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Crunch time

By The Drum, Administrator

March 25, 2009 | 5 min read

I love all things Apple: In 1991, I left The Bridge because my request to introduce Macs to the Arnold Clark account was turned down. I headed north to a little know advertising agency, where I was given £35,000 to spend on ‘Mac-ing’ up their studio. It was enough to buy two Quadras for the studio, one LCII for reception and a B&W printer. In those days Macs were expensive and crude. They replaced the artworker’s drawing board in the studio and waved a welcome farewell to CS10 and Spray Mount. They were production tools; loaded with software designed to be familiar to artworkers and typesetters.

As the Mac evolved, so did the software and it wasn’t long before designers also adopted the keyboard and mouse to visualise their thoughts. In 1994 I was made redundant and realised that, if I bought a Mac, I could set up a one-man-band design company. So I did and bought a Quadra 800 with associated bits for just over £8,000.

Two years later, one of my clients called me into a meeting to inform me that he no longer required my services. When I asked why, he told me that his wife, who was a bit ‘arty’, had acquired a Mac and would do his work for free.

Years of free pitching had led clients to believe that they were paying for our production capabilities, not our ideas. As an industry, we gave away our ideas for free and only started charging if we won the business.

Further more, the Mac made it easy for anyone to acquire design capabilities and earn a living by undercutting the established firms. With no professional association representing the industry and no qualification required to practice as a designer, it was easy to enter the market.

Powerful

Today, anyone can buy a Mac in a box for around £1,000. It comes pre-loaded with very powerful, easy to use, design software. Everything you need to be a great ‘designer’ - just plug it in and get creating! In fact, it’s never been easier.

As a result, design has become a commodity and contracts are typically awarded to the lowest bidder. As much as we complain about it, we only have ourselves to blame. We need to promote design effectiveness if we are to survive as a profession. Organisations like the Design Business Association (DBA) are actively trying to convince the Government and Industry that investing in effective design can bring measurable ROI to business. Yet the design industry appears to be sceptical and possibly apathetic towards their efforts.

If we’re not prepared to come together as an industry to jointly promote our worth to business, then business will continue to view design as a cost, rather than as an investment. The lowest bidder will always win, but in the long run, the client will always lose.

For example, if you plan to run a marathon and don’t invest in the right shoes, you won’t make it to the end. You may save money, but you’ll fail to achieve your objective, so what’s the point? What you need is someone to advise you on what shoes you need and then sell you the appropriate pair. They may cost more, but you’ll appreciate their value when you reach the finish line.

This message hasn’t got through to design buyers in the business world and that’s because our industry has no united voice. Rather than club together, our reaction to commoditisation appears to be to ‘go digital’ and get into websites - it’s still a bit of a mystery, so clients are prepared to pay decent money to have their sites developed. Anything that keeps our billings up must be a good idea, right? Wrong. With web creation software fast becoming as easy to use as an iPhone, it won’t be long before clients realise their pet dog could design their next website for the cost of a couple of tins of Winalot.

The Mac was the catalyst for commoditisation, but not the cause. Whilst we have been busy cultivating our own client’s brands, we have neglected our industry and allowed the metaphoric weeds to gather.

The design industry needs to unite to protect our client’s interests and our professionalism. We should have minimum standards of operation and an approved system of accreditation, administered by one national representative organisation, such as the DBA.

Promoting design effectiveness to business will give our industry the professional integrity it badly needs. After all, I can’t think of a client that values pretty pictures over results. Can you?

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