity, small business, web design

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5.12.2008

Repost from the desert: Work-for-Hire, Licensing, and Usage

This week I am out in the Four Corners area, doing double-duty as a photographer for one client and also helping to plan the 2008 NAAMLP National Conference. It's a fun trip, with great clients, and I couldn't be happier.

Since I'm out in the slot canyons and reclaimed uranium mines of Utah and Arizona this week and unable to spend a lot of seat-time in front of the lappy, I am reposting some of my articles from years' past that I think are still relevant, interesting, and worth a read. Here's the first installment, originally posted in October 2002.

Work for hire? Licensing? Useage? What the heck does all this mean?

If you have questions like this, check out this site. It's from the Art Director's Club of Metropolitan Washington, and has a nice summation of what work-for-hire is.


I have yet to meet a designer that prefers to do work-for-hire over transferring right of useage to a client, and there are many good reasons for this, most notably because designers lose control over their image and reputation if the work is changed in the future.

To quote from the Graphic Artists' Guilds' "Pricing and Ethical Guidelines", 9th edition:

"By signing a work-for-hire contract, a freelance artist becomes an employee [of the contracting company] only for the purposes of the copyright law, but for no other purpose. In addition to losing authorship status and copyright, the artist receives no salary, unemployment, workers' compensation, or disability insurance; nor does he or she receive health insurance, sick pay, vacation, pension, or profit-sharing opportunities that a companymay provide its formal, salaried employees."

(I mean, come on, if you're going to treat the designer's output the same way you treat the output of your employees, at least give them the benefits....)

"When a freelance artist signs a work-for-hire contract, the artist has no further relationship to the work, cannot display it, copy it, or use it for other purposes such as displaying the work in the artist's portfolio. The client, now considered the legal author may change the art and use it again without limitation."

I will add here that in stripping the designer of any claim on authorship, it devalues the designer's role in the entire creative process, and further devalues the designer's role by allowing the design to slip from the control of the artist and into the hands of anyone the contractor wishes for future revisions, distortions, or changes.

So why is that a bad thing? It sounds like a boon if you're a client, certainly: you get the right to use the designer's hard work in whatever way you choose, however you choose. Many designers (myself included) usually grant that right in any case, to better serve the client's projected future needs. But take this extremely hypothetical, made-up example:

Say you, the designer, create something in print for a client. The client loves it. You love it. It wins awards. Everyone's happy. Then your client decides to create a website based on the printed material. Wonderful, you say! More exposure for the designer's work, and the client gets to re-use much of the design, maintaining consistency from medium to medium, strengthining their brand.

You, the designer, signed a work-for-hire agreement when you created the printed piece. Didn't seem like a problem at the time. But now the client has asked you to re-do some design elements found in the printed piece for use in the website. You balk at this; those elements they want you to re-do were the cornerstone of what made the piece work, both from an aesthetic and from a functional perspective! After much negotiation, the client takes the job elsewhere, to a designer hungry for work, who (after signing a work-for-hire agreement, of course) proceeds to gut your design according to the client's wishes, and create the website.

The site, while complete, is now similar to the printed piece only on a very superficial level. Even the new designer admits to you later that she's not really happy with the result, either, but "that's the way the client wanted it, and they already owned all the work, so it was either do it this way or leave the job to someone else."

Worse yet, the client has attributed the work, both yours and the new designer's, to themselves. The website, despite its problems, wins many awards. Neither you nor the new designer get any recognition. No new clients flock to your door. And you can't even take credit for your own work.

That's harsh! Would you want ME taking credit for all the hard work YOU put into something?

There is a long-standing concept of something called "moral rights", which assert that the creator of something has the right to claim parentage, to be accountable for it and to take credit for it, and that no one else may do so. Work-for-hire practices take away that fundamental right, and it degrades everyone involved: the designer, the client, and the thing itself.

Labels: licensing, small business, work for hire

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5.01.2008

The Designer as Chef

Khoi Vinh's site, Subtraction, has a nice post about the virtues of smaller-sized design studios. He argues that it's impossible to have 100% excellence/creativity/wonderfulness in a large design agency, since

This craft, and whatever pretensions to art it can pull off, rests so much on the efficiency of transferring ideas from the brain to the hand. This means that in its ideal form, it works best when practiced by a single person. The perfect design staff is a single designer who can conceive of and execute an idea from start to finish—a straight shot from the right brain to the wrist—maintaining the same coherent creative vision throughout.

My comment on his post is worthy of cross-posting here, since it's a metaphor that I use all the time with my clients:
I always give clients who are leery of working with a small studio (or a lone designer) a metaphor for the small shop/single designer experience:

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A designer is a chef. The client is the diner.

Diner tells chef: make me a four-course meal.

Chef and diner then discuss what they'd like that meal to be, what the diner's tastes are, how it meshes with the chef's style and competence.

Chef goes to buy ingredients (sometimes the diner comes along, or has already brought the ingredients with them. Interesting restaurant, eh?)

Chef retreats to kitchen. Cooks.

Presents meal.

Diner eats.

If the chef and the diner have chosen each other well, then the diner should leave satisfied.

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Perhaps a strained metaphor, but for me, the content are the ingredients, and the designer is the chef who puts it all together to make something palatable.

And we all know the old saw about too many cooks. If you want a (perhaps) more predictable meal, go to the Olive Garden. Or Burger King. You'll get served faster, but your meal will taste a lot like the one served at the next table. And it won't be made just for you.

photos by ericmcgregor and katayun

Labels: design, small business, writing

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3.21.2008

Maybe the next Notchcode office will look like this

The sexyShack, from LiveModern, via Alex's Shedworker:

Labels: architecture, small business

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4.11.2007

Simplify, Simplify

Having just finished organizing all of my expenses, &c. from 2006 for late-season delivery to my CPA, I would like to ask the federal government to do what good designers do everyday:

Simplify.

While I am the first to admit that, being a one-person shop, with no inventory or property or employees to deal with, my experience at wrangling all the relevant information necessary for accurately accounting for my business activity makes me think that there must be some way of making this easier for the small business owner. What that is, I don't know; I'm not an accountant, and any big suggestions here would probably be laughed off by anyone with half a degree in money matters.

I won't let that stop me, however. What about:

Blanket allowances for expenses on common office supply goods, with itemization required above that amount. This is similar to the blanket deduction for donated items up to $500 in value. I mean, how much time do you spend this year tracking down that receipt for the paperclips you bought last January? This single category was the biggest time-suck of them all, for me, probably because when I go to the office supply store, it's because I am out of something I need at that instant, and once I get home the items get pulled out of the bag, and the bag (with the receipt inside) ends up on the floor (or worse, in the trash) before I remember to pull out the receipt and file it.

That's the one that I can come up with for now. Anyone have any other ideas?

Labels: small business, taxes

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