Recently and yet again, I was asked for a copy of a font. Someone I thought of as a legitimate designer asked me to e-mail a font I paid for so they would not have to. Though it has happened many times, this “I’m a shoplifter so you must be one too,” attitude never ceases to amaze and insult me. Is my attitude extreme? I think not. In fact, I believe the pilfering of images, fonts, and software is not just benign cheating or victim less crime, I think of it as professional suicide. Here’s why:

1. Minimizing the value of other people’s work minimizes ours.
Every knowledgeable graphic designer understands that good design and development require creativity, technical knowledge, and resources. A typeface designer not only conceives of, draws, and refines every turn and corner of every letter of the alphabet; they also craft sets of numbers, symbols, ornaments, and a standard set of foreign characters. Add ligatures, alternative characters, and width and weight variations and a single typeface family can easily represent literally thousands of individual images.
So ask yourself this: “Does type design have any merit or value?” If so then, “Should a type designer be compensated for the hours they work?” And finally this, “Should type designers donate their vision and craft so we can profit from it?” (more…)

Do we have any responsibility for the messages we help to communicate? Everyone has run into a prospective client that wants to sell fantasy to people who are living in fact. The truth be told, many of us use the fantasy approach ourselves—I am the first to admit it. But is it possible to design without deception? You bet it is—here’s how:

1. Work exclusively with the truth.
More than ever, it seems, we live in two distinct worlds—fantasy and fact. In fantasy world smoking is cool. In fact world smoking is a first class addiction. In fantasy world, skinny people eat triple cheeseburgers. In fact world huge numbers of folks struggle with obesity. In fantasy world, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” while in fact world, last time I checked, there are consequences for our every action. The truth is, in fact world, deception is never a valid marketing strategy—it is at minimum unethical and at the extreme, criminal. The problem isn’t with the presentation, it’s with the delivery. You can attract a customer with fantasy but you can only deliver fact. If there isn’t a match, you are guaranteed to disappoint the customer. And that, in the long run, does a disservice to both the customer and the client. (more…)

Take a look at your design portfolio. Does piece one for client A have distinct similarities to piece one for client B? By that I mean, do the pieces share similar concepts and/or layouts? Do the same typefaces, color palettes, and types of imagery appear project after project? Is there a “look and feel” that permeates everything you do? If so, there could be a problem.

Why? Because each client deserves a unique solution to their specific problem. We should not be shoe-horning the client into our vision, our job is to help them develop a vision of their own. Advertising and marketing is not about its creator, the designer. It is not even its sponsor, the client. It is about its audience, the prospects—the people we want to take notice and move to action. (more…)