I don't understand why I'm so stupid. Instead of just repeating my mistakes, like most reasonable people, I take them on as a career.
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If graphic design has taught me anything, it's that people do not act in their own interests. Someone will ask me to design a logo for their new company, let's call it ... Bay Harbour Wellness. I already have some ideas, they'll say, presenting me with a series of sketches. And those ideas will be: a picture of a bay, a picture of a harbour, and a picture of someone helping someone, maybe over a wall or up a hill. Maybe the hill could be in the background, they'll say.
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In fact, most people don't even understand what their interests are. They've never really thought about it, except in a What Colour is Your Parachute?-meets-IKEA-catalogue kind of way. They know they want new shoes this fall, and to be thinner, and to be treated better by the people around them, but the very nature of what they're doing, and why, and what matters and what doesn't, is like some mountain in the distance that they can see but can't name.
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Maybe that hill should be a mountain, my client will say. And the people could be helping each other to reach the top. Of wellness!
Such a breath of fresh air! That is a horrible expression of course, but I mean it sincerely. What I want to know is how you then go on to deal with that client, and get them to see things in a more original light.
ReplyDeleteA nice semi-cryptic post. Oh yes, how I feel your pain, which is sorta like a cramp in your side, or a stommy ache. The worst is 'pleasing' the client, and then having to take credit for the output. Oh the dilemma! :P
ReplyDeleteFunny, poignant, and so elegantly and eloquently put.
ReplyDelete