DEV Community: devandoo

Why I don't design for free when 'friends' ask.

devandoo — Mon, 09 Nov 2020 06:12:15 +0000

This could have been a tweet but I would like to elaborate over this topic. Here is a fact:

1 out of 12 people remain friends for a longer duration of time

This is explanatory enough but it is not that simple I understand, we say, but they are friends. I'd say but they a going to earn profits out of it. It is as simple as that, some time down the line they are going to earn from what you did for free if they plan on any form of business.

There are always some exceptions to it, like they are not going to get absolutely anything in return or they are doing if for a good cause. I have designed for friends, who now earn from it or not, but they do, I as a designer was just a cheap/free of charge resource in the name of a friend.

When they say they do not have enough budget, ask for something in return, if they have the audacity to ask to get something for their benefit, in my opinion, you should too.

If a friend is starting out with a Bakery, ask for some cake at least if not money.

Thank you.

Design for people!

devandoo — Mon, 27 Jul 2020 14:20:25 +0000

👋 #Introduction
Since all these years I have been designing and for a couple of months now I have come to realize that design essentially is not for you to appeal or even the client at times if you look at in a way. For example, if you have a client whose business is to sell products and get sales then who are you designing for? If you ask me then it is for the end-users really. You design a poster and it has to be taken well by the probable customers of your client. Right?

🎤 #Storytime
Why am I coming up with this points? Because whenever I design something for the user and the client does not like it then I feel it is my job to explain to the client that why I have designed what I have designed and the reason I feel it will cater to the user better. For instance, I have had a client saying you should change the font, so I do not disagree instantly thinking he might have something to add it with respect to end-users and I ask why, but instead, they say that they did not like the font, it's not bad but they personally did not like it; now this is where I feel I should explain that why I have chosen that particular font and how it will affect the user psychology and cater to them. Here is when the client really understands and we try to come up with a middle-ground.

💡 #Clients are Smart!
I would also like to add that everything clients say does not have to be wrong while their design perspective can be immature but they are smart too they have been running a business and they understand the clients too, so try to communicate as much as possible, your designer ego might hurt but it is for the greater good :P

###One who empathizes is the one who designs the best

Knowing a software does not make you a 'designer'

devandoo — Sun, 26 Jul 2020 09:32:07 +0000

Paul Rand, one of the leading graphic designers was never good with computer softwares yet he is in my opinion one of the greatest designers to ever exist. When one thinks of design, we never learned from where we come as creatives. If I look back, I can remember people telling stories of painters, musicians, artists wandering from one village to another tell stories with their art-form. So, why did they roam in the first place? The answer is quite simple, one cannot create new art with worn-out experiences sure they help to curate art from new experiences.

People have asked me that they want to start designing so what software should they learn. It is never the software first. Consider software as a canvas of a painter. If a painter knows painting techniques and how to work on the canvas but he can use those skills only when he has a creative idea in mind? And that idea is what makes a designer. Learning design concepts like space, gestalt, colours help you in understanding what goes into a design and how people perceive it.

Even Google being a tech giant uses hand-drawn wire-framing method in their initial design processes. One has to learn how to do proper research and how to come with an idea around that research so that they can show that idea with the help of the software and if you do not know how to use a software you can always hire someone who know how to, Paul Rand did that.

I will conclude by saying, if you want to start designing, not knowing how to use a software is not at all an excuse because that is not designing, it is just a helping hand in showing what idea you have in mind. Working on that mind is important not the software.

One who is lost, draws precisely.

Colour emotes :)

devandoo — Mon, 13 Jul 2020 16:55:45 +0000

Disclaimer ⚠

This blog does not teach you the colour theory

Storytime 🎤

I have been fascinated by colours because from every element in the design forum, colour is the concept I find reflecting mood most precisely and instantaneously for obvious psychological reasons. I was branding (SVACH- A natural-soap company)[https://www.behance.net/gallery/100529153/SVACH] as a personal project so I wanted it to reflect a mood of Nature🍂, like making it connected to nature as much as possible. So I went for shades of Brown(soil) and Green(trees), both signify nature pretty well, they do right?

Learning 🙌

I tend to find the mood, personality, the attitude the respective design wants to reflect and then just relate that emotion to the colours if I am not able to find something or I am confused then researching a bit helps every time. For instance, I was trying to put a colour for an error field in a form which should be less aggressive as red comes in as fearful, we get scared a bit when we see that bright red in an error field so I choose to use orange-ish as an error field which did not come in not as aggressive and served the purpose of stating an error.

Once I find the correct colour(s) to signify the mood it is then when I start using the colour theory and curate a palette to be used for the respective design system

Conclusion 👋

If you choose the correct colour(s) 'with' proper design elements(they are equally important to signify the design personality) like typography, imagery, etc your design will help to reflect the ideas it is meant to :)

Read my previous blogs 🔊

Research>Design

devandoo ・ Jul 11 '20 ・ 2 min read

#design #uiweekly #ux

Why is it difficult to be a designer (Graphic/HCI) in India?

devandoo ・ Jul 8 '20 ・ 4 min read

#design #ux #experiences

Connet with me 🙏

Twitter @gajjar_devansh you can have a look at my designs on Behance @devanshgajjar

Research>Design

devandoo — Sat, 11 Jul 2020 08:43:09 +0000

Disclaimer ⚠

Since a long time I wanted to be able to share this viewpoint as to why proper research is more important than amazing design skills but I never found myself in the position to be able to share this topic because I never thought it will be perceived positively but it since recent happenings I think I should be sharing this.

