The creative industry I joined is not the creative industry I’m part of now and that’s OK. It’s changed and I’ve changed. It’s been a career of life-long learning, both in hard and soft skills.
We have made ourselves so accessible to clients — they can call/text/email/slack to contact us anywhere, anytime. It’s hard to manage.
‘Spotters fees’, ‘kick-backs’ and ‘hidden consultancy fees’ – they’re all secret commissions and they’re illegal under the Crimes Act.
It’s easy for designers to be overwhelmed by their workload but thinking like an emergency department of a hospital can help.
It’s sad but true; clients don’t see design as creating value for them. They are focussed on getting a competitive advantage, selling more products or services, making bigger profits.
Why don’t they teach economics in design courses? I guess it’s because many in the design community don’t make the connection between design and economics.
Most designers think others are working on ground-breaking projects while they’re up to their @rse doing grunt work. Truth is, a mix of clients and projects is vital.
How many times have you heard a client say that? They have talked to their partner (life and business), talked to some clients and prepared a brief in their head. Now it is just a matter of getting the job done.
Here’s an exercise done to identify bad clients. It delivers valuable insights, especially if you repeat it a couple times a year.
In 2020 we lost a friend, a client and a great designer, Jack Rodgers. To celebrate Jack’s resilience we’re offering a 12 month mentoring scholarship to an emerging studio.
Apart from productivity increases there are two ways to accrue money: firstly by adding a margin, secondly by adding profit. They are different beasts and we would argue you need both to build a sustainable businesses.
Taking on a design intern can be a win:win scenario. It adds diversity to a stable design team. Designers get management experience, interns get studio experience.