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Conscience: An Essential For Designers

By on September 28, 2011 in Design

Amongst most start-up companies, a design agency has one of the most expensive up-front costs. Minimally, the agency has to purchase:

  • Adobe Creative Suite Design Collection (or at least Photoshop)
  • Website hosting services
  • Powerful computer to run software
  • Quality stock photos
  • Professional Fonts

When it comes to the pricey software, photos, and fonts, it is widely known that these can be illegally obtained via torrents and other means. It thus becomes harder for the designer to stay legitimate and clean, especially since the authorities rarely ever crack down on individuals with pirated materials.

It thus becomes more of a moral issue than anything else. Should an entrepreneurial designer begin with illegal materials and then perhaps one day buy properly once he or she has the money?

In Islam, we have a concept called barakah, which means perpetual blessings. We believe that if one acts in a befitting manner, breaking no laws, then that person will be more blessed with their time, energy, provisions, etc.

I have actually seen this in practice and can attest to its reality. Several years ago, I used to use illegal designing software and fonts because I knew I would never pay hundreds of dollars for the materials I was using. It was working out perfectly, except for this nagging feeling that I wasn’t receiving any good from the work that I was producing for non-profit organizations. I finally made a vow to delete the illegal software and it was truly a bittersweet moment when all of those files were erased from my computer.

Very soon after, I was over my friend’s house and we got to speaking about design software. My friend asked me if I needed any design software, as he had received some as a gift but had no use for them. I looked over them and lo and behold, it was the latest line of software products that I so direly needed. I haven’t regretted my decision to “go clean” ever since then, and have enjoyed multitudes of blessings ever since then.

I have realized that a conscience is essential for designers if they wish to become successful. Legitimate products not only have positive psychological benefits, but it is proven that investing money into products like these spurs one into action and to actually value and use the products.

Magazine Handbook

Design: Magazine’s Guide To Salvation

By on September 28, 2011 in Design

With the advent of the Internet and news of several popular magazines declining, such as Businessweek, Time, and Newsweek, it may come across as a shock to hear that magazine readership is actually increasing. In fact, many magazines, such as Fortune, GQ, and The Economist are actually flourishing in size and circulation.

Why did they survive while others haven’t?

According to Harvard’s Anthony Pino, whose thesis was entitled, “Did the Internet Kill Magazines and Newspapers?”, the factor is none other than design:

“Surprisingly, most magazines have been resilient, and the declines in circulation haven’t been uniform. That is to say, that based on what I could look at, the less visual the magazine was, the more it was affected by the Internet. So to give you an example, TV Guide–very much affected by the Internet. The information it provides has a short window of relevancy and it’s mostly textual. That’s something for which the Internet can substitute very easily. Whereas, if you look at Elle Decor, which is a home design magazine–it’s very visual. A lot of the value of the information is looking at it a certain way and seeing it laid out in the magazine” (source).

So there you have it: design can either make or break your magazine.

Find out more on the statistics of increasing magazine readership and why it would be wise to advertise in magazines: www.magazine.org/ASSETS/5EAC524003A54698B5F6EE2A9099157A/2010-11-MPA-Handbook.pdf. If you ever decide to start a magazine or wish to place an awesome ad in one, feel free to contact me.

Quality

A Race For Website Quality

By on September 27, 2011 in Design

While designing the website of a local initiative pro bono, I asked an organizer if there was a budget allocated for the website’s design.

“Just find a free template online. That should be enough,” he hastily told me.

That was a real turn off. Here they were, with a budget of tens of thousands,  yet were not wishing to even spend $29.99 on a decent website template. There was this prolonged hesitancy, as if there needed to be weighty consideration on whether or not it was worth spending money on a website.

I find this complacency for online mediocrity to be inexcusable. Not only is it a no-brainer to have a proper website, but it is really unbecoming to compromise on quality just to save a few bucks. It’s literally like offering wooden kitchen stools to prospective clients in an executive boardroom; when they begin staring, you just flash them your winning smile and say,

“Hey, that’s all you need, right?”

I’m sure we both know the answer to that.

A Change of Tides

It used to be that the larger an organization was, the worse their website looked.

The tides now, however, are changing.

Companies are now hiring teams of designers and developers to optimize their website and information systems. Industries are being revolutionized with the integration of online solutions and enhancements. Services once limited to a locale are now being offered at several locations across the globe. All of this is becoming possible due to the increase in website quality.

Make sure you’re not left behind in this race for website quality.