Storytime 🎤

Take for instance an interview you are called for. You are excited about the interview because it is a call for a job you love so to make a good impression you go through everything you there the available for the job and the company profile. Now as you research about the company you start realizing things about the company which you otherwise would not have been able to know if you had not searched for it. Now, if you portray this in the interview there is a good chance of you being considered as a good imperession becuase you know what you are getting yourself into.

Learning 🙌

Similar is the case with design, if you have a client from a particular market it is your job to research about the design trends, norms of that respective market or else if you design vaguely just for the sake of good looking design and even if the client likes it, the design would be of no technical use. Even a small amount of research will get you the knowledge which you can use in your design to make the design profitable for the client you are designing for.

Conclusion 👋

Many of you might already be doing this but I have seen designer start designing without any prior research, I have been here and I can guarantee that the design indeed served no purpose other than visually appealing but contextually it did not really make sense.

Follow me on twitter @gajjar_devansh and have a look at my designs on Behance @devanshgajjar

Why is it difficult to be a designer (Graphic/HCI) in India?

devandoo — Wed, 08 Jul 2020 08:32:05 +0000

DISCLAIMER ⚠

Before I start talking about the anything; I am not an expert, just a dude trying to state his problem that he has faced repeatedly.

INTRODUCTION 🔊

So working as a freelance designer is fun no doubt about it, you get to work whenever you want, however and at your own pace. Talking about how I ended up into designing is when I looked at western and german design systems and becoming fascinated by them; so this rose interest in me that what goes into designing such amazeballs graphics, so than whenever I looked at the designs around me like the provision stores, stationaries, eateries, et cetera I used to think why am I not liking these I used to feel absolutely disgusted by the designs I saw on signages, menus of the hotels, billboards, and a bunch of other design works. I used to think why are these not as good as the western designs or maybe first world countries. This leads us the very basic answer which is the design eco-system in small scale businesses and medium scale to a certain extent is not mature as it is in the first world countries.

STORYTIME 🎤

Once I had some college printing work to be done and I go to this stationary which prints stuff in bulk. Now usually these stationaries have Corel draw installed pc because apparently the printers only support .cdr format not even pdfs for last-minute changes and all. Everything is fine till here but now a person comes in and asks to get visiting cards printed so the vendors ask do you have a pdf or something so he says no, NOW the other guy who knows how to use Corel Draw asks the client to sit beside him, ask the client for the information to be put up, and the vendor just lays out the information and puts colours randomly to make the information legible and done. Now I understand both the sides of the business that the client doesn't care about the design psychology or design processes or anything and the vendor has never read an article about the design principles regarding basic colour, space or gestalt theories because he is busy all the time trying to get stuff done as soon as possible.

THE ISSUE (IMO) 💥

So how does this hinder us as the ones who do not care about the software but focus on how to lay the information out well enough to be called a fine communication design? The answer is these are the type of client who reaches out to the designers who are starting out. Now designing stuff as per the client's needs is not the problem but these designs end up in our professional portfolio which is going to lead us to other clients. This was one major problem I faced initially and the solution to this is designing for fictional clients and showcasing them on platforms like Behance, dribbble or Pinterest which solves it to a really good extent, to be honest.

ANOTHER ISSUE (IMO) 💥💥

Let's look at other problem which are quotations, if you ask me I quote considering the time I am giving, how many options the client wants, which are the resources I am using in doing the client's works, and lastly the amount of work I will have to do. This quotation includes the "research" I do with respect to what the market requires, what design system the competitor is utilizing and how can my client come up from it, I work on the user-set and come up with designs accordingly. Now out of 10 of my clients, only 2 understand the process while the other clients were like get me this design by tomorrow evening and tell me how much you will charge. Well, obviously by the tone of their voice you understand they are not going to give me the amount I am going to ask for. So here comes the part when I give a quote, they deny, I negotiate to the maximum capacity and they do no get the work done from me saying the other guy is getting this same design done in almost half the cost, I will tell you the other guy either has a family to feed so he is forced to do the work in that low cost and can't afford the lose a single client or the other guys only know the software and gets paid for using the software, or the third one is the imposter which I faced initially which is I am just starting out so should not ask for more and things like that.

LET'S TRY EMPATHIZING 🙌

Look, this is running smoothly, no one is complaining the clients are getting their job done for low cost, the designs are accepted by everyone, and the stores are selling. But the ones like me who care about the design eco-system in the designs around us, like provision stores, signages, the ones I told earlier about are very desperate to design better for them but to be honest I feel we are not a necessity to them so they do not take design quite seriously. I have had such conversations with my friends and the designers around me, we do not really feel respected the way other businesses are. Big business supports us no doubt if you look at the designs of large-scale businesses they are pretty good because the design processes and ideologies get supported and are considered as an important part of the businesses.

THE GOOD-BYE 👋

I am done with the ranting now it is up to us how we increase our self-worth maybe; it is the small things that matter, I would love to see beautifully designed Jai Shree Ram provision store signage or something :P

Follow me on twitter @gajjar_devansh